"Ahh," I thought to myself, "another Boulevard beer. This should be good." I poured the beer, I took the picture, and I have sat down to write this review. It is only upon typing in the labels for quick searches that I even noticed that this was a 9.0% ABV beer. It doesn't say it's a double IPA, but this is really high for an IPA that hasn't been stored in barrels or something. The Kveik name is just a reference to the kind of yeast that was used in this particular beer, and I am unclear as to whether or not that might have something to do with the prodigious ABV.
First sip is quite fruity, and it is joined by the pine resin to give a very thick, full-bodied flavor with what seems to be a honey backing and a very bitter finish. The thickness of the beverage as well as the sweetness of the beginning puts me in mind of a mead more than a beer. That said, it seems relatively smooth and perfectly acceptable for a sip. But let's see if it continues in the swig.
Tip-in is almost no carbonation pushing the fruit meat of orange, grapefruit, starfruit, mango, and kiwi with a relative sweetness that very much endears the beer to me right from the start. Carbonation ticks up for the middle, and the sweetness all but disappears to leave a slightly bitter mix of fruits atop honey and pine resin as the smoothness is broken up by the prodigious alcohol. The finish is a rise of bitterness as the fruit fades to peals for the trail off.
Bottom Line: A complex and intriguing beer.
3.5/5
