Nøgne Ø Brun

Earlier this week the excellent Irish blog Tale of the Ale reviewed an impressive range from the Nøgne Ø brewery. As I commented it made me want to break open the Brun bottle I had, so I did.
This is their bottle conditioned belgian style ale, 500mls, 6% abv.
Pours a slightly murky brown colour, off white head.
The aroma was rich and sumptuous with prunes, toffee and chocolate.
Did the it follow through from that start?

Sort of. It tasted toasty, rich fruit, figgy and nutty, it has a good medium body, quite smooth, but also hits of sourness.

I thought it was interesting that Tale of the Ale found after their high abv beers he hankered after one of their lower strength ones, but with this Brun it just felt it was lacking an alcoholic punch, perhaps being 1.5 - 2% lower than it should be for it to be a great Belgian style ale. It had the fruit, richness, flavours but just lacked the lasting warmth that it needs to give you.

Good to drink though, and I certainly would try any of their other beers, a prolific brewery who by all accounts consistently produce high quality bottles.