UPDATED: NOV 30, 2019 Bottle sampled at Pressklubben Stockholm. Fine long lastning white head. Clear amber color. Distinct lactic aroma. Light acidity and fruity taste. Low bitterness. Oxidized aple taste.

UPDATED: JUN 2, 2019 On tap at Nødingen, Zwanze Day. It's an unclear orange colored beer with a reddish tint. A small off-white head sits on top. The aroma has burnt rubber, lingonberries, generic fruityness, lemon and a light funk. Even some wet sawdust. It's full-bodied, dry and sour on the palate, with a rubber-ish lingonberry touch, some lemon, a generic fruityness and a light funky touch. Lasting finish. A nice beer for sure, but the rubber touch, which I've experienced in lingonberry beers earlier, is a bit turn-off. 180929

UPDATED: APR 27, 2019 Draught @ Nøgne Ø - Zwanze Day 2018
Pours hazy amber with a off-white head. Aroma has notes of malt, mountain cranberries, tart, yeast, wood and toothpaste. Taste is medium sweet and light sour with a long mountain cranberry, tart and wood finish. Body is medium, texture is thin to oily, carbonation is soft.

UPDATED: MAR 15, 2019 Unclear reddish orange colour with an average head. Malty, fruity, dark berries, hints of wood, herbal, decent sourness, tart, unfortunately to less hints of smoke, soft carbonation, good.

UPDATED: FEB 7, 2019
Draught @ 10th. BBF 2018 [ 10th Borefts Beer Festival 2018 ] @ Brouwerij de Molen, Bodegraven, Netherlands.

[ As Alvinne / Nøgne Ø Naakte Elf ].
Unclear medium red yellow colour with a small, fizzy, virtually none lacing, fully diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, dough, strawberry, rosehips - juniper - smoked berries, tart, tart lingonberry. Flavor is moderate sweet and light acidic with a average duration, tart, sour, dough, fruit - berry, rosehips - juniper - smoked berries - lingonberry, vinegar, floral. Body is medium, texture is oily to watery, carbonation is soft. [20180922]
7-2-7-3-14

UPDATED: DEC 9, 2018 Tuesday, December 4, 2018. Bottle, 33cL. 6%. Gift from Jybi ! Many thanks :) 1ère bière de ce style nordique (longtemps recherché) :) Home. A bloody orange clear beer, light opaque with a big white foamy head ; average retention ; good lacing. Herb, lint, red currant, floral note. Light to medium dry acid-sour refreshing, light spicy, sweet note. Light to medium body, thin texture, soft gaseous, flat, floral minty finish. Overall, good :) Nice one.

UPDATED: DEC 9, 2018 Bottle, 33cl, bought @ Etre Gourmet. Pours deep red orange with a small, staying, creamy white-pink head. Aroma has sharp berries zest, wood, juniper, mild smoky. Medium carbonation, fine dry and quite creamy mouthfeel. Flavour is very zesty, oak, spicy dry spiciness, lingonberry. Long lingering zesty tartness. Quite elegant, lots of Norway, lots of Alvinne.

Bottle, courtesy of Mister_Li, thanks! Pours unclear reddish amber. Aroma is berries, juniper, smoke. Body is medium, sour, tart, but no bitterness at all. Juicy, fruity, berries, juniper. Dry and smooth. Good!

Bottle. Color: Orange amber, white head. Aroma: Sourish fruity, herbal and floral, very lightly smoke hints. Taste: Moderate to medium sourish, unusual combination of herbal and floral (junipertree) and sourish fruity (lingonberries) notes. Lightly smoky hints. Light sweet and bitter. Interesting, unusual, pretty complex and very drinkable.

Now here's a fascinating one: a raw beer, to my knowledge only the second in Belgium (Brabant tried it to a very limited extent last year), made by Alvinne in collaboration with Nogne O - so no doubt inspired by the raw beer traditions that still survive in Norway (among other northern and eastern European countries) to this day. Not boiling the wort seems to have been much more widespread in past ages and it is safe to say that beer in the very first stages of its long existence was by definition always 'raw', but today such unboiled beers are living fossils, surviving only in the sheltering and protective context of ancient style farmhouse brewing in northern countries. This Naakte Elf was made using juniper-infused mashwater and lingonberries - ingredients very reminiscent of nordic traditions indeed. Regularly shaped, medium thick, eggshell-white, bit creamy head, slowly breaking in the middle but depositing a beautifully intricate, 'Brugse kant'-like lacing pattern on the glass; equally hazy, bright and deep amber-hued orange robe with tiny 'grains' at the bottom of the glass, possibly leftovers of the lingonberry seeds? Turns all cloudy and darker amber with sediment added. Indeed 'different' aroma, though after thousands of boiled beers, it's hard to describe what it is exactly that makes it different; generally, I get impressions of lingonberry flesh or even ripe cranberries, black radish, kefir, soggy cigarette tobacco, spiced rye bread (sigtebrod), dust, subtle smoked bacon from a distance, very old dried lemon peel, 'paprika chips', pumice, French mushroom paste spread on brown bread and indeed a vague background hint of 'moss green' juniper, but very subtle; the DMS I was dreading - a substance I am extremely sensitive to and is, at best, eliminated during boiling of the wort - remains remarkably absent. From what I read (in Garshol's work about the subject among others), DMS indeed is not necessarily an issue in raw beer for various technical reasons, though more scientific research in this area seems needed. Sour onset, with clear acidity from the lingonberries mixed with more 'sedate' natural tartness; the lingonberries provide pronounced wryness as well, as is to be expected from this fruit. Carbonation remains soft. After the initial lingonberry acidity and astringency, stretching all the way to the back but seemingly decreasing a little bit in intensity, more of the beer's natural esters (apricot- and medlar-like in this instance) and more of a soft, almost vaguely sweetish bready maltiness come to the foreground. Astringency remains, as said, however strong till deep into the finish, where the smoked meat factor sets in, albeit in a subtle, volatile way; sour fruit still dominates the finish, where earthy yeasty aspects appear as well. Hops remain near-absent; they have been added only for their conserving properties (contrary to traditional raw ales - but then those are not usually bottled and distributed). All the way at the back, a fructose sweetishness from the berries pops up, almost as in forest fruit jam, but it remains feeble and disappears again as quickly as it came. Not sure about this one: it is definitely a weird beer in many respects and the smoky aspect, though not overdone, clashes a bit with the tart and astringent fruitiness of the berries. In its base, however, this is a fascinating brew, I've actually been waiting quite a long time before touching it - but now that I finally did open it, I can gladly say that it is another testimony of Alvinne's great mastery of sour beers 'the hard way' rather than simple kettle souring and the like. In its general make-up, this beer fits in Alvinne's current range, which has opened up and diversified even more than before, and now encompasses things of astonishing beauty. The clashing flavours in this particular one are easily forgiven - and I end up feeling a bit frustrated that I seem to be unable to express in words how this being 'raw' makes it different from a 'boiled' ale, I guess I'll just have to learn more about the subject and find more raw beers to sample...