English: A glass of Hegra Maltøl brewed by Morten Granås in Hegra, Nord-Trøndelag, Norway, in early June 2012.

Hegra Maltøl, also known as Stjørdalsøl, is a special ale only brewed in or near Hegra. The common theme is the malt, more precisely smoked malt, which is kilned locally at each farm the beer is brewed. The amount of smokiness and the color varies from farm to farm, Morten Granås prefers a balanced smoke character and golden to dark brown colors on his roughly 6% abv beer. The beer we got to taste was made with malt from 2009, 2010 and 2011!

The beer came from a keg, but had been poured into a drinking vase in order to serve my group at the long table. It poured a cloudy golden brown color with no head to speak of. It had a nice smoke aroma, less intense than some of the Bamberg rauchbiers but still clearly smoked. It had a medium heavy mouthfeel with an oily texture. The flavor was surprisingly fruity, almost like a barrel aged cider, but with a long, smoke tinged aftertaste. There was a lighly sweet undertone too.

This is a fruity and fairly mild smoked beer, I found it refreshing and very drinkable.

"The smoked beers of Hegra"