From Bush Pilot Brewing an Ontario Gypsy brewers in collaboration with Nickel Brook Brewing in Ontario and Nøgne Ø in Norway comes their “Norseman” a Eisbock aged in Armagnac Barrels and inspired by a Canadian Legend.  The beer pours a cloudy orange colour with a white head.  The aroma consists of caramel, toffee, dried fruits, sweetness, sugar and alcohol.  The flavour is of tons of fruit including dried fruits, citrus, citrus rind, tropical fruits with brown sugar, caramel, toffee, resin, bitterness, wood and alcohol.  The alcohol content comes in at 14.5%.  I am happy I found a bottle of this while in Alberta as it was phenomenal.

Commercial Description: Our second international collaboration is a truly unique journey that takes us back to 1934. A Dutch born airplane designer Robert B.C. Noorduyn, created one of the most successful bush planes of all times, the Noorduyn Norseman in Montreal in 1934. Norseman was produced from 1935 to 1959. Over 900 Norseman were built during this period and known to have been registered and/or operated in 68 countries.  Norseman has starred in several movies, including “Captains of the Clouds” with James Cagney.  With Norseman as an inspiration, we embarked to complete the crew for this mission. In addition to our old collaborator, the highly talented Ryan Morrow of Nickel Brook Brewing, we approached a well known brewer who also happens to be an experienced pilot, Kjetil Jikiun the founder of legendary Norwegian craft brewery Nøgne Ø.   Thus, an international, Canadian-Norwegian crew of Norseman got together and started brainstorming on the type of beer. Being people of the north, the Norseman crew decided that the our beer should be strong and that there should be an element of nature that surrounds us for a good part of the year… ice. Therefore, we decided to brew an eisbock.   The photo you see on the Norseman label was taken by Captain Lang, who as a young pilot on his first commercial assignment, was flying this very same plane from a base at Red Lake, Ontario. Captain Lang was kind enough to share with us his stories, as well as to grant us the privilege of using his photos. Thanks!  Given that the release date of our beer coincides with the 80th anniversary of Norseman’s design, we thought that a special “birthday” treat was in order. After some six months of research, calling and dealing with logistics, customs, and wayward wires of funds we finally acquired eight absolutely amazing Armagnac barrels aged between 19 and 23 years from the south of France.   Our Norseman is fully barrel aged and will be available in limited quantities in late  2014. In the meantime, try to learn more about the Noorduyn Norseman – it is a captivating and compelling story of talent, skill, perseverance and resourcefulness. A gem in the fabric of Canadian history.