Nora - Birrificio Le Baladin, Piozzo

This bottle of Baladin Nora has quietly been hiding in the basement for the past year. I forgot all about this beer. It's a bad habit, but I often buy more beer than I have time to drink at home... and some of it sits around a bit longer than it should before I get around to opening it myself or sharing it with friends. Being a Spiced beer, I wasn't sure how the Nora would hold up. I'd always heard that spice levels drop off, like hops, as a beer ages. That can't be good for a beer that derives most of its flavor from spices...

The Baladin Nora pours a warm orange and light bronze color. There's not much of a head to this beer, but there are some rather large clear bubbles floating around the rim of the glass... This beer has an aroma that is similar to a sweet American Tripel. It doesn't smell like a Gruit, which is what I was expecting. There's a little bit of ginger on the nose but it pairs nicely with the honey, orange and caramel malt.

The flavor isn't much different than the aroma, that same honey, ginger and orange combination works quite well. It's a little herbal not medicinal, it's a little peppery but not terribly spicy. The backbone of this beer seems to be caramel malt, though it's a little thin at times.

Baladin Nora is an interesting beer, one that I would like to try again so I could compare a fresher version of this beer to what this year old bottle tastes like.