Days of the Beer, August 7

The beer for today is Nøgne Ø Imperial Stout.

On August 7, 1975, Kristian Eivind Espedal was born. Who the hell is Kristian Eivind Espedal?

Kristian is better known by his stage name, Gaahl. Gaahl was born in Espedal Norway. It's a small family owned village, Gaahl still lives there.

In 1992, Gaahl began his involvement in black metal. He's been in bands like Gaahlskagg (with Skagg; very original name), Trelldom, Sigfader, and most importantly Gorgoroth!!!

Gorgoroth is somewhat famous for their live shows. On Feb. 1, 2004, at a concert in Krakow Poland, they had sheep heads on stakes, 80 liters of sheep's blood, satanic symbols, and four naked crucified models on stage. This show was supposed to be for a DVD, but apparently it's illegal in Poland to be offensive to someone's religion; so the video footage was confiscated.

Gaahl uses satanic imagery to easily convey a point about Christianity. He is a practitioner of old Nordic Shamanism, but really really really hates Christianity, so he uses satanism to anger christians.

He was in prison in 2001 for assault. He was also in prison in 2006 for 9 months for assaulting a man and torturing him. He was released in December 2006.

So, in honor of the Blackest Norwegian Rocker, crack open one of the Blackest Norwegian Beers, Nøgne Ø Imperial Stout. I had this beer earlier this month on August 2. It's pretty darn good.

From their website:

IMPERIAL STOUT 23°P,75 IBU, 9% ALC/VOL

We think the russian tsar would have liked his stout this way. A dark, rich ale in which a generous sweetness with roasted malt bitterness. Serving temp.10°C/50°F. Great with vanilla ice cream or dark chocolate.

Ingredients: Maris Otter, Munich, roasted barley, oat, black, and chocolate malt; Columbus and Crystal hops; English ale yeast, and our local Grimstad water.

I'm not sure if Gaahl is a beer drinker. He's a picky vegetarian. Although I think part of the torture charge included something to do with drinking blood. When I had the Imperial Stout, I didn't notice any hint of blood.