Ommegang Game of Thrones: King In The North

I have only purchased a few beers in Ommegang's Game of Thrones series. The main reason for this is that I felt underwhelmed by the early entries in the series outside of Fire & Blood and decided that maybe they were a bit too gimmicky for my taste. The 2018 Game of Thrones Royal Reserve Collection had a few offerings that piqued my interest, but nothing that got me to walk out of the store with a bottle-- that was until I saw the final entry in the series.

King in the North is a barrel aged imperial stout and in early December that seems to be the only style I want to drink and blog about. I apologize for this but every time a season begins to change, I find myself looking for beer that I feel defines the season. Huge imperial stouts fit that bill and if they are aged in a barrel, even better.

King in the North is aged in a bourbon barrel, but immediately on the nose I noticed the barrel aging was not as bold as I normally like. Instead, there is the aroma of a really nice imperial stout. There is a lot of roast, dark chocolate, a touch of coffee, smoke, a hint of dark fruit and oak tannins. I was looking for more of a vanilla or bourbon note but unfortunately there was not much there.

When I took my first sip of King in the North, I was hit with a huge amount of roast, bittersweet dark chocolate, molasses, plum, dark cherry, smoke, and brown sugar with a boozy, earthy, fruity, peppery, woody finish. There is a lot to like here, the flavors line up nicely for what I would expect from a great Belgian-style imperial stout. I just wanted the barrel to shine a bit more. There were hints of vanilla, but the oak was the strongest note from the barrel. My other criticism is that King in the North is a touch thin. For a beer brewed for Jon Snow, I wanted it to have just little bit more body. Nevertheless, I enjoyed King in the North, it is a solid beer that is priced very reasonably and its bottle presentation is excellent. It also pairs nicely with the season 8 teaser trailer.

Overall rating: 3.5/5


Rating Scale:
1. Repugnant and undrinkable
2. Acceptable but forgettable
3. Good, worth a purchase
4. Excellent, a step above the norm
5. Truly Exceptional. Drop everything, BUY IT NOW!

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Thanks for reading. Sláinte!