Hantverksbryggeriet Vinternarren

Brewed by Hantverksbryggeriet
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Västerås, Sweden

Serve in English pint

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Julnarren draught Monks porterhouse. Pours brown red with a tan head. Chocolate and spicy taste

Bottle. Moderate malt and hops of roasted, milk chocolate, mild coffee and cooked orange, light to moderate dough and leather for the yeast with raisin, fig and boozy alcohol in the background. Head is small, wispy, off-white with no lacing but good legs and id almost fully diminishing. Color is clear dark reddish brown. Flavor starts moderately sweet and lightly acidic, then finishes lightly to moderately sweet, moderately acidic and heavily bitter. palate is on the fuller side of medium, greasy and muddy feeling, with a soft carbonation and a lightly astringent finish. This beer smells pretty good, but the flavor and texture is a bit of a mess for a ESB. 90% per style? Really?

Sampled as "Julnarren". Aroma and taste of caramel, malt, brown sugar, fruit, yeast, spices and some orange. The taste is slightly sticky sweet. Interesting beer with several flavors that bubbles up here and there in the taste.

Deep dark brown, smoke tinted brown body with a very thin deep bright white head that fades very fast - interesting look to a beer, I don’t think i’ve ever seen one like this - definitely not an esb at that! Aroma of pale malt, yeast, raisins, pit fruits, a touch of alcohol and some nuts and earth. Medium-bodied; Nice effervescent kick at first with a solid malty backbone, some light cherry and stone fruit flavours with a bit of an earthy kick at the end without any bitterness. Aftertaste shows a herbal flavour with a little spruce or pine and some solid spices. Overall, an interesting and complex beer in every sense of the word - nice to try and solid, although for the price, there are better options in the complexity department. I sampled this 33 cL stubby bottle purchased from Oliver’s Beverage in Albany, New York on 18-November-2011 for US$7.99 sampled at home in Washington on 22-March-2012.

Appearance: black cherries with a touch of haze. Small tan head fades into a thin bubbly film. Swirls with little change; no lace.
Nose: tart, leathery, and funkalicious in the back. Essence of forestry and greenery – ferns and fir. Figs and juniper. Plum skins and spice. Leathery bretty wild tannins dominate.
Palate: tart, tannic, leathery. Red plum and grape skins – a snap of sweet then bitter skin delights. Juniper and fig are inseparable. Very dry finish, parching, with more leather and grape pomace – pits, stems, seeds, and skins pre-grappa. Twigs, bark, and dry earth. More juniper and figs in the breath.
Final Thoughts: very aromatic and flavor forward. Categorized as a Premium Bitter/ESB, that’s not really at all what I got from my particular bottle. Definitely on the wild side, not the English side, and so I wonder if my bottle was old and/or tainted. I liked it, but a revisit is definitely in order.

Bottle at home as Julnarren. Pours amber with a medium off white head. Heavy malty aroma with notes of sweet toasted caramel, tobacco, dark fruit and some dark berries. Quite bready. The flavour is toasted bread, dark fruit and some tobacco. Good malty brew.

UPDATED: MAR 17, 2012
Name: Julnarren
Date: January 11, 2012
Mode: Bottle
Source: Appachelian Vinters, Asheville
Appearance: clear dark amber, fine beige head, streaks of drippy lace
Aroma: spicy and earthy aroma, floral, light tartness
Flavor: dry caramel flavor, light fruity sweetness, light tartness, touch of spicyness
Overall: is tart funkyness intentional?
Aroma: 3/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 3/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 6/20
Rating: 1.9/5.0
Drinkability: 4/10
Score: * /4

33cl bottle. Cloudy brown colour with minimal and quickly diminishes tan head. Nice lacework on the glass. Aroma is moderate malty, nutty and caramelish. Flavour is sweet at the beginning with a final moderate bittery. Sweet on palate, with dry fruits hints and some orange traces are also present. The aftertaste results bready, dense on palate and bittery with an average duration. Carbonation is medium. Body is medium to high. Texture is oily.

Appearance: Pours out a clear, tanned leather hued body with an inch of bubbly beige foam.

Smell: Toasty malts featuring a whiff of dark brown sugar, berry-esque fruit, and a hint of shredded mint leaf.

Taste: Moderately sweet, nutty caramel and brown sugar over deeply toasted malts. A little handful of berries, which left me wondering if there’s juniper in here. Some spruce, a sprig of mint and a thin vein of tartness. Fruity, lightly tart, middlingly malty finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium carbonation. Creamy mouthfeel.

Overall: Just as I’m not sure about these Terrance and Phillip-style labels, I’m just not sure about this beer.

murky brown amber with no head. full body with medium carbonation.

aroma: sweet roasty malt, subtle phenolic spices.

taste: sweet dark roasty malt, phenolic spicing, and a hint of leafy hops.

not bad, but nothing special.

Pours a dark cloudy amber with a small head. Strong malt aroma. It has a medium thick mouthfeel. Wood notes with a semi bitter finish.