Jopen Adriaan

Jopen
Brewed at Brouwerij Huyghe
Style: Traditional Ale
Haarlem, Netherlands

cloudy, murky gold/orange with no head. specks in beer. citrusy, caramel, butterscotch aroma. flavor is lightly sour with butterscotch, honey and toffee notes. hints of stingy citrus. tastes kind of like honey/lemon tea(might be good warmed) strange crackly mouthfeel(pop rocks?). light-med bodied. several herbs are present but i can’t identify them. more of neat experience than anything i would drink regularly. enjoyable.

Interesting gruit beer, very herbal tea-like flavor, some honey and light caramel sweetness up front with a fruity herbal finish. Pours rich amber, very clear, with a fast falling white head. Thick body and light spicy finish round it all up. Wasn’t as estery as I was expecting.

Bottled 30cl (BB 07/2007). Pale hazy yellow-orange color, small white head. Aroma of herbs and diacetyl-butterscotch. Light lemonade palate. Herbal, light spicey flavor, sweetish fruity notes (apple, lemon). Quite witbier-like. Gruit is more like vanity here.

Clear gold with a big white head. Aroma seems to be of... well... an ill defined spice. Flavour is very strong lemon but again the spices make it somewhat unpleasant for me. This beer is a bit funky but not in a good way.

brassy as a turtle-waxed tuba, the adriaan hits the glass hissing like a cornered, stick-poked possum: it’s the big carbonation, snappy and soda-poppy. the head it produces is a temporal thing, gone faster than a lost wallet on a subway seat, but thin lace will autograph your glass and be a lasting memento. only a few micro-particles keep the beer from perfect clarity. exuding a mild ginger ale aroma with a touch of zest, honeysuckle and pear, the smell offers little to suspend a hurried quaff. taking a drink: bang! it’s a swat team well-drilled to take down thirst. while bright carbonation leads, the sweetness is restrained enough for the adult palette. golden malts leave little footprint, the alcohol is negligible, but woody tones mingle with faintly sour citrus and watery pineapple flavor. along with an even more faint smudge of clay-like yeast, adriaan left my ol’ spit-spigot well-quenched and fondly recalling a modestly bitter sustain.

Cloudy copper coloured beer with a fast fading white head. Aroma of light toffeeish malt, a bit of coriander citrus notes, cardamon and some yeasty dustiness. Fairly thin bodied. As it warms it seems to sweeten a bit. Some citrusy tangerine flavour with a subtly herbal finish. Okay, but not really great.

Hazy, toasted wheat color with a loose, scattering, sudsy white head. Aroma of apple sauce, orange-blossom honey, flowery heather, and herbal spice suggesting corander. Flavor brings out pear characters with prominent honey notes and medium, unbalanced sweetness. Comes across like a thin spiced wine/mead. Flat, syrupy thin body. Doesn’t particularly appeal to me. I’d be curious to try a very fresh sample, but that’s not an easy option.

Aroma has some mild apple notes, mild spice some more pronounced herbal and spice notes. The body is light amber that leans more to yellow than light orange. There is some suspended yeast specks in the pour. The head starts large, two fingers thick, but the fluffy whiteness fades away fairly quickly. The fore is spiced apple and a mash of apothecary herbs. The bosy is fairly full, but the flavor has a watery tasting finish. On the whole though I rather liked this. There are coriander notes that linger on the tongue..just as a p.s.