Jopen Adriaan

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

Pours a hazy golden with lots of floaters. Aroma of some sour fruits, some orange, and spices. Taste is the same, but a weird sourness in there is overwhelming. Fizzy watery body. Not very good.

Bottle. Cloudy orange with a cloying, white head. Sweet and fruity aroma. Flavours are sweet and malty with an appetizing dryness towards the finish. Spicy and fruity. Lightish body. An above average thirst quencher.

Bottle. Dark yellowish-brown pour, good head that fizzed out quickly but never disappeared. Nice spiced wheaty taste. Mouthfeel is heavier than average for a wheatbeer. I loved the taste, but there was inadequate carbonation and hops. By the end of the glass the tastiness was stlil there, but lacking the tart kick that a little more hops and carbonation could provide. Felt flat at the end. Still, the clove/spice taste makes it worth a try.

(Draught at White Horse, Parson’s Green, London 21 Apr 2006) Golden yellow colour, slightly hazy, firm white head. Very nice spicy nose with clove, cardamom and a wheaty, sweet/sour character. Taste is spicy with clove and coriander, lightly sweet and light body. Quite nice, but the nose is better than the taste.

hmm, gruit eh? smells cidery, spicy, fruity, slightly wheaty and yeasty but those last two scents are more subdued. herbally sweet, and it’s quite a nice interplay between the sweetness and a tiny bit of acidic tartness. more tartness in the finish which allows it to finish dry although most of the flavor is sweet. like most ’traditional ales,’ this is another sweet beer and it’s pretty likeable.

Yellow, brown. Nice herbal, yeasty aroma. Yeasty flavor, a bit wheat-like and a little bit sour. Overall an interesting brew with a historical story attached to it.

Bottle. Sour milk, clove, and stale wheat aroma. Murky orange-amber color with minimal head. Sour apple and stale wheat flavor - really works well. A nice clean tasting traditional beer. Very enjoyable.

Unusual ’gruit’ beer that had ’traditional’ written all over it (even with Dutch authorities insisting on the use of hops). As DuffMan says, it is one that has mixed ratings and of the two bottles I tasted I can honestly say that each was different from the other. Came across as more of a millet beer, so it serves it well as an incite into the beers of yesteryear. Poured into a chalice cool but not cold. The big yeast pack on the bottom of the bottle dispersed to make a murky pastel orange body of beer, with a short, mostly lasting, soapy white crown that managed some lace. Yeasty, sourdough and glutinous, starchy grains in the unusual, off-putting aroma that, with these samples, were tainted by cheesy notes. A late tang of grassy herbs and ginger couldn’t save it, and this nasty aroma precluded each sip. Thankfully clean in the mouth; strong palest wheat and unconverted grains give it a lightly pasty feel on the palate. Tastes like sour muesli soaked in water, in a good way. Light in body and charged with a prickly, spritzy carbonation that tickled the tongue. Light lactic note came in late with a zing of fresh squashed lemons down the sides and a dried herbal flavour that I couldn’t quite pin-point. Finish is clean and crisp with a rather fresh aftertaste of sour fruits. Went down with ease despite that woeful pong and was quite refreshing overall. Subtle, simple, yet unique, so I liked it. One to try again! (30cL, braurei Jopen, Haarlem, 10/08/06, Int’l Beer Shop, W. Leederville)