Jovaru Alus

Brewed by A. Udrienes (Jovaru Alus)
Style: Traditional Ale
Jovarai, Lithuania

Serve in Dimpled mug, English pint, Stein, Yard

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

UPDATED: NOV 9, 2009 Draught at Alus Namai, Vilnius (as Jovaru Kaimiškas Alus.). Cloudy deep golden, small head. herbal and fairly sweet, creamy and mildly fruity. Low carbonation gives the already soft malt character an extra cushion. Lots of ripe fruits, but fairly low on hops and bitterness.

Frothy, tan-coloured and cloudy. Leafy, fresh, bready aroma. Extremely refreshing palate. Very much like a cask bitter. The cleanest example of the style, with brilliant balance between the leafy indigenous hops and sweet, bready malts.

Draught @ Alaus Namai. Muddy dark orange colour with a nice creamy head. Sweetish fruity yeasty aroma. Great mouthfeel indeed. Fresh malty, yeasty and fruity bit sweet flavour with a pleasant soft bitterness. Very fresh and very tasty brew!

Draught@Šnekutis, Old Town, Vilnius
Hazy orange-amber color, small white head. Aroma of green beans, bread and alcohol. Medium-bodied. Flavor of sweet malts, honey, wood and green beans. Aftertaste has lingering woody sweetness and minerally bitterness.

UPDATED: APR 8, 2012 Tap (Jovaru Brewery) (7:4:7+:4:15=3.7)
Hazy, mostly head, settles after 10 minutes. Slightly irony aroma. Superb refreshing taste, fruity and with some intangible wow! qualities. Dry, and well attenuated. Soft and so full. A magical brew fresh.
Rerate of: Keg (Šnekutis, Vilnius) (5:3:5:3:11=2.7)
Hazy brown. Sour aroma. Crisp full-bodied unfiltered lager taste. Sourness too prominent, and there’s some vegetal nature to the hops too. Would like a fresher sample - i.e. should rerate.

Tasted as Jovaru Šnekutis Kainiškas alus Small rim, mossy-orange colour. Grain, grain, grain and some malt. Caramelaroma. Sweet malts, maltsyrup, honeyish. Syrupy, slick², viscous. Pretty awful, and I wonder whether it’s fermented at all? Tim, Martin, etc. I’m sure this tastes great on tap in Lietuva, but in the west, from the PET, it s*cks right royally. Thanks to marcusftbd

UPDATED: MAR 18, 2012 My Bottom Line:
A modest barn sits on earthen terrain, pear esters and a few herbal hop vines in this easy drinking Kaimiškas Alus.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A ring of foam tops the cloudy amber (from the bottle or Šnekutis tap). At the brewery, foam was plentiful and lacing all the way down the pint glass.
-When the carbonation is low (bottles and gravity cask), the earthy barn character stands out. But carbonation levels vary even from bottle to bottle...
-This is excellent with smoked peas.
-Mouthfeel is soft and full (for a quencher).
-The only comparison I can make for this type of brew (Kaimiškas Alus) is that it could resemble a farmhouse version of an ESB, or perhaps a twilight zone version of a Bière de Garde.

On gravity cask at Šnekutis Užupis (3.3), on tap at the brewery tasting room (4.2), at the Šnekutis in the Old Town, at Alaus Namai, and from many bottles (3.6).

(Draught at Šnekutis in Vilnius, Lithuania)
On May 1, 2008
Shady copper color, white head. Subtle sweet scent. Sweet, acidic, bitter taste. Moussy mouthfeel, high bitterness.

In short: An earthy, farmhouse and floral/herbal ale that defies classification. Drinking a piece of land
How: From the tank directly at the brewery. Also on cask Šnekutis Užupis and tap at Alaus Namai, Vilnius, Lithuania and from a PET 500ml bottle. This rating is for the tap directly at the brewery which was much better than my other experiences with this beer
The look: Very cloudy glowing dark amber body topped by a small beige head
In long: Nose is quite floral and herbal, dirty and with a farmhouse/henhouse character. Taste is has husky grainy malts with a strong earthy character, flowery and herbal hops essence, citrusy notes. This beer truly smells and taste small-scale farmhouse, you can literally feel the regional terroir touching your senses, like drinking a piece of land and being able to taste its history. Hard to describe really. I wasn’t impressed with the cask at Šnekutis Užupis and even less by the bottle version but the pint I had directly at the brewery was pretty damn fine and even had a nice mouthfeel. Not only was the beer awesome, but drinking it on location at the brewery tasting room was an unforgettable experience. I like to travel to foreign countries and discover new breweries and locate find new places to dispose of bodies.

Bottle sample @ ZBF’13 shared with the RB Belgian crew courtesy of Joris and British friends. Ambre sur un léger trouble, col beige moyen. Arôme est en effet mielleux. Note de grains et moût, malté reste subtile couvert par ce bouquet organique. Palais est aussi doux et mielleux voire organique sans vraiment ce côté faux-sucré. Malt est moyen avec un houblons se faisant très discret. Sympa malgré l’esthétique de la bouteille ne jouant pas en sa faveur. A parier et sans l’effervescence, cette bière peut quais passer pour un hydromel léger.