Urthel
De Leyerth Brouwerijen (Urthel)

 

 

 

Appearance: Deep amber in color, with a small white head, which soon collapses. The carbonation is slight, there is a little sediment present.

Aroma: Prominent sweet alcohol note, a bit vinous, there are also notes of pears, figs, and bitter apples. A fairly strong note of brown sugar is present as well.

Taste: Opens with caramel malt, wood,and a wave of earthy spices. As another reviewer noted, it is more than a bit like a Saison. As the taste progresses, there is a wave of warming alcohol. Towards the finish, the earthy spiced and wood notes become more prominent. Finishes with a lingering slight herbal hop note.

Mouth feel: Smooth, soft, and very pleasant.

Drinkability/notes: An very nice, and somewhat off-style BSPA. I regret that this is no longer produced, but at the same time, am glad that I was able to try it once. This example was a gift, and was cellared for a number of years.

Presentation: Packaged in an eleven point two ounce custom bottle, served in a New Belgium Brewing chalice.

 

 

Poured from a 750ml bottle into a tulip, an opaque orange tan with tons of head and lacing.

Wow! Smell is crazy, it made me wonder whether it was contaminated because of the cork smell, but this mellowed out and this thing is just woody and musty with lots of yeast and sour fruit... Wierd but good smells like wine

Taste is some pear and sour apple with a bitter dry finish and a woody old taste throughout, kind of tastes like dusty wood with a sour ale.

Mouthfeel is nice, good balance of carbonation.

Not very drinkable, almost offensive at times...but so interesting!

Notes - this beer is just straight up wierd - an interesting reference point but little else

Reviewed 6/27/2006 (25.4oz bottle):

Pours a huge head, white, with big bubbles. A Cloudy body, amber yellow-brownish in color. Strong floral aroma, some dark fruit, not much else. Floral watery taste, not much other flavors. Some alcohol, but mostly watery.

I found this bottle in an old liquor store. I believe it is 2 years of age. I think the beer was juuust starting to go a little bad bud it was still mediocre.

A - very murky copper

S - fruits, melon, pine apple

T - same as smell but a slightly going bad possibly, a little cork flavor, maybe wood

MF - low carbonation, pretty smoothe.

I think I need to find this beer in its prime. I don't think i got a good one though. Who knows, dammit.

I poured this beer into a Delirium Tremens goblet and drank it. After contemplation, I cannot agree with the majority of BA's about this beer's qualities, it just looked and tasted odd. It may be that I had a small fat bottle (11.2oz) while many reviewers poured from a 750ml corked bottle, or it may be that my bottle was old or not aged properly. I bought it 2 months ago from Parti-Pak in Indianapolis, and it DID have some dust on it back then... Anyway the details follow:

Appearance is fair, with large chunks of yeast floating around in dark pale translucent beer. The aroma is odd, in a Gouden Carolus way but also in a definable Urthel way like the tripel. A hint of cough medicine mixed in with some funky malt rot. Odd but unique, but also not very tempting. The taste is the same unfortunately, and thus all scores are average at best in my opinion.

750ml corked & caged. In the glass it is golden, with a dense, smooth head. The gold is very light in color, almost seeming to generate its own light. Without the Simpons-esque radiation, of course. It smells of apricots, peaches, and candi sugar. Very, very nice. The taste is surprising. Sharp up front, followed by plums and apricots. Not sweet at all really. Almost too dry. The mouthfeel is silky but a bit too thin for the style. The drinkability is good but the very dry finish limits it for me. Not enough to not finish the bottle, of course....All in all, a very solid offering from a very dependable brewery.

12/01/06- Purchased at Booze Bros. in Reno, NV.

Presentation- 750ml bottle, both caged and corked. Small code imprinted on the back label. Poured into my St. Bernardus chalice.

Appearance- Apricot puree colored pour. 3/4 inch yellowish-off white head. A nice light creamy ring settles. Ultra fine yeasties play in the liquid. Really no lacing though.

Smell- Sugary, yet tart in the nose. Seems more towards the sugray side though. Tropical fruit notes, maybe a bit of banana and passionfruit.

Taste- A lot more tart than expected. Light sugar notes in the swallow. Lemon rind-saison like tart. Maybe even approaching a flanders style. Very yeasty and somewhat bready. Mild fruit notes. Interesting meld of flavors. Light alcohol noticed as well.

Mouthfeel- A fit on the foamy carbonation side. Fuller body, a tad creamy and semi smooth.

Drinkability- Seems like a good poolside beer. Refreshing and tasty. Would have again.

Autumn leaves orange-amber with more than a hint of red. Although the beer is lightly foggy, no actual yeast particles are seen. The pastel orange cap is something of a disappointment for a Belgian ale. It's on the brittle, unsticky side and is leaving very little lace. The fact that subsequent pours murk things up to a wonderful shade of orange caramel means the appearance score deserves to be bumped.

The nose is more herbal-spicy and more woody than most BSPAs. As a result, it's also less fruity. That doesn't make it worse necessarily, just different. I'm guessing that some mystery spices were added because it resembles a Fantome saison in many ways.

Tonicum Finiboldhus certainly doesn't lack flavor. It may not be quite Fantome-like on the palate, but it's definitely along those lines. There's an impressive amount of toasted malt underneath the potpourri of spices. The sweetness that it provides is welcome since it offsets what might have been a top note-heavy beer.

I have no clue what was added (the spice bill is especially warm and woodsy), I just know that something other than the usual four ingredients were put into the kettles. I'm beginning to appreciate the sweet-bitter balance more and more as I get deeper into the 750 ml bottle. I might even make it all the way through without going into spice overload.

A relative lack of carbonation assures that the mouthfeel isn't up to the usual high standards for a world-class Belgian ale. Still though, I like the finishing slickness since it promotes even more flavor linger. Mildly peppery alcohol is present if one looks for it, but is otherwise hidden exceptionally well.

I could have sworn that I had partaken of more Urthel beer than Hop-It. Tonicum Finiboldhus Ale is an original creation that, again, has more in common with the saisons from Brasserie Fantome that it does with the classic BSPAs. There are plenty more that I like better, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm loving every ounce of this one.

Poured out a brown/orange glowing beer, crowned by a nice big off white head that died leaving nice lacing behind. The nose offers malty sweetness, fruit, spice, yeast, all things Belgian. The taste echoes the nose, cinnamin and clove are a little stronger here. The mouthfeel is fairly carbonated, the finish is slick and oily.

another BBD 7/6/6, 2 weeks out of date and beer tasted fine. Pours with a very large head, 7x liquid volume, takes some time to die down, not as extreme as the 5.9% urthel reviewed earlier.

Nose is yeasty (not as much as the 5.9%) and floral, not much else in nose here.

Taste is more typical, bitter and yeasty. Typical of belgian amber style, finishes very bitter but remains pleasant. I am not enamoured of this beer but certainly drinkable and enjoyable. Notable that it is at the end of its dated life, would be interesting to try newer.

This brewery's beers are well worth trying.

Appearance: pours an awful looking cloudy dark orange brown color with a short 1/8" head that falls to a surface bubble or two immediately. No lacing. Just doesn't look good to me.

Smell: bread yeast, alcohol, and some fruity sweetness.

Taste: luckily the flavors of this brew make up for the poor appearance as green apples, pears, alcohol, yeast, and a very mild bitterness are wrapped in a bread-like tone. A very faint muskiness was detectable at the finish.

Mouthfeel: smooth at the start, dry and smooth at the finish. The fruitiness and yeast linger softly into the aftertaste. Medium-heavy in body.

Drinkability: not bad, but not one of my favorites from the brewery.

Pours a slightly cloudy amber with a gigantic frothy head. Obvious high carbonation. Aromas of cloves, cinnamon, and pepper, along with plum, sweet cherries and a faint alcohol smell.

Taste: Whoa. This beer is tart! A pronounced lactic sourness presides over this beer. I wonder if I somehow got a tainted bottle, but the tartness seems to be in harmony with the rest of the beer: cinnamon/allspice/pepper/clove. Sweet caramel flavor in the background, and very little emphasis on the hops. Above all the tanginess stands out. It is really a pleasant surprise, as I was expected a standard spicy Belgian strong ale. Instead I get a cross between that and an oud bruin.

Mouthfeel: High carbonation and the acidic twang help to lighten the body. Good dry finish with a slight tangy aftertaste reminiscient of apples or pears.

Drinkability: Until the acid gets to be too much, this beer is all good...

Outstanding Belgian brew. Not sure it is technically a Belgian Strong Pale, but the Belgians have never been that concerned with style parameters.

Appearance: Pours a cloudy medium honey color with a head that looks like the top of a pancake ready to turn (lots of big bubbles); modest head retention and relatively little lacing, however

Smell: Toffee, honey, oak, green apples, cloves and a touch of alcohol

Taste: Starts out dry and yeasty, with definite honey/toffee flavors that show a lot of restraint on the sweetness; modest bitterness mid-palate balances the sweetness; the finish is very dry and nicely balanced

Mouthfeel: Lots of carbonation with a medium body

Drinkability: With well-restrained sweetness, this is avoids the cloying aspect of some Belgians - first class!

A lot like the lighter American amber ales and English brown milds, the Urthel has the great purity and simplicity to be refreshing and just enough flavor to be filling without weighing me down. The aromatics are like melted caramel candies with some nuttiness in the background. Despite that richness, the taste is completely dry and clean. I think I can taste the actual water this beer was made with. The flavors change from caramel to something a little more sinister and, well, Belgian -- whatever that flavor is that a cave adds to something is in here, whether or not this is aged in caves.

Relax, relax
ng.

Serving type was a 750ml champagne bottle with cork. The bar even had the correct Urthel glass to serve with it, a nice touch.

Poured a hazy, pale orange colour with a big foamy head that just sort of sat there and didn't want to go away. Highly carbonated, lots of streaming bubbles in the glass. Visible sediment floating around in the glass.

A bit of a fruity aroma. Flavour was a bit sweet with some fruit flavours and a bit of spiciness (slight clove maybe?). A slight dry finish.

Not a bad beer, but nothing spectacular either. It was interesting and something different, but I wouldn't drink more then one, particularly in that size of bottle.