Julebryg 2007
Amager Bryghus

 

2007 Bottle Vintage, Batch 45, Best By Date 8 2012; Sampled May 2008
Very well carbonated as a careful pour produces a four-finger thick, lightly brown tinged tan colored head that continues to grow a bit after I pour it. The aroma is quit fruity, sweet and lightly kissed with baking spice notes. Aromas of cherries, prunes, raisins, chocolate, allspice, mace, sweet clove, white pepper, ginger and winter green are all noticeable, though the spiciness seems to mesh together making individual notes hard to pull out. This has quite a malt backbone to it, with the aroma smelling of richly toasted bread, brown sugar and caramelized sweet breads. This has a very pronounced aroma to it that is mostly a mix of fruit and spice like aromatics; this definitely smells like a holiday beer.

Quite well carbonated, the beer has a thickness to it but still fizzes quite a bit as it passes over the tongue. The beer is surprisingly tart considering I was expecting lots of sweetness. It still has a fair amount of sweetness, but is definitely tempered by a lightly sour edge. Dusty cocoa notes (with a light bitterness) and some dusty toasted grain notes linger in the finish a bit as does a lightly herbal, almost menthol like bitterness. Pepper-like spiciness couples with woody ginger notes, heavy turpene-like notes of clove and nutmeg, some sharp anise notes and even some burnt citrus peel flavors. This has such an interesting spiciness to it that it must actually have used some during the brewing process. Actually the more this warms up the more convinced I am that some spices were definitely used here. The finish really has a tongue numbing quality (though light) to it that is characteristic of turpene laden spices. The malt plays a significant role here; it provides the sweetness and also contributes the cocoa flavors as well as flavors of toasted whole grain bread, some roast grain notes that even make me think of coffee.

Definitely a bit more tart than your typical Belgian yeast strain might account for, having said that I like what the light tartness brings to this beer; it makes this beer a bit lighter and cuts the rich, almost thick malt character just enough so that this is still a chewy sipping beer, but not overly cloying. The tartness could even be attributed to the spices used, especially as the beer warms it seems like the spices might be contributing tot the light tartness here.