Wayne's World
Jopen Bier BV Haarlem

Sorry to bring the ratings down, but I guess the blame goes to whomever distributed this 7 year old bottle to my local store.

Dated 4 July 2016 (and it shows) Poured copper/gold with a one-finger white foam and what looked like two tablespoons of coconut flakes. I mean this nearly requires a bowl with a spoon. Once some of the solids settled I was able to take a couple of sips, it tasted ok considering, but yeah - had to pour that one down the drain.

Pours hazy cloudy amber orange with some sediment and a creamy white foam head. Smells like fresh spicy juniper berries, spruce, cedar wood, acidic grapefruit, citrus, caramelized malt, with earthy herbal resinous floral pine. Tastes like spicy juniper, spruce, cedar wood, grapefruit, pithy citrus, peppercorns, biscuity caramelized malt, with earthy herbal resinous floral pine. Feels medium-light bodied, creamy with moderate smooth carbonation. Overall a real nice and interesting American blonde ale with juniper berries and grapefruit aged on cedarwood.

 

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a slightly hazy golden amber with a two finger white head with good retention and thick lacing. Aroma of pale malt, juniper, lemon, graperfruit and spicy cedar. Flavor is sweet malt, grapefruit, orange, juniper, white pepper and cedar astringency. Medium bodied with light creaminess. A semi-sweet blonde ale with interesting woody and spicy flavors from the juniper and cedar. All the additional ingredients have clear and flavorful presence in the taste. Both botanical additions give a nice non-hop bitterness that serves this ale well. A little on the sweet side, but very interesting and enjoyable. This sounded a little busy in the description, but turned out very nicely. I usually request a frequency change when I know a beer has been rereleased, but because this is a Shelton Brothers distribution on the West Coast, I'm not sure how old it is. It tastes fine, so I suspect in this case it may have been brewed again.

 

 

 

A: The beer is hazy yellow in color and has lots of visible particulates floating in suspension. It poured with a half finger high bright white head that quickly died down, leaving lacing on the surface and a collar around the edge of the glass.
S: Light aromas of grapefruit and cedar are present in the nose.
T: The taste starts off with flavors of juniper berries, which transition to grapefruit followed by cedar, the latter of which linger into the finish.
M: It feels just about medium-bodied and a little crisp on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: The taste of this beer has an interesting mix of flavors, neither of which is overpowering. I found it to be enjoyable.

Serving type: bottle

 

Poured from 11.2-ounce bottle into a heavy mug. This was a bit of a gusher. I noticed that there was a tremendous amount of particulate matter suspended in the beer, so I poured it through a double layer of cheesecloth. There appeared to be nothing but thick, white foam in the glass. It began to settle after a few moments, eventually receding into a spotty white cap leaving a ton of sticky lacing. The beer is a hazy, dark orange-yellow in color, with aromas and flavors exactly as might be expected from the description on the label: grapefruit, grapefruit zest, juniper, and cedar, with floral and tart orange notes on the palate and a light malt structure holding everything in balance. Pleasantly bitter on the finish, with a little astringence that brings to mind chewing on a cedar toothpick. Very tasty and interesting brew.

 

A: Poured into a pint glass to a slightly hazy golden blonde topped by a dense two finger soapy white head that retains well and leaves decent lacing. A slightly aggressive pour caused this one to dump a bunch of sediment into the beer.
S: Smells of citrus and pine with some toasted bready malt notes.
T: Taste is slightly biscuty with some juniper and grapefruit with some woody cedar notes. Swallow is more cedar and grapefruit with more juniper.
M: This beer has a slightly syrupy medium mouthfeel. Carbonation is soft and effervescent but slightly prickly. The beer has a drying finish as well.
O: Overall this is well made and hit the marks they were working on. I think it tries to do a little too much. It's something you probably have to be in the mood for and I'm not. Worth a try if you like your beers a little off kilter though.

Surprisingly good, excellent balance of citrus and and perfume notes from the juniper and cedar. Perhaps a contender for an old stylee IPA!

 

 

L:
-pours a clear golden-orange with a medium to big,frothy,offwhite head
-medium to high carbonation visible
-big particle floaties visible
S:
-grapefruit,oranges,tangerines,juniperhoney,vannila,wood tanin
T:
-Follows the nose + herbs
-medium to high bitterniss for the style
F:
-medium carbonation
-light to medium body
O:
This works really well.
Not (as i feared) just a miscategorized IPA, but a really good fruited Golden Ale

 

Missed the mark of a blonde ale.

 

Reviewed from (long-standing) notes. Poured from an 11.2 oz. bottle into an El Catador teku glass.

A: Hazy gold, with a good amount of visible carbonation. Forms a fairly large two-finger white head with good retention. There's quite a bit of "floaters" in suspension as well.

S: Pretty puny overall. There’s some grapefruit, mild resin, and some biscuit malts with a touch of sweet corn and pilsner malts. Absolutely nothing to write home about, and no hint of cedar on the nose.

T: Pale malts and a biscuity and hardtack malt sweetness up front. Grapefruit and mild resinous bitterness. Some fruity yeast esters as well in the middle palate. Just at the swallow there’s a splash of spicy Spanish cedar with its dryness and a touch black peppery. A fair amount of resin hop bitterness for a so-called “blonde ale” in the hang with the faint cedar.

M: Light-bodied, and low alcohol presence. Carbonation sensation is lower than the appearance suggested.

O: Weird. It drinks like an excessively hoppy American Blonde Ale. Which, for my preference, makes it more drinkable than most blonde ales, but not as tasty as an APA. The fruity esters don’t play as well with even the modest bitterness. And I wish the cedar was ratcheted up – it feels like they chickened out with it. It never needs to obliterate the other flavors, but it’s so mild here they may as well have skipped it. For someone (i.e., me) that loved Humidor IPA from Cigar City, this label seemed exciting. But ultimately it's a pretty big letdown. That said, if hand-to-a-fire I was going to drink an American Blonde Ale, this might me my choice. But it's not particularly good, and ultimately significantly off-style.

 

 

 

Poured from a 12 oz bottle dated 04 July 2016 into the test glass.
A - The gentle pour yields a sunflower colored backdrop. Modest carbonation migrates top side, the frothy cap lasts ages.
The gentle pour was needed, as the bottle showed massive sediments, possibly the coarse parts of grapefruit addition, either way large bits in the bottle I chose to keep there.
S - Warm candied fruit slices, orange, pineapple, lily blends with hints of cedar, that juniper adds a delightful element.
T - Warm biscuit, spread with pineapple, apricot jam. Leather (from the cedar maybe) , a bit of white pepper, honey and some nice wheat graininess. The yeast is distinct and quite interesting.
M - Surprisingly thick, oily on the palate, full coating starts mildly sweet, and continues on that trajectory. Carbonation struggles to move things along. A nice piney bitterness meanders its way in and plants the flag. the linger stays on the bitter side and refuses to budge until the next sip.
O - A hefty bodied offering that is compellingly complex. From the cedar to the juniper berries, the blonde ale base is a great platform to build off of.
Worth seeking out

http://imgur.com/gqaqyZY

330 ml bottle into tulip glass, bottled on 7/4/2016. Pours very hazy/cloudy golden amber/light orange color with a 1-2 finger dense and rocky white head with great retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Nice dense soapy lacing clings on around the glass. Aromas of big grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, peach, lemon zest, orange peel, juniper, spruce, pepper, cedar wood, pine, honey, wheat, biscuit, herbal, and floral/grassy earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of citrus/fruity/pine hops, grapefruit/juniper, cedar, and moderate bready malt notes; with great strength. Taste of big grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, peach, lemon zest, orange peel, juniper, spruce, pepper, cedar wood, pine, honey, wheat, biscuit, herbal, and floral/grassy earthiness. Light-moderate pine/herbal/spicy bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, peach, lemon/orange peel, juniper, spruce, pepper, cedar wood, pine, honey, wheat, biscuit, and herbal/floral/grassy earthiness on the finish for a while. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/fruity/pine hops, grapefruit/juniper, cedar, and moderate bready malt flavors; with a great malt/bitter/spiciness balance, and zero astringent flavors after the finish. Light dryness from bitter/spiciness, increasing through the glass. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/bready/grainy, fairly sticky, and lightly resinous balanced mouthfeel that is great. Zero warming alcohol as expected of 6.5%. Overall this is a great fruit/spiced American blonde ale! All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/fruity/pine hops, grapefruit/juniper, cedar, and moderate bready malt flavors; very smooth, easy, and pretty refreshing to drink. Nicely bright on hops; with balanced malt, fruit, juniper, and cedar flavors. A very enjoyable offering.

 

 

 

On tap at De Paas. Semi-hazy orange with a fine-grained white head. Smells like tropical fruit - ripe pineapple, papaya, passion fruit - grapefruit and floral hops. Bitter-sweet and well balanced.