Tropical Freedom
Jopen Bier BV Haarlem

Poured from a brown 11.2 oz. bottle. Has a slightly hazy orange color with a 1/2 inch head. Smell is of tropical fruits. Taste is also tropical fruits, mild bitterness. Feels medium bodied in the muth and overall, for a beer past it's prime, it's not bad at all.

 

better than its ratings here, but probably on its last legs in terms of freshness if they only brewed it once, its fading both in fruit and in hops, but its still a really tasty brew, unique and drinkable. i havent had nearly enough beers from either of these operations, so i was excited to find this one. its got some haze to it, peach colored, and with a thick and rising white head an inch high, just a bit of sediment swirling around too. it smells like dried apricot and pineapple chunks that come in trail mix, fruity and concentrated and sweet, with a mango sweetness too, not exactly fresh, but still natural to me and very appealing. in the flavor, the fruit is set against a hearty cereal background that includes some spelt, which i often love in an ipa type but have rarely seen in a fruited ipa. its slightly spicy like rye can be, lightly baked here but short of a caramel or crystal character, and also very substantial, with a lot of body and oomph to it, smooth and bready and rich without being at all sweet, a nice base for this fruit and these hops, which are starting to fade but still have a topical hit of their own in here. it comes together really well, neither overly fruited, or particularly bitter, drinks almost more like a pale, and i really like the spelt in here. somewhat yeasty in a unique way for the style to, i would suspect the jopen influence there. a cool beer overall that i would have loved to try super fresh but that has retained its value pretty well on the shelf for a few months. brightly carbonated and summery but hearty. yum.