Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Ölbeat 158: Jopen Doubting Thomas

Brewery: Jopen B.V.
Country: Netherlands
Style: American Strong Ale
Abv: 10 %
@RateBeer

What about the beer?
Colour is dark brown with a finger-thick diminishing natural white head. Aroma has sweet malts, syrup and dark fruits. Taste bites strongly with sweet alcoholic bitterness. Fruity caramel malts and sweet berries take over with a bitter alcohol twist. Towards the end a distinct sweet and bitter berry liquor flavour comes through. Aftertaste is fruity bitter and alcoholic dry.

American Barley Wine meets Belgian Quadrupel creating a disturbingly delicious mix. Barley wine comes out stronger - sweet bitterness and berry flavours play the starring role. Quad-like fruit flavours are present too but yeast is mostly missing. Tastes strong and would perform well as a dessert to end a fine dinner.

Ölbeat

Combination of two strong beer styles calls for symphonic metal - a combination of orchestral and heavy rock elements. Doubting Thomas refers to the apostle who wouldn't believe Jesus had risen from the dead without seeing it with his own eyes. Sometimes there's a story behind doubtfulness - being deceived and lied to before. That's what Sharon den Adel sings about here.

Within Temptation: Angels (YouTube)

From the 2005 album The Silent Force, the song was written by Robert Westerholt, Martijn Spierenburg and Sharon den Adel.