Ölbeat 158: Jopen Doubting Thomas

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

Ölbeat 025: Jopen Koyt

Brewery: Jopen B.V.
Country: the Netherlands
Style: Traditional Ale
Abv: 8,5 %
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Ale with Gruit spices from the 15th century

Jopen B.V., founded in 1996, is a brewery in Haarlem, the Netherlands. The brewery's roots are in the Medieval period in the 1300's when Haarlem-brewed beer was freighted even abroad in 112 barrels called Jopen in Dutch. The brewery moved in 2010 to an old church (now Jopenkerk, old Jacobskerk) and expanded to a new brewing facility in 2014. Two of the brewery's continuous brews are made with original old recipes: Hoppen, the hopped beer, originates in 1501 and Koyt, the Gruit-spiced beer, in 1407. Both these beer brands have been Jopen brand before the brewery was founded, Hoppen from 1994 and Koyt from 1995.

What about the beer?
Colour is deep dark brown with a foam crown. Aroma caresses the nose with sweet malts and forest berries. Taste follows the aromas: mildly sweet, spiced caramel malts flow in the mouth in a very old-aleish way. Palate adds a gentle herbal, slightly alcoholic bite. In the end, aftertaste is sweet and malty.

Despite the obvious availability problems I should travel to the world of traditional gruit ales more often. When long history and culture are behind the birth of a brewery, it usually creates a rich and silky smooth experience.

Ölbeat

It wasn't easy to pick a song for this one. An acoustic folky tune was what I had in mind, but instead of a traditional hymn I found this modern one:

Eddie Vedder: Rise (YouTube)

From the 2007 soundtrack/album Into the Wild, the song was written by Vedder. It's an acoustic man-and-the-mandolin folk song, the Pearl Jam singer taking care of the vocals and the only other instrument involved. Lyrics seem to tell about the narrator's will to forget the wrongs in his past and keep going forward: "Gonna rise up / Burning black holes in dark memories / Gonna rise up / Turning mistakes into gold". The song gives the same kind of emptied positive feeling that I got after enjoying Jopen Koyt.