Gulpener Wintervrund (2005-2007)

Formerly brewed at Gulpener Bierbrouwerij
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Gulpen, Netherlands

Ruby of color, almost no head. sweet in aroma, smells like Jägermeister, sweet berries and corianders. Pretty light in taste, light spicy with corianders.

Bottle from de bierkoning, amsterdam. Unlike the pretty picture displayed here on ratebeer, there is actually no head in my serafijn glass despite an agressive pour. Raspberry in colour with nose to match. Top that up with notes of orange, fig, treacle, shortbread and plum. Light and airy aroma. A thin body gives way to a watery flavour. I can see where a lot of people would flat out accuse this beer of being bland, but I prefer to be optimistic. It’s like fireworks going off ten minutes apart. Very pretty, but would make more of an impression if they all went off at once. You get tiny bursts of flavour between long intervals. It’s a strange phenomenon. Apple.......orange........pineapple.......brown sugar......maple syrup.......nuts. The progression seems natural when mapped out like that. It’s very, very drinkable. I love the combintation of flavours. It isn’t obvious. It isn’t in your face. It’s unique. I am rating this beer on it’s enjoyability, rather than standard ratebeer merit. It’s a comfortable fit, worth trying at least once and maybe twice. I’ll be having it again...

Bottle at home. Beautiful ruby color. Little head in mine, little carbonation? Fruity cassis, berryish but spicy taste. Coriander taste on the end, quite sharp.

Bottle. Amber colour with a nice creamy head. Aroma and flavour of fruit, caramel and sweet malt.

Small off-white head over foxy-amber beer, with a slight haze. Cookies, baker’s yeast and sweet rum-based liqueur, sweet raisinbread (seeped in rum) and at the ende, cumin aroma. Sweet spiced cake - kruidkoek the Dutch would say - (if this is Deventer kruidkoek, and spiced with cumin (the contents speak of no spices!) as in Leidse cheese - this must be the "All Holland" beer, no?). Very aromatic malts (and grains) anyway. Medium bodied, some traces of alcohol warming (and somehow, I guess, fusels). A 4-grains beer made with the mix of bottom- and topfermenting yeasts, and, following the ingredients listing, no spicing (???). Seen the aromatic properties, these yeasts must be primordial. Gets an extra .1 for originality.

(Bottled) Darkish ruby red with a small, bubbly head. Very toffee-caramely aroma with dried fruit and cloves. Sweetish-malty, ginger-clove-spicy, moderately acidic flavor with hardly any bitterness. Medium-bodied, slicky and somewhat watery palate with low carbonation. Too thin to warm you up, too spicy to go with food.

Bottle. Dark mahogany with a staying creamy head. Lots of sweet malts in the aroma along with plenty of cloves and some coriander and pepper. Lightly vinious with lots of malty sweetness and some roasted tones.

Bottle: Pours with an amber body and an off-white head. Strange weak aroma of malt, hops an something spicy (ginger?). Malt flavour. Watery texture. Light to medium bodied. Disappointing.