North By Northwest Guldenbiere (2005, 2007 and later)

Brewed by North By Northwest Restaurant and Brewery
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Austin, Texas USA

Bottled; Batch 1: Same as everyone else, ridiculous cork. Beer pours cloudy medium golden with massive egg white head that is totally retained. Aroma is yeasty, with coriander and lemon zest. Favor is of light fruit, good yeast strain, coriander and lemon. Very good Belgian style by a TEXAS brewery.

750mL bottle. Hazy golden yellow with a mountainous rocky white head. Spicy and herbaecous aromatics, prominant coriander and yeasty components. A Tangy sharpness in the nose is met by a mellow floral sweetness and heavy coriander. Prominant fruity sweetness in the finish, with herbal citric edges. Mouthfeel is a light medium, fairly smooth and somewhat warming.

750 ML bottle from Walt and served in both my St. Bernardus Chalice and Duval Snifter: Yep, my cork was tough to remove and for good reason, the beer is very carbonated and produced a huge fizzy and creamy head on top of a milky golden hued brew, strings of Belgian lace are constant. The aroma has notes of earthy and musty yeast esters, papaya, mango, pear, lime leaves, coriander, cardamom, ginger root, and candi sugar.

The taste starts with a spiced honeycomb and much more sweet than the nose let on. There is a nice fruity undertone throughout and lots of yeasty and wheaty character. Some alcoholic flavors seem to hit at the edge of the palate. The lime really shows towards the finish which also displayed a hint of the ginger flavor all on the aftertaste. The mouth feel is lively and crisp as expected by the amount of carbonation noted, the finish is surprisingly dry and very Belgian in style, the alcohol seems to lessen or perhaps my palate has adjusted.

Overall, I found myself liking this brew more as time goes on. This brew has one of my favorite ingredients, Kaffir Lime, so a bonus point there. ( If there was a little Juniper Berry, then I would be hooked ! )

Let it warm and forget about having the yeast settle, it ain’t gonna happen. Enjoy with two glasses ready!

750 bottle corked and capped that bubbled over for a good 5 minutes after the cork was pulled via trade with Walt! - Thanks Walt! - Pours golden cloudy with a mountainous foamy white head. Aromas of corriander, yeast, a touch of lemon, some apple, and pear. Flavor includes apple, pear, yeast, lemon, corriander and even a touch of honey. Pleasantly tart with good carbonation and medium body. No sign of the alcohol other than the warmth you feel after each glass full. I thought this was fantastic stuff!! Complex yet refreshing and light..

Part of an excellent trade with Walt a few months back. Yeah, and the cork was a pain in the ass to remove. Golden yellow-orange body, sediment-laden, medium off-white head. Spritzy carbonation. Flavor is of musty, sour, fermented fruit, with white grape, apple, and pear coming to mind in addition to spice. Estery, fruity body, musty and slightly tart, with caramelized breads, a spicy finish, and a slight alcohol bite. Not bad at all.

Cork required no personal effor to remove. Pour is a cloudy wheat. Nose has some pinapple bret esters, and a floral soapiness. hints of honeysuckle, corriander. Flavour is nutty, mainly alcoholic. Honey, sucrose, and sweet fruits(kiwi). Mouth is active and sharp, with an alcohol that moves north into the nose. Flavour is too thin to support the alcohol.

750ml bottle from Walt shared with ClarkVV on 4/9/06. Big thanks to Walt for this treat! Pours a dark pineapple color with a big thick rocky white head that leaves a great amount of lacing throughout the glass. Nose is very fruity with lots of mangos, papayas, some giner and candied sugars. Some honey and coriander finish up with a sweet and spicy mixture that is wonderful. The flavors are great, some spiciness rounded out by very sweet and juicy fruits, a very nice light maltiness that fits right in. There are some great grapefruit notes that mixed with a bit of tartness from the limes resembles Squirt as clark had mentioned. Excellently donee a symphony of a beer with a great story from beginning to end. Many great thanks to Walt once again!

2005 bottle shared by SuIIy on 4/9/2006. They weren’t kidding about the cork, either.
This bottle conditioned beer, of low filtration, appears a papaya skin/pineapple juice color with some light haziness and an absolute mountain of stubborn, white head that leaves immense sheets of lace behind. Tiny, bottle conditioned bubbles rise in large quantities throughout. As fine an appearance as any of the best bottle conditioned beers of Belgium!
The nose is a mix of tropical fruits at first, with light ginger mixing with fruity esters to give a robust juiciness that reminds me of candied, dried fruits. This is met by large amounts of honey and vanilla-like pils maltiness, full in aroma and soft on the nose. The coriander is not overdone, providing a light drying sensation on the end that is herbal and plant-like, but still similar themed to the spicy yeast and ginger. Fruits abound as it warms, but the sweetness also becomes quite blunt and we get a lemon merengue pie effect, more on the sugar and merengue and light on the lemon. All the while, gently carving a niche of their own are some delicate (Styrian Golding?) hops that stand apart from the spices and add a layer of complexity and sniffability that you would expect from a Belgian farmhouse style beer. The strength of the aroma is medium-strong to strong and I found not a trace of alcohol in it.
I took a sip expecting a Guldenburg or Duvel-like sweetness but was surprised to find a much higher attenuation than those two. Spicy phenols, light tropical fruit esters and creamy honey notes all combine to give a papaya topped with honey and coriander effect. The sweetness, fruitiness and spiciness work in unison and pleasurably set off all of the taste receptors at once. Meanwhile an extremely tight, engaging carbonation and unfiltered, round maltiness provide a riveting texture on the tongue. I get a little hop-like funkiness, as if there were Brewers Gold or something, but it’s probably just the yeast and coriander acting together. Towards the finish, and undeniably apparent, the kaffir lime leaf pops up, mixing with the fruitiness to provide a flavor strikingly similar to "Squirt", a soda that they have in the midwest. Brightly tart/acidic lime notes combine with candied ginger-like notes (the ginger is not too strong or drying, but more spicy-flavorful) to leave the palate with a spicy, zesty, tingling sensation. The yeast is also done very appropriately, not suffering from the heaviness/meatiness that many American-style Belgians succumb to. Yet again, I find no alcohol in the flavor. Round honey notes and fruity Belgian yeast notes pair well with tasteful spicing, that’s for sure, though I could see this having a bit more malt depth, maybe a more dry biscuit-like malt and more hop apparency in flavor.