North By Northwest Guldenbiere (2005, 2007 and later)

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

Pour warm dark golden with a thin bright white sticky head that left beautiful lacing...pour was quite clear...smell is sweet with coriander and vanilla...yeast, flower petals...nice rich and creamy mouthfeel...nice spicey notes coriander and some floral notes...not hoppy floral notes, but sweet flower floral notes...light alcoholic notes toward the finish with a hint of lemon lime citrus flavor...the end of the finish is slightly bitter and sweet but not quite bittersweet...this is absolutely the most outstanding offering this place has...

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.

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!

Beautiful clear golden body with a huge whipped cream like white head that lasts trough the beer. Beautifullll; The nose is beautiful as well, huge with both malt, hop and yeast showing in a very pleasant balance, the only down side is the kaffir lime being a bit to up front, it is the very distinctive aroma of its leaves; Huge perfect big bubbled carbonation in a perfectly textured pleasant body, balanced with a small amount of lemon like fruity acidity, the body is great but could be a little deeper and a little more complex; Long evolving finish, it changes from fruity acidy, bitter to a little fruity sweet, great balance and great depth, the aromas of the finish are great but in the late finish there is a little to much sweet ginger. What an amazing beer, one of the most drinkable beers I have ever had. Thanks a billion Walt for this one!

Had bottle-conditioned. Rather stubborn cork. Poured crystal-clear pale golden color. Huge citrus notes with a noticeable spice (coriander and...?). Hope to have this one again.

Boy, I got pretty excited as the waitress walked across the room toward me with this on her tray---it looked great from afar in its tulip glass. Cloudy golden color. Thin white head. Looks almost like a hefeweizen, not a typically fizzy Belgian strong ale. Smells very sweet. Has a delicate aroma of spice and maybe pear(?) I was really surprised because I expected the alcoholic content to affect the taste in the way a Rochefort or St. Bernardus does, but this was absolutely sublime. Excellent! Dare I say it-but it reminded me of an amalgam between a creamy wheat beer and a Belgian white ale. Very impressive--really good stuff!

This one was a slight gusher, as soon as I pulled the difficult-to-remove cork from this beer it started to foam up and over. Luckily I realized this and was able to get it into my glass before I spilled any beer. The head is pillowy and just barely off-white in color, it is initially three-fingers thick and is falling back into the beer with a rocky-textured surface. The beer itself is a lightly hazy, straw gold color, that shows an aggressive, though not overly so, level of carbonation by the streaming rivulets of bubbles rising up through my tulip glass. The aroma is pretty nice; I get initial sharp herbal notes which take on some softer notes of vanilla and clove. Honey-like malt aromatics add a touch of roundness to the spicy nose (notes of ginger and pepper are noticeable). Notes of tart green apples then follow, but there are also some grassy notes throughout. Towards the end a dry, toasted malt character is noticeable. Quite a nice, complex aroma.

Definitely amply carbonated, the beer gets quite fizzy as it hits my mouth. The ample carbonation had me worried about an infection, but the beer is pretty sweet and it seems like the brewer might have jumped the gun on bottling a beer with one of those finicky Belgian yeast strains. Sweet honey like notes lead the way, and a solid herbal character is also noticeable throughout. This beer actually strikes a pretty good balance between sweet malt notes and herbal / spicy fermentation and hop characters. The finish has a sharp, spicy note to it that is a combination of higher alcohols, lightly noticeable hop bitterness and an astringent, lingeringly, herbal note that I can’t quite place in origin, but is not at all unpleasant. The sweet honey note rides throughout this beer, and it is almost as if a herbal honey were used to make this beer (I don’t think any honey was used but that is what the combination of flavors makes me think of). There is a light acidity here as well, that seems to be played up by a light citrus note, or perhaps it is the product of the citrus note.

This beer, while sweet, still has a nice easy drinking quality to it. The sweetness never becomes cloying or heavy; I think that both the alcohol and the carbonation help to keep this beer an easy drinking proposition, which can definitely be dangerous with a 750ml bottle of higher alcohol brew. As the beer warms up and loses some carbonation, it begins to pick up a bit of creaminess to the body. I am actually quite impressed, I was not expecting much after sampling their bottled, slightly infected IPA, but this is damn good. If the beer tastes like this consistently, I would actually take this over Duvel any day. Ultimately the mix of flavors in this beer is just outstanding! Get some if you can.

Thanks to Walt for this beer.

Poured a hazy golden with a thin semi-creamy white head. Upon first glance, I thought this was going to be just another Piraat clone, but with the first whiff I was pleasantly surprised. Aroma of green apples, pears, coriander, some cinnamon and flowers. Taste is apples, pears, dark fruit, cinnamon, a bit of vanilla. Lemony citrus also in there. Semi-dry fruity finish with just the slightest hint of toffee. Flavorful yet delicate; exceptionally balanced. This is a beer that’s getting better with every sip. Very thirst-quenching and refreshing. More please.