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billie's craft beer fest 2022

7.3

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7

Pours black, oily, no foam. Scent is full, raw, rough honeyed malts. Prunes, smokey almost. Taste is full, intense prune, sweet, mild edge to it by the brett .

7.3

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5

Jopenbier (or rather: Jopeskie piwo) was a rather bizarre type of beer brewed in Danzig since the 15th century, went extinct but has been revived by several Polish craft breweries recently, praising it as a historical artefact that needs reviving, though it must be said that back in its time, it was primarily used as a medicine, a kind of wild-fermented 'beer syrup' beneficial to a whole range of ailments. I believe it is quite appropriate that the late Billie, the French bulldog owned by the proprietor of Antwerp's famed Billie's Beer Cafetaria, is honoured by one of Poland's foremost craft brewers with this historical beer - but I must admit that I was completely unprepared for a (fruited!) 'Jopenbier' when it was shoved under my nose at Billie's Craft Beer Fest, having had only one other example before. Nonetheless: thanks Francis for sharing! Some tiny, loose, beige bubbles are visible here and there around the edge, but no head; very dark chocolate brown robe, blackish almost, with burgundy edges. Unique aroma of burnt raisins, dried prunes, fig jam, blackcurrant pastry, Brazil nuts, old brown honey, groundnut oil - but not much in the way of the alleged spontaneous fermentation, though certain leathery 'wild' elements are certainly there. Very densely sweet onset, fig jam, raisin and plum syrup, no carb; extremely syrupy body, the consistency of cough syrup or full cream almost and certainly the thickest beer I ever had - spectacular in itself, but not quite helping drinkability. Layers of heavy toffee, brown bread dough, hazelnut paste and 'kramiek' fill the mouth, adorned with a coffeeish roasty note and spicy accents; dried Polish prunes remain obvious, while the mulberries have gone hiding. Candied residual sweetness meets peppery alcohol in the end. Spectacular beer - I will definitely remember this as the festival's most demanding beer for a long time, but, from what I know about this historical 'beer' style so far, probably well made in its own obscure category. I have no problems believing that centuries ago, people drank this kind of thing in small sips as a medicine, but I could not finish even a tasting glass full of this admittedly fascinating stuff. Very hard to rate due to the lack of a decent frame of reference for this style, as said I only had one other example of it and I was not around five to six centuries ago to sample the authentic ones, so take my rating here as a very personal appreciation and nothing more.

7

Sampled @ Billie's Craft Beer Fest 2022, Saturday Session. A black beer. Aroma and Taste of sweet strong dark malt, honey, red fruits, ripe prunes.

7.4

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

Draught No head whatsoever; deep blueish black beer, still. Dark berries, shoepolish, chocolate, Italian vatted grease, benzene, Agen prunes. Sweet, fruity, plums & prunes, musk, blue cheese, dried figs. Very slick, viscous but not thick-bodied, as good as no carbonation. Pretty unique. Not really my favourite flavourprofile, but certainly one to try.