Bottle. Aroma is coconut, roasted malt, blueberry, chocolate, vanilla, caramel, nutty notes, some mocha. Amaretto. Sweet with a decent bitterness. Full body, creamy velvety feel. Very pleasant.

The yearly ‘Meesterstuk’ series by Dutch craft beer pioneer Jopen has been an exciting series so far – so this new 2023 edition was a nice surprise generously shared by Hinke, cheers! Thick and creamy, dense, mocha-yellowish beige, relatively stable head over a jet black beer. Intense bouquet of toffee, Bounty candy and coconut milk, blueberry crumble, latté macchiato, milk chocolate, vanilla, ‘chocoladejenever’, caramel sauce, pecan nut pie, blue cheese (gorgonzola), hints of almond, ‘Babelutte’ candy, coffee liqueur, liquorice, candied plum. Rounded, ‘deep’ and soft onset, sweet with candied fig and plum candy – but of course indeed blueberry jam and blueberry crumble clear enough (just no tartness, juiciness or spiciness of fresh blueberries, oddly); very light teriyaki note, soft carb, velvety and oily, very full mouthfeel, almost syrupy in combination with the sugars but impressively managing to maintain high drinkability levels. Thoroughly chocolatey and toffeeish core, walnut paste and hazelnut accents too, blueberry crumble effect lingering – and soon joined by strong but delicious retronasal coconut, as in macaroon or Bounty, as well as an odd but interesting blue cheese effect (gorgonzola again) and a hint of liquorice. Light roasty, coffeeish touch in the end providing balance, as does a pinch of spicy hops, but the emphasis remains on pastry-like sweetness – a blueberry cake flavoured with coconut and chocolate. Lots of warming, liqueur- and rum-like booze in the end, but the chocolatey and toffeeish malts remain thick and viscous enough to absorb most of it. Blueberry and blue cheese effects linger – and do not even really clash with one another. Rich, thick, pastry-ish but very well-balanced stout – a highly impressive ‘tour de force’ in my opinion and worthy of the ‘masterpiece’ moniker. Among the best Jopen beers I had in a long time.

Fles gedeeld door Roelzie. Het is een diep donkerbruin tot zwart bier met een volle witte bruine schuimkraag. Het heeft een aroma van rood fruit en kokos. De smaak is vol fruitig, zacht zoet, gebrande mout, koffie en chocolade.

Fles 33cl thuis. Kokos, blauwe bessen, zacht, koffie, roasted malts, zoeten, wat bounty, koffiedrab, chocolade, redelijk koolzuur, redelijk vol. (10-12-2022).