t IJ Columbus

Brewed by Brouwerij ’t IJ
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Pours a light brown with a big head. Citrus pokes through brown malts on the nose. The flavor is good... spicy, with some subtle nuts and sourness. Another great beer from Brouwerij t IJ

Bottle. Brown beer with a strong head. The aroma is sour and the flavour is rich, spiced, bitter, dry and roasted. Overall a good strongly spiced beer.

Bottle from utobeer at home. Alround rating: yeasty candy suagr, spicey esteryness, floral and peppery hop. A generally good belgian ale.

Golden hue with foamy 1/4 inch white head. Decent lacing. Some strange barnyard funkiness along with yeast overtones. Malty finish along with a sharp hop jolt that fades quickly. The front has a hint of alcohol along with a hint of banana and spice.

Bottle (well actually bottle and a half, as the first one exploded all over the barmaid) in Falstaff, Maastricht. Nose is icing sugar and yeastiness, meadow and some grassiness. Mout is slightly dull and dusty with some strong liquorice and maltiness, slightly sweet, with some healthy hoppiness punching its way through towards the end. Warming, but the alcohol is quite manageable. Enjoyable.

Smells of sweet, candied fruit and farmyard. Pleasantly grassy, flowery to accompany a honeyed, sugared flavor, almost offsetting the powerful sweet dimension. As it warms it gets some more hay, starchiness, graininess. Somewhat rough hewn this beer is. But good.

330ml bottle (Cracked Kettle, Amsterdam)
Rich hazy amber, large healthy off-white head. Musky, sour, salty liquorice aroma, had from a few other ’t IJ beers - seems to be their fingerprint. Pleasant carbonation. Salty sour malty body, some iron, a touch crotchy, but actually very nice. Do I detect bitter orange before the smack of the hops kicks in, together leaving a real tingle in the mouth? Quite a mix, fairly well integrated with the medium malts. Covers the alcohol in part, but it leaves the tongue dry and with alcohol wafting off it whilst the gums throb from the bitter hops. Very much from the ’t IJ stable, very Dutch in its hop profile.

Hazy amber body with a froathy and stable light beige head. Freaky, nice aroma of some wild fruits like raspberry, coriander and lightly roasted malt. Liqueric taste with a strong alcohol feeling, strong hop, lightly roasted malt, fruity tastes.