t IJ Natte

Brewed by Brouwerij ’t IJ
Style: Abbey Dubbel
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Pours dark reddish brown with a thin, mostly receding wispy light brown head. Aroma of cherries, sticky alefruits, raisins, toffee. Taste is sweet toffee malt, plum, raisins, and oak. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, with slight stickiness and lush carbonation. Very interesting, dubbel-ish beer.

33cl bottle from AMS to SFO via LHR. upon cracking the bottle, I could tell it was an ’IJ beer with its fruity aroma with hints of spices. Plum is dominate with some rasin and cinmon. Flavor is moderately sweet with not much else too it. very carbonated. Not quite a dubbel, and a bit bland to be great but still a very solid beer.

(Bottle) Pours deep redish to nut brown. Nuts and caramel in aroma with Some funky chocolate and notes of liquorice root. Some fruits, dried apricots and raisins. Earty undertones and a light hoppyness. Light roasted, caramel flavour with some toffee, brown sugar and raisins. Lively carbonation. Sourish, light bitter finish. Medium body.

33 cl, bought in Amsterdam. Not an optimal bottle, signs of bacteria infection. Complex beer with sweet fruit - banana and peach. Yeasty finish.

330 ml bottle. Crystal clear copper colour. Throws a tall fluffy off-white beige head. Acidic malty aroma. Brett. Peach, banana and apricots. Nutty maltiness. Distinct metallic hop flavour. Rich sourness and fruity maltiness. Clearly infected by bacteria. Doubt that it is intended as it is labelled a dubbel. Interesting, but not as intended.

Largish offwhite head. Hazy opaque light brown body with carbonation. Light wooden bananaish aroma with vague rubbery notes. Deep wooden, bananaish, roasty malty taste with spicy notes. Peppery. Dry, spicy aftertaste. Very nice. (0.33l bottle.)

8/05 bottle. Glad to see I didn’t have a preference bias on this one, and that my ratings are slightly sane ;) I’ve had this bottle in my cellar a while, the only ’t IJ beer I’d bought to date, as in my main store they are really expensive at $4 a pop. Though I was under the impression that they were mostly 85th+ beers, at least, this one included. Well, I don’t like it much. Thus, it was reaffirming to see the 61th % and realize that I wasn’t a fool :)

Pours a dark brown with a small, fizzy head, a little lace. Aroma is pretty nice, typical for a dubbel, with plum, raisin, candi sugar, raspberry, thin milk chocolate. Actually very nice. But a total disaster in the mouth. Very metallic, overcarbonated and dull; as usual with overcarbonation, it blocks so much complexity that would otherwise be evident. I’m confident this beer could be so much more without that problem. Unfortunately, it is so. Plum and raisin in the taste, too, but it’s really so hard to get anything out of this. Perhaps some spices, cinnamon, lemon. This is so frustrating because this could be so great! Oh well.

Pours cloudy copper with a tall white head, lots of particles swimming in this one. Very spicy aroma, still sweet and malty. Lots of fruity character to the start, citrus, plum and caramel. Finishes lightly tart with a lot of spiciness. Medium body with a lightly bitter finish.