t IJ Natte

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

Bottle. Huge pillow like head on top of a red brown beer. First pour is brilliantly clear with some yeast to follow. Lemon like aroma with some apricots and melon. Flavor is very dry and slightly acidic followed by some yeastiness and light bitterness. I’m not sure if it is infected or just very funky as the rest of the beers from this quite interesting brewery. Heavy carbonation an thin mouth feel.

Pours a lightly hazy deep amber color with ruby-orangish highlights when held up to the light. It is toped by a frothy, finger-thick, amber tinged tan colored head. The aroma is an interesting mix of fruit and fresh-yeasty bread notes. Both the fruit and some alcohol notes combine to remind me of brandy, though only a hint in the finish. The aroma is quite complex, though it is certainly on the sweet side of things; I get notes of caramel soaked raisins, concentrated malt (almost extract like), a hint of cherries, and a rich almost aged character that has a touch of sherry. There is something almost vegetal in the aroma too, and I can’t quite place it.

The taste is only lightly sweet, at least in relation to the sweet smelling nose. There is still a fair amount of dark fruit notes though, I get notes of raisins and prunes predominantly. There is not much to balance the fruit notes either, I would have like a bit more yeast derived spiciness, or perhaps even a bit more body and strength. As it is, this beer has a medium to light body, and despite a slight bit of spiciness is fairly clean as well. There is a hint of aged malt character here as well, most noticeable as a slight sherry note and a sort of meaty stew-like note. This beer seems to end a bit thin, and perhaps even a bit drab. I have definitely had much better offerings from this brewery, though this is certainly not bad.

Bottled. Hazy amber, large white head. Some sourish choclate-ish aroma. Warm alco-feel with chocolate and licorice.

33 cl bottle. Yeast in bottom. Reddish amber colour with a fluffy white head. Sweet toffee and caramel aroma. Tasty flavour of dried fruit and some wood, the beer ends up little sour and dry.

Amber, offwhite head. Toffe aroma with figs and some spices. Milky, malty flavor, a bit sourish and with a mild bitter finish.

Bottle, sampled at The Rover, Göteborg. Dark amber colour. Malty, appley nose. Earthy backbone, late appley in flavour. Also notes of almonds. Fruity. Long finish.

For a dubbel, it was winey, but with a creamy texture and a fine bubbled head. A nice fruity/doughy mix, with flavors of berries, red grapes, dark sweet raisin bread, and cream. There was a bit of acidity and a lingering sourness at the end, that try as I might, did not grow on me. Still, a nice dubbel.

Fruit and malt in the nose, hazy ruby, with a small toffe ehead. Flavour is red plums, almonds and caramel. Very well balanced, complex, nicely bitter. Fine example! Thanks again mds.