t IJ Natte

Pours a dark, cloudy, caramel-orange color with a massive, foaming, off-white head. The foam settles slowly to a small blanket, leaving solid rings and spots of sticky lacing all over the glass. The aroma is a bit of a surprise for a beer that is classified as a Dubbel. I’d call it more of a Belgian Ale, as the primary scents I pick up include yeasty bread, dry, bretty funk, herbaceous green leaves, and doughy, lightly caramelized malts. Flavors show lightly sweet caramel, toast, lightly sour, slightly peppery yeast, and mild herbs. There’s quite a bit of funkiness going on here, almost as if it is a distant cousin of a Jolly Pumpkin brew. Medium bodied and moderately carbonated, it goes down smooth and finishes semi-dry. If there’s any knock at all on the beer, its that it has a slight medicinal character that I’d imagine comes from the herbs. That aside, this is a really nice, refreshing, summertime beer that I’d really like to get more of. Underrated, for sure. A Dubbel, however, this is not, at least in my opinion.

33oml bottle. Aroma is slightly sour. Doughy. Cactus and agave perhaps but with a definite underlying tartness. Weird. Pours a cloudy and chunky dark amber with a very frothy brownish white head that lasts forever. Good amount of bretty tartness on the tongue. Doughty malt. A touch of sugary sweetness. Fairly dry. Medium body with a tad too much carbonation. Yeast addition adds a whole lot of dustiness to the flavor . Finish is rather abrupt and dry. A very unique dubbel. Thanks Alan!

Refreshing dubbel but it could pack more flavor. On tap at the brewery. Pours hazy, dark caramel color with creamy beige head. Tart, fruity nose is somewhat cidery. Flavor is lightly sweet, still a bit fruity, going into a light and dusty bitterness. Somewhat creamy MF, going dry.

(Bottle) Quite dark and cloudy. Nice head. Malty nose. Dry palate. Some fruitiness.

Dark, cloudy mahogany with modest brown head / Big, sweet malt & chocolate nose / Medium body, watery, with sweet malts throughout fair finish / Skunky, sour, weak flavors of chocolate, dates, and malts / Poor.

Bottle 33CL, one of the avaraged beers of brouwerij het ij. Clear Brown color. Tastes a bit sour. it it drinkable bud not the best of the IJ.

Pours deep brown into a Trappist glass. Very little head. Pit fruit aromas. Figs, prunes and dates from front to back. Lasting finish.

Bottle. Hazy copper color with a thick rocky near-white head that takes a few minutes to settle down. The aroma here is essentially just a moderate funk, but it has a light sweetness to it that keeps my nose in the glass. The taste is pretty bland, considering the aroma and the fact that it’s a t’IJ. The taste is grainy with a light funky finish. The other t’IJ brews that I’ve had come through in the taste department stronger, but this is still decent.