t IJ Plzen

Brewed by Brouwerij ’t IJ
Style: Bohemian Pilsener
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Warm-straw body with a uniform, fine load of stewarding yeast and a slowly dissipating, velvety white head. Aroma of sourdough, pineapples, lime zest, spicy phenols, and floral highlights. Flavor is remarkably dry but has plenty of character. Properties include peppery yeast and hops, nice soft, balancing esters, and subdued plastic phenols. A lively pilsner with elegant qualities and ample depth. I can imagine this bottle-conditioned pils being tempermental, but this bottle was spot-on in my book.

Beer pours a hazy, light, lemon-yellow color with a large, frothy, white, mostly lasting, quickly diminishing head. The aroma has a lot stronger personality than I would expect from a Pilsner. It’s malty with a trace note of toasted grain; moderately hoppy with notes of lemon and straw;yeasty with heavy, unique notes of horseblanket, gorgonzola, plastic band-aid, soap and cellar. The flavor is moderately sweet, moderately acidic and lightly bitter with an average-length, moderately bitter, slightly husky finish. The body is light, the texture is watery and the carbonation is average. This beer was a lot more complex and engaging than other Pilsners I’ve had—the complexity in the yeast aromas is pretty dang skippy—but I’m not sure that it adheres that well to style. I’m not going to knock it on that account; this is a lively little thing I’d revisit any time.

(Draft, 10/2005) Very unexpected pils. Hazy straw yellow. Some hop aroma, but very little hop taste, and aromas were more grassy and floral than spicy. Strong, strange notes of citrus and banana. While it looked like it would be thick, it was remarkably thinly bodied. Drinkable, but definitely not what was expected (particularly the banana as a substitute for sulphur!) .

This one has a very bad aroma. A bit like sewer-water. Appearance is kinda good. But flavor lacks of well balanced bitterness. Only non-expected flavors for this beer. It doesn’t fit. Re-rate: it must have been a bad bottle. Aroma is grainy and a bit fruity. Bitterness is nice, it evolves. A bit lemon and banana. Overall not so bad afterall. :)

Lots of carbonation, less taste. No positive part at all! Did they try to make a pilsener? Why all that commotion/good ratings when ist a smal brewer? take all the raters on a blind beer test and it wil be as bad as it is.

Yellow to light golden in color with a decent head. A bit hazy. Aroma is lightly fruity with a touch of hops. It also has some horsey, brett aroma to it. Flavor is slightly sweet at first that quickly gives way to a lingering bitterness. The horsey brett flavor is pretty strong. No real malt aroma or flavor to this. Medium body with a good amount of carbonation. The Brett flavor and bitterness lingers long in the finish. A drinkable beer but nothing special. I wouldn’t turn down a free one but probably wouldn’t buy another.

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of this. Thick and yeasty and in definite danger of chalkiness, a strong lemony note freshens the palate. There are herbal hops in here mixing with an odd maltiness that can’t decide if it wants to be honey-sweet or vegetable soup. A background of musty sourness lingers behind it all. Very interesting.

When my friend and I decided to do a triptych of ’t IJ’s beers, we thought of starting with the lesser three in our exhaustive selection acquired straight from the brewery. Plzen was up first, and admittedly as my understanding of the style is fairly rudimentary (exemplified mainly by cheap Americans), I was not too excited about it. The pour produced a hazy orange-yellow body, akin to a sunset over the desert sand. The exciting white head leaves thin sticky lacing but unfortunately diminishes rapidly. With the first sniff, I was gladly surprised that my expectations were all wrong. A complex but recognizable aroma of cold soup was instantly noticeable. Green vegetables such as artichoke, asparagus and peas blend with the fruitier notes of apple and grapefruit. Some light malts form in the background especially reminding of Bretagne’s salt water caramels. In the flavor, green peas emerge again but seem watery, an impression that is further echoed by the weak carbonation . Grapefruit and a toasty burnt flavor also appear before the slightly bitter finish. Coffee and mild spices develop in the aftertaste. A surprising pilsener, but actually quite tasty in spite of being so soup-like.