t IJ Struis

Bottle sampled with Beerded one. Pours bronze\brown with a large fluffy lasting off-white head. Aroma is floral, citrus, fruit, yeast, and belgian style spices. Flavor is smooth, sweet, floral, citrusy, fruit, spices are present, carbonated. Good body, excellent brew.

Rating 1400. 11.2 oz bottle. Bought at State line in Md. Pours a deep amber/ light brown with a big fluffy cloudy light beige head and sticky cobweb-like lace. Aroma has some brett in it which is nice but isnt overly powerful initially. Lots of fruity esters like raisin and plum in the aroma, phenolic herbal and barnyard as well, and even a hint of cherry pie-like brett/pedio in there. Flavor has a sharp bite to it from the brett, lots of wild things going on- horseblanket, barnyard, clove, must, and a light tart acidity in the end. Some sweet caramel malts, some nuts, and a bit of hops in the finish. Brett produces some nice high carbonation but isnt too harsh and still goes down pretty easy. Nice aftertaste. This is a great belgian strong ale, that is enhanced by the brett, even though im not even sure there is supposed to be brett in here at all. I love brett, so this was kickass. I am wondering why no one else has noticed brett in this though.

This one is really nice. Complex taste, lush colour and full, thick body and aroma.. great barleywine-ish brew.

bottle purchased at State Line Liquors. Pours a murky amber, looks like liquid butterscotch syrup. Nice thick off white head. Aroma of fruit flavored tea and musty basement. Rather thin texture. Flavors of caramel apple, bread, yeast, and dark fruit. Sort of like if you mixed a barleywine and weizenbock and watered it down, you’d get something that tastes like this. Finish is slightly cloying. Surprised at how high this is rated. At 4.00 a bottle, I won’t be coming back to this unless it’s free.

BCA (from Bitter Virtue, BB Dec 06). Malty nutty caramel start with raisin and plummy fruit. Slight coriander and fruityness from the yeast. Just a little bit too sweet in the mouth with nothing to balance this making for a slightly cloyinh finish.

4/07 Re-rate: Numbers bumping up. This time the aromas and flavors came through better, more balanced: grapes and apples, coriander, significant floral touch, spicey, yeasty and dry, leathery (even a touch of that brett / burnt rubber taste I get in some gueuzes) finish. Original rating: Poured a reddish brown color with a large head that wouldn’t fit in one pour. In fact, this was one of those bottles that just exploded upon opening, making a big mess for the unsuspecting opener. Aroma was of caramel and spices. The flavor was caramel, toffee, brown sugar, and candied apples. Finishes with a light spicey bitter touch, keeping it from being too cloying or sugared. Reminded me of the N’Ice Chouffe I had: good, but nothing to long for. Mouthfeel was moderately bodied with significant carbonation.

Draft glass
Consumed at ’t IJ, Amsterdam, May 2006
Golden dark red color, mostly murky in appearance with a thin, filmy head. Full of suspended yeast on the draft pour. Aged quad-like scent of dates, nuts and maple. Very sweet up front, rose and tulip flavors, slight alcohol noticed. Semi-prickly texture, light compared to most strong Belgians. At times there’s a bit of a foul vegetable aroma.

Sheesh. Possibly one of the worst beers from this region I’ve ever had. Everything seemed to be off with this beer. I was really expecting much more. Aroma was vegetative. Appearance wasn’t bad. Flavor was malty sweet. I have another bottle of this, so I will have to re-rate. I think the bottle was bad.