t IJ Struis

Brewed by Brouwerij ’t IJ
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Bright medium amber caramel with slim gray rim. Big funky cherry on the nose--lots of soft sweet sour notes dancing around alongside that. Rich medium body with lively carb. Gorgeous cherry, red wine vinegar, and tangy citrus mid-palate. Mild, lightly minerally finish.

Bottle at the brewery.Pours cloudy ruddy brown with a small tan head. Quite a bit of sediment. Sourly fruit aroma. Complex bitter and sour fruit flavours. Dry finish. Well-carbonated. One of those beers that only get better the more you taste of it.

This is an odd bird of a bird (pun intended) - cloudy burnt orange with an attractive, frothy, off-white head - interesting aroma of mustiness, tartness, yeast and some raisin and floral aspects - the flavor is an odd combination of saison-like qualities (earthiness, grass, straw, and a slight tartness) and some fruity vinous qualities (dark fruit, chocolate) - mild sweetness tries to tie the two flavor profiles together, and mostly succeeds - creamy mouthfeel - finishes with a slight bitterness - odd but quite good.

33 cl bottle. Yeast in bottom brown colour with a nice white head. Great aroma of sweet dried fruit and hints of yeast. Complex flavour of roasted malt and with notes of sourness and yeast.

(Bottle, Monk’s Café, Stockholm, 2 Feb 2006) Dark ruby colour with frothy off-white head, some lacing. Fruity nose with notes of dark fruit and black-currant. Malty, fruity taste with dark fruit, black-currant, dried figs, raisins and chocolate with a spicy, chocolatey, slightly bitter finish. Drier than expected. Very nice!

Deep and dark, fruity nose, spicy, sweet. Head is frothy and beige, lace in sheets. Start malt and slightly sweet, middle thin, finish has some hops, but mostly dry. Hearty overall, and is quite appealing. Acidic, moderate carbonation, decent beer Thanks Venom.

Hazy dark amber colored, creamy off-white head. Rosted malt and spices dominates the aroma with fruity and citrusy tones underneath. Flavor is extremely sweet fruity and orangy. Notes of plum, yeast and hay. Strange and different and a little cloying in the long run, still tasty.

Pours to a murky chestnut body with lots of small white/tan particulate. A thin coating tan head with dense lacing sits on top. The aroma is yeasty with tart lemon juice and a nice bready grain. Very house-styled ’t IJ aroma. The flavor is really yeasty with tart pale malt and light lemon and banana. Perhaps some oranges. Lots of earthy yeasts. Doesn’t taste much different as a whole than the other ’t IJ beers. Perhaps something’s lost in translation? :) The palate is carbonated, lightly acidic, and earthy. It grows on me the more I drink it.