t Smisje + Dubbel IPA

Brewed by Brouwerij De Regenboog
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Assebroek-Brugge, Belgium

Warm golden, slightly hazy and the head is nice and creamy. The aroma is fruity ans spicy with yeasty notes. The flavour has sweetness, a hoppy bitterness, notes of spices, yeast and in the finish more dominant coriander. IMO very few mixes of American & Belgian styles are really nice. This is sort of OK, but also out of balance, so, no please, not again.

Objectively speaking: A disturbingly yeasty IPA with strong edges towards its finish.
I like: Large and lasting white head. Despite a certain muddle aspect, the mouthfeel was engaging enough.
I dislike: Rather strong alcohol presence. Rather roughly edged. Astringent finish. Dominating yeastiness hides a lot of the hops’ potential. Heavy bitterness coming up from nothing. Malts fail to balance the chaos.

This thing was totally alive, effervescent, with a super creamy head that lasted and lasted. Aroma was incredibly weird; it made me react violently at first it was so intense. Some strange tropical fruitiness was mixing around with huge Popperinge type hops, intensely dry and straw-like, and flowers, but not sweet really, more herbal. Very intense. The flavors were unusual too, very herbal and dry, only a touch of sweetness (like fermented papaya), and even some strange acetone component. As with most Regenboog beers, I found it fascinating.

Thanks for the gift, Eugene - you knew exactly what to get!

My Bottom Line:
Vegetal hoppiness carelessly pushes through an odd spiciness, as flour-like yeastiness and banana esters attempt to hide an astringent, bitter and tart finish. I imagine this Belgian Strong Ale-cum-Double IPA was not intended to behave like this.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-Puffy foam fails to embellish the murky beige.
-That spiciness is definitely bizarre and felt turmeric...
-Half the bottle was yeast, so I don’t feel like I got to try this beer in its best form.
-The aroma does showcase some decent spicy, herbal hoppiness, but it is marred by the overly yeasty presence.
-That flour-like yeast is also milky.
-Carbonation is prickly, but cannot lighten up the mouthfeel.
-Another bottle was not as problematic, but did have some iodine undercurrents that weren’t very pleasant. Slightly better, but still not acceptable.

Bottles.

Light yellow colour. White head. Soft grapefruit taste in the beginning. A quite intresting IPA. Plenty of bitterness.

Bottle. Huge off-white creamy like head that mostly lasted. Good display of lacework. Cloudy golden color. Aroma of spice, yeast, parsley, fruit, herbal and some floral bitterness. Medium bodied with an average carbonation and light dry texture. Moderated bitter flavor with good counter sweetness. Light dry and bitter herbal finish. Defiantly not an IIPA, but quit nice anyways.

Bottle @ Ølbaren, Cph.
[thank you, Grovlam]
Pours hazy pale yellow with a giant, creamy, white head. Aroma is ueasty, lots of herbal and spicy hops. Fine, creamy mouthfeel. Flavour is rather dry, starts out with a weird herbal note before finishing okay with some yeast and hoppiness.

33 cl bottle, bougth at Ølbutikken. Hazy orange color, creamy off-white head. Aroma is hops, wheat, yeast. Flavor is the same, but also alcohol, citrus. Dry and bitter finish. A bit too much alcohol.