t Smisje + Dubbel IPA

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

Bottle. Captial Ale House in Richmond... I thought this IPA was amazing... I had the PLUS label, not sure if that is any better then what people have rated on here

One of the new beers from bry. De Regenboog is called ’t Smisje + (Plus) Dubbel IPA. An American inspired hop monster. Bry. De Regenboog is using a new yeast strain !! A yeast strain that, already with the first sip, shows a significant change in taste. A change into more delicious. After all, yeast is one of the most important ingredients of beer, and a quite taste determinative factor. Here we experience a significant improvement, which implies that we experience a wonderful fruity, refreshing sensation. When tasting the 60 IBU bitter 10 vol% blond, hazy beer, you will experience an IPA exactly as what an American IPA should embody. In other words: Citric Hops !!!! The citric hoppy bite is astounding, and the combination of the new fruity yeast gives it that most wonderful flavors. This is a perfect marriage between Belgian yeast and American hops. Four kinds of hops are used, including some American Amarillo and Cascade hops, which are responsible for the citric characteristics. This beer has still some sugars left.... makes it pleasant sweet. I’ve had a lot of IPA’s on my trip to the US, and people I can assure you that we’re facing the real stuff here ! A perfect copy.

Pours a dark cloudy golden yellowish orange color with a huge foamy white head. Earthy and citrus hops dominate the aroma. Also, hints of pine and malt. Excellently balanced and very quaffable considering the high ABV. Crisp, fruity, piney, citrus peel, light fruit and very hoppy with a nice malt backbone. Nice alcohol warmth in the finish.

slowly poured into my lucky Republican President glass still produced a strong firm head over clear gold. agitated the slurry and poured out a thick viscous haze into the glass, now much more tarnished in appearance. Head still isn’t going anywhere. Strong Belgian golden yeast aroma with aggressive WC hops. Amazing. Grassy, sweet like nectar, thick honeyed texture, increasingly herbal through the finish. Candied grapefruit too. Unlike any other IIPA or Belgian I’ve had

11.2oz grenade bottle, labeled Smisje Plus. Super thick sandy orange-tan color with a thick, cream-puff head, all out 5 appearance-wise. Very interesting stuff, not your typical DIPA. Very thick, sweet, and yeasty, while dispaying some decent hop bitterness. Sweet sugary hop aroma. I almost get some dry wheaty tastes, but I assume thats just the bittering. Pretty hardcore unique stuff, very much worth seeking out. Very creamy, very bitter, very Belgian.

This is carbonated enough that this beer spits up a ton of sediment from the bottom of the glass to cloud up what started a clear beer. A careful pour still sees me with five-fingers of (including a full finger above the rim of my 25l tulip glass) frothy, off-white head. The beer is a deeply murky, honey color that shows an opaque, yellow gold color when held up to the light. The aroma smells of tropical fruit, lychee, apricot, candied tangelo peel and a bunch of fermentation character. Earthy aromatics, musty black pepper, an almost coriander note, some peat like smokiness, musty biscuit notes and a general spicy phenolic character (including a bit of clove). As this warms up it almost picks up some woody, almost rosemary like notes to it towards the finish. The hop character is definitely dominant, but the fermentation character adds a lot of complexity and a nice backdrop to the hop aromatics.

Effervescent and prickly from the carbonation, the beer has a definite sweetness to it that is much a product of the fruity hops used as from residual sweetness. This beer actually is quite light, surprisingly so for its strength, but it is perfect for something with India Pale Ale on the label (actually even light for your average regular IPA). The flavor sees a big hit of hop flavors throughout; up front are notes of lychee, ripe apricot, sweet tropical fruit and super ripe tangelo lead into a touch of herbal and pine like flavors towards the middle and finish. There is also a fair amount of bitterness to this beer, but it is easy to overlook with all the other flavors going on. This has lots of yeast-driven spiciness to it; persistently phenolic with some tongue numbing turpenes and clove, there is also a nice pepper note here, and earthy, musty, almost coriander spiciness towards the finish. At times this has quite a bit of herbal character that is accentuated by both hop and fermentation components. As the beer warms up the phenolics and clove start to give the hops a run for their money though not quite.

My second pour is even murkier than the first, it doesn’t seem to affect the flavor too much though; perhaps adding a touch of yeast bite. This has an amazing fresh hop character to it, I was expecting this to be a little old and not nearly as hoppy as this still is.

The head is near perfect with lots of dense froth that slowly recedes with lots of lacing and forming of interesting structures; if the beer wasn’t so murky it would be visually stunning. This really hides the alcohol quite well. I like how the hop character mixes with the woody, earthy, peppery spice notes. Quite the dynamic beer, I am really enjoying this; it drinks way too easily though as I could easily (and dangerously) knock back a 750ml bottle of this, even still I am a bit disappointed I only have a 330ml bottle.

Bottled 33cl. It pours a murky orange beer with some floating sediments. The head is white, or slightly off white. A lot of hops, wood, alcohol, licorice, vanilla, pine needles, black pepper, almonds, wax and blood oranges in the aroma. Wonderful flavor. Full bodied, complex and well balanced. Medicinal and honeyish. Very nice hop profile. Beautiful lacework. Hops, almonds, aniseed, vanilla, nutmeg, licorice, black pepper, grapefruit and blood oranges showing up. Sublime peppery finish. A wonderful beer. Underrated in my opinion. Thanks a lot bov for this one!

Bottle.33cl. Huge rocky head, fair lacings, yellow orange color, citrus perfume hop aroma with some peach. Full body. heavy sweetness.