t IJ Struis

Bottle. Cloudy reddish/amber body. Huge creamy light-brown head. Light acidic fruity nose; apples, cherries and citrus. Taste is sweetish. Ripe oranges, peaches, sweet toasted malts, fresh hops. Dry bitter finish. Yum!

Best before 10/05: Really good except for it erupting like Mt. St. Helens when I opened it. It just foaming out and I didn’t have a glass ready. Lot of floaters in it. It is like a barley wine with just a little more yeastiness than normal and very little hops. color is a rusty brown and like I said before lot of small gelantenous floater in there. It tastes really good though. Caramel, a little fig, plums, alittle raisin are all in the flavor. Carbonation is a little fizzy. Body is medium. Enjoyable, but I only got about 7 oz. out of it.

This is excellent. I say we call it an Abbot. No hops to this beer, it is all about the malt. Aroma begins with an initial burst of alcohol, then that fades and what remains is malt, fermenting fruit, and yeast. Flavor has sweet plums, cherry, light raisin, brandy, brown sugar, bread dough, and caramel. Thick and heavy, dark brown with lots of sediment and a lasting head. As usual, t’IJ has a great beer.

Bottle from Super Saver. Hazy deep coppery/rubyish pour with 1-finger off-white head. Aroma of caramel malt, figgy fruit, some vinous fruit, brown sugar, slight cherries. The taste was caramel malty, with a slightly funky oaky fruity vinous mid-palate, and some finishing brown sugar and spicy hints. Very complex and well balanced.

The off-white head was thick and solid, whilst the body was like murky muddy water that had been stirred up. Lovely medium nose of spice (cinnamon) and yeast. Tastes of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and then a touch of warming alcohol. Not full bodied which made it enjoyable to drink. Cheers!

Second in our second ’t IJ triptych, the Struis was certainly a paradigmatic example of this humble Amsterdamian brewery’s savoir-faire. A clinging collar of cream-colored foam floats with facility on the fluvial cinnamon Styx. Fragrant puffs of fruit flow to the nostrils, unhurriedly revealing mango, apricot, banana, orange and pear, further interwoven with white pepper and coriander, with toffee and brown sugar. Impatience seizes the better of me, and an expeditious sip sends the sample slithering to my stomach. A simple sigh, but full of glee, escapes my open lips. The sigh that secret agents sigh, as they salvage and swallow the single flask of antidote. At this instant, a smile stretches across my visage, while my brain rewinds and orchestrates one more time the subtle symphony that pulsates through each tastebud. Viscous and sweet, mango and passion fruit, chocolate and coffee, nutmeg and pepper. Though I force each note to last, the melody soon fades and with a final glissando my glass empties. Beautiful. Drink cold.

Dark brown colored with hints of red. Huge light brown head, yeast makes appearance to be cloudy. Strong aroma of yeast, spices, caramel and mild alcohol. Medium to full bodied. Flavor is also nice with licorice, spices and sweetness. Aftertaste has fine warming alcohol with some licorice, spices and biting hops and yeast.

33cl bottle. This was a bit of a gusher. Obviously a hug head to begin with, but disappeared rather quickly. Pours an amber brown, with some red streaks. Aroma was very earthy, with some malt and a smidge of yeastiness. Very smooth tasting, possibly a little thin. Flavor was mostly sweet, malty, yeasty and a little cardboard thrown in. Very drinkable.