’t IJ Struis

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

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

11.2 bottle [best before 4/04]: Deep, hypnotizing red-cedar body . . . gorgeous, tight, slowly falling off tan cream. Huge floral esters, along with strong fruit (sweet red grapes, raisins, plums, and sugar coated figs). Smooth, creamy palate with great fizzy carbonation. Wonderful flavours of buttered popcorn, brown sugar coated raisins, dark cherries, milk chocolate, and great yeast. A stand out for me of the t IJ beers. Wow, I am off to buy another . . .

Son of a bitch gusher. Dark hazy ruby brown color, fizzy brown head, disappeared in seconds. After this I was reluctant to try, just knowing it was going to be infected or off, but it wasn’t. Fruity and full malt aroma, prune, cherry, a touch yeasty. Brown sugar in the flavor along with notes of caramel, berry, and malt. Medium to full bodied, very active mouthfeel, no signs of the booze in this. Very good, too bad I lost some of it from gushing.

Bottle at DBF2005. Fruity nose, some yeast, had a sour edge like all Dutch beers. Reddish colored body, with a small off-white head. Sweet flavor, sour edge, some yeast.

Sweet, slight barrel-funk aroma. Murkey amber color with excellent soft off-white head that lasts. Moderately sweet, lactic hints with a dry finish that leaves you thirsting for another sip. Really an excellent and surprisingly complex beer.

Chestnut body with a thin, persistent tan head. Plenty of strong, dark fruit in the aroma. Cherry, appple, plum, orange and mango. The body is fairly full and round, with nice prickling on the tongue. The flavors are really pretty nice. The fruit is accompanied by some nice yeast and alcohol (pepper and licorice). This is a well-crafted tasty beer. The best offering from t IJ yet.

UPDATED: APR 11, 2005 33 cL bottle, goblet. Average sized, creamy, khaki head is well lasting. Deep brown-red-purple body. Aroma is primarily yeast and dark fruits. Dough, candi sugar, plums, figs, prunes, raisins, blackberries. Heavily sweet, moderately acidic flavor becomes a moderately sweet, moderately acidic, lightly bitter finish. Medium-full body, creamy texture, lively carbonation. Flavor introduces some chocolate which I didn’t find in the aroma. The bottom line is: a bit odd for a Belgian Strong...there’s just something that’s different...which, is fitting given that it’s Dutch, I suppose! Be careful at the end of the pour, this is a strong tasting yeast strain.

UPDATED: JUL 11, 2009 A much better showing this time around. Impressive appearance: big thick off-white head and a body of dark tan with a dark orange core. Nose shows toffee and chocolate, raisined fruits and some darker spices. Suprisingly light touch in the palate; mild spice and chocolate but the intensity does build to a warm and spicy finish. Not convinced that this bottle is in great nick.

August 2007 (2.8): Should have been another cracking beer from what is now one of favourite producers. Visually stunning, as is common for the house. Perfectly formed medium sized head, offwhite in colour. Glowing orange with a dull red core. Served in a chablis / chardonnay wine, which by the way worked a treat. Sweet candied malts on the nose together with minerals and cinnamon. Flavours unfortunately let the beer down I suspect this one has a bad case of the ’skunks’. Some cinnamon and spice of the palate, but quite mild and disapates as the skunky notes kick in. The palate is surprisingly light for a 9% with the alcohol barely registering any presence. I’ll rate this purely for record keeping purposes but clearly a sound sample would rate near or above 4.0.

[Sampled in 2004 with "Den blå Hund."] Bad that this beer cannot be found in dk anymore. Great looking and an aroma of explotions of fruits and some spices. This continues in the flavor where it all is handled by some hoppiness. It could be a christmasbeer