Random Dutch beers (part sixteen)

By popular demand*, I'm revisiting beer reviews. Sorry, beer sketches. I don't do reviews.

Starting with a new beer from Amsterdam's oldest brewery:

't Ij Ciel Bleu Imperial Stout 10.2% ABV
Tastes like it has a couple of After Eight mints dissolved in it. In a good way. Rich and thick, like the children of a millionaire. Just my sort of beer, though they could have made it a bit stronger. Love the label.

As a small aside, don't be too trusting of the claimed ABV of a beer. Unless it's from a big industrial mob. When it will be just within the maximum tolerance. Downwards, obviously. For smaller breweries, well, think about how it works in the US with label approval. It takes time. If the beer is a one off, you might need to submit the label before it was even brewed, let alone fermented.

This next one isn't really a Dutch beer. The company marketing it may well be Dutch, but the beer itself was brewed at ’t Hofbrouwerijke of Beerzel in Belgium. To give them their due, this is clearly indicated on the label.

Tongval Lichte Tongval 5.4% ABV
It's a hazy greenish-yellow in colour. I did try to pour it carefully. Honestly. Diseased urine is what springs to mind. The aroma is coriander and minty hops. Quite appetising, really. As is the flavour. It slips down quite nicely and has enough bitterness hanging around on the back end to spawn revenge porn. It's supposedly a Saison. I guess it sort of is. Then again, Saison has always seemed a rather vague concept to me.

"Do you want to try my beer, Andrew."

"No."

"Is that a maybe?"

"No."

"Do you want to try my beer, Dolores." As I reach out to pass it to her, she recoils in horror, nostrils flaring.

"I'll take that as a no."

A miserable bunch, my family.

"Can I have some bacon, mama?"

"I've only Dutch bacon."

"I suppose that will do."

"Andrew, did you know that there's a magical place in town where they'll give you English bacon in exchange for your Dutch euros?"

"Our Dutch euros, you mean, Ronald"

Did I mention what a lazy git Andrew is?





* I think one person may have said they like these posts. Or maybe that was just a dream. I often struggle to remember whether something really happened or whether I dreamt it.