From tap at De Markies, Leeuwarden. Pretty sweet, aroma is malty with very ripe fruits. Some grapefruit, strong bittersweet taste. Body is above medium. A bit sugary, caramel, very Belgian take on IIPA.

Cette double IPA, avec Herkules, Ekuanot et Columbus possède de très belles qualités notamment aromatiques qui la rendent très appréciables. Sa grande limite, et ce d'autant plus pour une double IPA est son manque de vivacité avec notamment une amertume qui n'est pas assez vive. En verre, nous sommes sur une robe ambrée avec une fine effervescence moyennement soutenue et une mousse blanc cassé ne couvrant pas toute la surface. Le nez est sur un cocktail d'orange amère, caramel, kumquat et pamplemousse. L'attaque est plutôt appréciable avec un bon équilibre malt/houblon et une amertume plutôt saillante. La densité de l'IPA est agréable avec une texture de plus un peu épaisse ce qui lui confère une bonne présence en bouche. Et si en seconde bouche, des épices et du poivre apparaissent, mais l'amertume est plus poussive ce qui donne moins d'allant à l'ensemble. L'arrière bouche ne donne pas non plus beaucoup de relief. Le final également qui s'écrase rapidement est décevant. Quelques réglages à encore opérer.

Double IPA hopped with Herkules, Ekuanot and Columbus, from a family brewery with a complex recent history: declared bankrupt - after three quarters of a century - in 2007, taken over by a company called Bien-Être Développement (now Caulier Développement) and then restarted with a completely restyled Bon Secours range, the remarkably (and, frankly, incomprehensibly) popular Paix Dieu and, more recently, this 'Stuut' range of one-offs, including this DIPA, which is something I would never have seen coming from them if you had asked me twenty-odd years ago. From an Anglo-Saxon style can (44 cl) bought at Van Callenberge. Thick and frothy, pale greyish off-white, membrane-lacing, stable head on a crystal clear, deep orange blonde beer with warm amber glow - a tad darker than I am used to from even a West Coast style DIPA, but looking alright. Aroma of toasted 'Bicky Burger' onions, dry caramel, dried orange peel, caramelized shallot, old dry biscuit, lots of rusk, some pine resin (Columbus!), dried fenugreek, cumin cheese rind even, tamarillo, roasted peanuts, toast, spruce tips (Herkules?), boxwood, petrichor. Cleanly fruity onset, low in sweetness with notes of tamarillo, persimmon and vague green bell pepper, softish carb but still with minerally 'stings', smooth and full oily body; somewhat resinous from the middle, with a hard-caramelly, rusk- and toast-like, pronounced 'amber' malt profile, soon drenched in oldskool West Coast-ish hoppiness, albeit much more softly than the real oldskool West Coast DIPAs I recall (think Pliny the Elder and the like). Still a long-stretched, toasted-oniony, peppery and citrus pith-tinged hop bitterness unfolds, not scorching away all the other flavours like I was silently hoping, but adding an elegant and confident bitterness to the inherent toasty bitterness of the malts. Drying, spicy, resinous finish, retronasal boxwood, wormwood and dried dandelion effects with just a dash of bitter citrusiness (dried grapefruit peel) and tonic water, but somehow the toasty malt bitterness remains too pronounced as well. Quite malty for the intended style, in all, so I would not be against even more hoppiness (whether it be from Columbus or any other 'classic' New World hop variety) - resembling a dry Walloon style 'ambrée' to a certain extent, but in a clean, sleek, 'American' kind of way. Altogether very tasty, I love a good malt-based IPA (even though the only thing that still holds the entire IPA family tree together is hoppiness rather than maltiness) and this one certainly delivers, even if I would have preferred it to be even more hoppy in an old-fashioned American West Coast way. Clearly understated in the hops department, but a damn good Anglo-Saxon style ale nonetheless - even British ESB springs to mind every now and then. Caulier Développement, owner of the 'historical' Caulier brand since 2008, has produced some really fine Brett and sugar-free IPA style beers in its day, but this tenth (!) Stuut variant certainly brings back memories of those, even if a much more outspoken grapefruity and piney hoppiness would have been welcome.