It has been ages since I last ticked a new Struise beer - the pioneering craft brewery in Belgium in the (post)modern sense of the word - but this sounded interesting: a session version of their DIPA Shark Pants, seemingly in an attempt to seek connection with the current trend in lowering alcohol content in beer - ironically perhaps, considering they have produced some of continental Europe's strongest beers in a not so distant past. Weirdly though, they apply a "best before" date of two years after the bottling date to it, which seems quite long for an ISA these days - but we will see, because my sample, obtained from their webshop, is now almost two years old... Very thin, loosely knit, open, off-white head with some flat 'islands' of foam in the middle, rather quickly dissolving over a misty marmalade-blonde robe with amberish tinge. Aroma of old bread crust, petrichor, unsalted peanuts, fresh mugwort leaf, old dried grapefruit peel, toasted onion, vague hint of old-fashioned brown soap, cement, natural rubber in the background, dry straw, dry tree leaves, persimmon. Dryish onset in all, but still basic fruitiness vaguely reminiscent of persimmon and wrinkled autumn apple, minerally carb (more than expected based on looks), somewhat resinous, smooth mouthfeel. Malty middle with upcoming hop bitterness, peanutty and a bit toasty, bread-crusty, dry cookie-like, while said hops increase in wormwoody, peppery, dried-out-citrus-peely bitterness, hinting at tonic water and grapefruit zest but in a 'muffled' kind of way - probably because the aromas have largely faded by now, of course. The bitterness remains altogether milder than I was anticipating, but has a nice wormwoody quality to it which seems now completely outdated. Indeed, from the very first pour I was suspecting something really oldschool here, and that is what I got: the West Coast stubbornness of Shark Pants reduced to a lower ABV, but still kicking. My sample was already past its prime (though not literally past its "best before" date), but it still reflected the earliest days of session IPA, when it was still completely rooted in the West Coast idiom - because New England IPA simply did not exist yet. In this Light Pants too, it is as if the whole "haze revolution" in IPA never happened - a remarkable feat, but then Struise itself was founded well before it happened, and given that IPAs were never their forte, it should come as no surprise that when they do make one, it is going to be a very old-fashioned one. So old-fashioned even that I think most craft beer youngsters today are even too young to understand this... This one gets me all nostalgic about the earlier days of U.S. style craft brewing - have an extra point for that alone. I actually enjoyed this beer a lot for pure nostalgic reasons - and I am not ashamed to admit I love nostalgia - so my rating will probably end up significantly higher than the average here... Just too bad for the total lack of head retention, though.

Bottle from Raynville Superstore. It pours clear copper with a decent fluffy white head. The aroma is sweet and tangy, plenty of citrus, orange marmalade, grapefruit, tropical fruit cocktail, sappy, sticky pine and a splash of Irn Bru. The taste is dry, some bitterness, oily, sappy, resinous, pine, pithy, zesty, grapefruit, tangerine peel, pomelo, florals, touch of spice and muted caramel with a drying, pithy citrus finish. Average body and fluffy carbonation. Grew on me a bit. Not a huge amount of depth, but has some nice fruitiness. Not quite up to usual De Struise standards.

YG. Deep golden color with a white head. Aroma and flavor is fruit, malt, yeast, dried fruit, herbs.

Bottle. A quite malt forward beer, yet with a pleasant, gentle fruityness. Lightly piney, grapefruity. Very gentle bitterness. Herbal hints. Rather low on carbonation too. Not much going on here, but at least not foul. 546211 260409

An orange coloured, a head is big and blond. Aroma has fruitness, appless, some pine and sourness. Taste has fruitness, green apples. Medium bodied. Too old.

1 March 2025. At Winter Belgian Beer Geek Gathering. Many thanks to hosting, Tim & Marina, and cheers to the whole crew!

Biscuit, old rusk, peanut, vague chlorine. Bitter rusk, cereal, wholemeal, grapefruit. Grassy hops, quite dry. Medium body. Quite okay, not as crisp as your regular ISA.

Hellmalziger, mild hopfiger Beginn. Milde Bitterkeit, moderat fruchtig nach Ananas, wässrig, kurzer Abgang. 8/7/7/6//7

A clear orange golden beer with a huge long lasting off white head. Aroma of grapefruit, oranges, tangerine, some spices. Taste of oranges, blood orange, grapefruit, tangerine, moderate bitterness, moderate carbonation.

Bottle 33cl. @home poured into a teku glass. Almost clear pale to medium amber colour, small stable off-white creamy head, light lacing. Aroma sweet malt, caramel, Belgian yeast, light earthy hops. Taste malty, medium sweet and light to medium bitter, fruity hints, dark bread, light harshness, some brown sugar. Medium body, oily texture, soft carbonation, malty sweetbitter aftertaste, quite flavoursome, fruity bits till the end, very nice esp. regarding the low abv.