Bottle from Kisjes Slijterijen, Meppel. Aroma is biscuity malt, caramel, touch of toffee, hoppy and slight herbal notes, leaves, hint of resin. Flavour is moderate to medium sweet and medium bitter. Body is medium. Not an Imperial IPA at all, rather sweetish biscuity malty herbal-ish with the bitterness of hops. Bit disappointing but drinkable.

Bottle @ home. A bit unclear dark red to red-brown color, average sized beige head that’s quite fizzy in the beginning but subsides quite quickly. Aroma is malts, some hops but not very dominantly. Taste malts, hops in there for sure, sticky a little bit as well but where’s the fruitiness? The pine? The resin? Ok, maybe there’s some resinous hints in there. The sticky hops aren’t all that bad and the bitterness is solid if not good, but I’m not convinced. Dutch brewers in general, and certainly De Eem too, can do much better with their IPA’s and IIPA’s. It’s not that they lack knowledge or facilities or ingredients, yet they can’t seem to make an IPA / IIPA that can compete with top US ones and I don’t understand why. On the other hand: the rare cases where they do succeed it’s not just a pleasure to drink the beer but also a very pleasant surprise.

29th December 2016
Victoria Secret, Tettang and Cascade hops. Hazy deep amber - brown beer, tidy pale tan head. Palate is light, dry and finely minerally crisp. Thin malts with an odd milky dark toffee. Sweetish pine. Dry tangy tangerine, touch of marmalade. Light semi dry finish. Pretty clunky.

Tap at In de Wildeman. Clear mahogany with beige head. Light roasted malts, caramel, dried herbs, dead leaves (matching the streets outside). Medium sweet and quite bitter too. Just medium bodied. Also this is no way an Imperial IPA...

On tap at Tilt Utrecht 15cl. Thick creamy off white head. Nice bitterness. Hazy amber pour

Draft at Tilt, Utrecht. Clear dark amber with a thick cream head. Aroma of butterscotch and slightly sickly caramel malt overpowering fruity hops, citrus and green hop notes. Flavour is above moderate sweet and bitter. Medium bodied with soft carbonation.