Flasche 0,33l: Kräftiges Bernstein, kupfer, glasklar, kräftiger stabiler mittelporiger Schaum; leicht fruchtige + kräftig würzige Nase, malzig-würzige Süße, trockene Zitrusnoten, kräftige florale/kräutrige Hopfennoten, Malz, Getreide, trockene Hefearomen, malzig-würzige Bitterkeit; fruchtiger + kräftig würziger Körper, trockene Zitrusnoten, trocken-fruchtige Säure, Limetten., Limettenzest, kräftige florale/kräutrige Hopfennoten, Malz, cremig, moderate Kohlensäure, Hefearomen; trocken-würziger Nachgang

Old rating from 2013 - 330ml bottle brought in Amsterdam. Pours caramel with a white head. Aromas & tastes of caramel, dark fruits, clove, grain & roasted malt. Moderate body. Moderate bitter finish

330ml bottle. Minimally cloudy, orange golden colour with small to average, frothy, moderately lasting, minimally lacing, white head. Sweet-ish, slightly bready, minimally grainy, pale and wheaty malty, yeasty fruity and slightly spicy aroma, hints of banana and coriander, a touch of peach and apricot. Taste is sweet-ish, wheaty and pale malty, yeasty fruity and slightly spicy, mildly bitter and minimally grassy hoppy, hints of banana, some coriander, a touch of apricot and peach.
Oily texture, smooth and soft, minimally cloying palate, medium to fine, dense, creamy, mildly prickly carbonation.
More Triple than Bock to me, nice mothfeel, balanced - enjoyable.

Blonde from 't IJ, developed in their proeflokaal (De Molen - not to be confused with the pioneering Dutch craft brewery near Gouda, of course); the name is French for "the egg" which seems fitting in this Easter weekend, when children gather literal Easter eggs. Can from the Albert Heijn supermarket in Lokeren. Thick, foamy, egg-white, dense, very moussey and regular, almost creamy head, lacing with a thin membrane over a lightly misty yellow-golden robe with vaguely pale orangey tinge and some lonely, tiny bubbles shooting upwards here and there. Aroma of dried white bread crust, old dry orange peel, coriander powder, white bubblegum, raw parsnip, sweetclover, halfripe banana, wet grass, unripe apricot, apple skin, something vaguely sulfuric (egg yolk), hint of melting rubber in the background, honey, vague clove. Fruity onset, sweetish in a crisp kind of way but not very 'colourful', reminiscent of dried apple peel, halfripe banana and a dash of apricot, with - unexpectedly - rather stingy carbonation, accentuating a sourish undertone; slender, smooth pale malty core, a touch bready, with this typical wheat slickness engulfing it, adding more sourishness. This latter aspect remains till the end, where, next to a touch of coriander, floral hops show up - not as "New World" as the brewery apparently claims, but still with a distant hint of dried sweet orange peel and even very faint dill. The hops establish a mild but somewhat lingering, soft-earthy, floral bitterness, but the wheat sourishness and fruity aspects linger just as strongly - as does this bubblegummy isoamylacetate, though in this particular case it does not stress the sweetness too much for some reason. Moderately dryish finish, altogether satisfying for what it intends to be: a classic Belgian style blonde with a portion of slick wheat and a background dash of American hops, the latter connecting with present-day artisanal beer tendencies, but in such a vague and distant way that it almost feels like a waste to use them at all... The days when 't IJ was not boring are long past - decades, in fact. I respect the pioneering function they had in Holland in the eighties and nineties (along with e.g. Us Heit in Friesland), but ever since Moortgat took over in 2015, their beers have become ever more mass-oriented and less interesting to the beer afficionado.