Uiltje: North: Monster IIIPA (Netherlands: IIPA: 18% ABV)
Visual: Dark, cloudy apricot coloured body with a large yellowed froth head.
Nose: Dried apricot. Bitter hops. Earthy hop character. Malt chocolate. Turmeric. Light pepper. Thick and oily.
Body: Apricot. Cream. Hop oils. Creamy kiwi. Custard. Oily bitterness. Vanilla fudge.
Finish: Custard cream biscuits. Peach. Hop oils. Bitter oily character. Creamy kiwi. Musky hops. Slight greenery. Vanilla fudge. Light menthol.
Conclusion: Big, but simple. That is the best way I can describe this. It is thick, oily backed, showing the abv, but only just which is impressive considering it is kicking out at 18% abv. It is creamy with the oily character showing in the fruit, the hops and pretty much everything else. There is some bitterness, but the sweetness of the massive malt base is at the forefront. There is a slightly funky feel that gives a musky hop weight, but only a little at the edges. Generally the huge sweet malt and fruit hops are the thing.
Anyway, that was a lot of words. I can cut it down to this. This is predominantly apricot. Creamy apricot. Creamy apricot in hop oils, with custard to vanilla fudge backing. There, that covers pretty much 98% of the beer. There is a lot I can (and will) say around that, but that is your flavor profile right there.
So, yeah, the flavor is big, but simple. A lot of the effort here seems to have gone into making the feel stand out. There is a creamy centre, oily hops, some slight funky feel, and a kind of greenery chewiness. For all that the flavours are simple it does a lot of work with the mouthfeel.
A few rounding notes come out over time. Some menthol, some creamy kiwi. Still the same basic overall impression though. Very sweet, enjoyable, good oily hop character, but I would expect a lot more going on in exchange or drinking something of 18% abv.
A nice experience, but for the cost and the abv there are much better IPAs, IIPAs and IIPAs out there. Not bad, just not special for the huge abv it uses.
Background: This is an IIIPA, more commonly called Triple IPA. It is 18% ABV. Which means it is one of the few triple IPAs that is actually triple the abv of a standard (around 6%ish) IPA. Truth in advertising. Good job. So, anyway, an insanely high abv IPA – from Het Uiltje, yeah I had to try it. Oh and North Brewing are involved as well, but it was mainly Het Uiltje I grabbed it for. Grabbed from Independent Spirit, and ,since I guessed I may be a tad intoxicated as I drank it, put on some Siouxsie and The Banshees while drinking – Hyaena to be exact.
Advertisements
