brew dog blog

Reading my last post, you might think that I was a pretty pessimistic guy.  In fact, that’s not the case — I know how lucky I am and I’m often looking forward to some event, some new knowledge, some new interactions.  So living in Brooklyn, I’m lucky to have friends who encourage me to go out, learn, and…hang out.  During one such recent brew bullshit session, Stinky mentioned that he thought I hadn’t tried this specific brew from Regenboog a.k.a. ‘t Smisje (or in English – Rainbow, or Little Blacksmith), and I knew I needed to rectify that straight away.

Not wanting to completely allow my collection of 12% brews to end, but not wanting to end my streak of drinking amazing brews from Belgium, I reached for this Regenboog for my nightly brew.  Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect, since half the time I open a Belgian IPA it foams out the top leaving only a few sips left, or has no hop character at all.  Maybe my luck has been bad, but all that changed when the IPA+ came in to my life.

There’s something special to me about this beer, in that it’s actually very close to the style of a Belgian Ale that I have aging in a carboy in my basement right now.  The IPA+ has an amazing aroma of citrusy, American style hops mixed with an awesome Belgian Yeast nose that is spot on.  It pours a cloudy dark yellow with a gigantic head that simply doesn’t dissipate — it forms crazy looking cavernous shapes in your glass, popping bubbles of a dizzying variety of complex aromas.  The mouthfeel of this beer is a bit heavier than I prefer in either a Belgian beer or an “Imperial IPA,” which this would certainly qualify as with it’s 10% ABV.  IPA+ comes across as a Southern Tier Unearthly with a heavy handed use of Belgian Yeast, or a heavier Golden Strong with a heavier hop nose and a crisp bite of bitterness.  All around, this is an extremely thoughtful and well-balanced beer that deserves close recognition but could almost drink like a session beer, regardless of how altered drinking one 33cl bottle gets you.  Regenboog’s ‘t Smisje range of brews are highly recommended, and I think I’ll have to revisit my old friend Guido soon for a review — I think he would approve of the IPA+.