Brooklyn Monster Ale

Brewed by Brooklyn Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Brooklyn, New York USA

Bottle (2007 vintage). Pours a reddish color, with little head, but a fair amount of carbonation. Weird (and not particularly good) aroma of pumpkin and artificial apple on top of the usual barleywine malts. The flavor is better (especially as it warms up), with a complex blend of malts and fruit flavors (particularly cherry and apple). The aftertaste is a bit metallic. Not bad - gets much better as you drink it.

’08 vintage, bottle into snifter. Pours a clear red amber with a soapy, thin off-white head. Really nice looking beer. Nose is big and hoppy - lots of citrus, some prickly pine, definite boozy heat that comes out with an almost paint thinner quality, and a big rich caramel and toffee sweetness lurking behind everything. Lotta great stuff going on, and you can’t really fault some booziness on a new barleywine. Taste is fairly balanced - up front, you get a nice, rich, caramel and brown sugar sweetness, with a big layer of spicy hops on top. Some maple in there also. The quality of the hops right before the finish is rather muddled and undefined - there’s no real separation between the hops and the malt, just a sharp, tingly, slightly astringent richness. Some rich, overripe fruit emerge as well. Finish is long, with a light bitterness on the roof of the palate and a lot of alcohol warmth. Mouthfeel is sticky, thick, with a very subtle carbonation. A nice beer overall, one I would certainly put in my cellar for awhile to let it really come into its own.

Bottle. The smell is very malty and light sweet. The head is really small and disappears fast. The body is dark red. The taste is very strong, malty and a little bit bitter with a long duration. The body is very strong with nearly no carbonation and quite dry.

Picked up 12-oz bottle from Brewery Creek in Vancouver, BC. Pours a clear copper amber brew with a thin off-white head that quickly dissipates to a ring and spotty lacing. Aroma of caramel malt, some apple and citrus zest. Taste is medium bodied, with flavors of sweet caramel malt, a touch of fruit and some citrus. Finish is slightly more malty than bitter with a sweet caramel aftertaste.

Amber color with a tan-beige head. Aroma is bready sweet malt with caramel and orangey hops. Flavor is very fruity, with hop notes of orange and grapefruit and ester notes of apples and maybe even plums or red fruit. This is all of course on top of the rock solid chewy malt base. Carbonation is nice and modest, body is fulfilling.

Nice malt hop balance as far as the aroma is concerned. Leans more towards the hop aroma. Nice pungent aroma. Looks like a nice beer. Dark caramel brown with a thin head sitting on top. Very bitter at first but then the bitterness dies out quickly. Almost on the verge of tasting like an APA. Very creamy, but it has an average palate because the creamy part does not last as I thought it would, that was weird. Overall, a decent barley wine, but kind of weak when it comes to flavor.

(bottle) Dark amber body and almost no head. The aroma has a wonderful sweet malt character, with ripe fruit, alcohol, and molasses. Alcohol is also noticeable in the flavor. It is sweet, again with ripe fruit, some hop as well. Full bodied.

330 mL into a snifter. Pours a clear amber with a small yellow head that has good retention. Almost no lacing. Aroma is at first fruity and then gives way to some crystal malt and caramel. Taste is very peppery and alcoholic up front with lots of warming like a swig of brandy. Balancing hops do not hide the alcohol well leaving this barley-wine lacking in depth. Finish is watery. Overall I feel like I just drank a scotch and water. Not well executed. I will let this age and give it another go.