Brooklyn Monster Ale

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

12oz bottle from Kingdom Liquors (Tampa, FL). Aroma is hops, grapefruit, dark ripe fruit, brandy, malty sweetness (like caramel). Flavor is sweet malt, hoppy-bitterness, caramel-honey sweetness with notes of hops. Medium to full-bodied with a clean, sweet malt finish. Nice ale.

Bottle. Pours a dark brown / amber colour with beige head. Aroma is dark fruit, sherry, hops, caramel. Flavor is much of the same with a dark spicy, port like feel feel to it. Will age well. I hope.

Bottle this one pours out a nice amber topped with a small head. A nice sweet aroma of caramel and a touch of hops. Tast of the sweet caramel along with some fruit.

Are you kidding me? Just opened a bottle of 2000 it had almost no carbonation and smells like a fusel raisin. Looks and tastes like turpentine. Did they make this from a kit at a homebrew shop? The only redeeming quality of this beer is the 11.8% alcohol. I can help but hate on Brooklyn for the crap brews they put out. The Local 1 is decent but the rest of it...

bottle from ol’ reliable... thanks ucusty. pours a brilliant clear rich copper color with a soft toasted almond head. some slug rings of lacing are left on the glass in a horizontal pattern. caramel, sweet grain, berries, orange peel and light piney hops on the nose. the flavor is... strange. balanced but somehow not... light earthy spicy hops, tart fruit, orange and malty caramel-y grains with a dry hoppy finish. malt sticks around in the aftertaste. full bodied and very slick but not sticky. very quaffable though i’d have trouble drinking another. strange... not very complex but the least sugary sweet BW i’ve had to date...

12 oz. bottle (2007). Pours a clear copper color with a smaller beige head. Aroma consists of citrus hops, sweet caramel malt, slight vinous quality, and alcohol. I am a bit disappointed in this one: citrus hops, caramel malt, maybe apricots, acid, and alcohol. These are not mixing well together. I wonder what more age would do for this? A bit on the sticky side. I am on record as being disappointed.

This caught my eye from the tag in Shoprite Liquors that said "last of the batch" or some nonsense like that. It was a discount- $8 per six pack, so I had no excuse not to try it. Have to admit, this was my first Barley Wine. Very good, reminded me of a wine/beer combo. I’m not a fan of wine, so here’s my beer critic review. Pours medium brown, nutty caramel color. Enticing appearance. Very fruity, beer-ish aroma- delicious nose. Apricot, plum, dark cherries. Tastes like a flat beer with maximum dryness- lots of malt, fruitiness in the taste. Feels good on the mouth, smooth and silky. Not thick, but no watery presence- refreshing on the palate. Very enjoyable, but hard to drink. I enjoyed it a lot, and this is far from my ideal beer. " Two thumbs up. "

12 oz bottle into sniffer. Pours a rich amber red with a big barely off-white head, lighter and clearer than I would expect - it also had a thinner pour than expected for the abv. and the style. This stuff smells great: citrus juicyness, chewy malty sweetness, caramel, honey, apricots, and a trace of alcohol. Flavor isn’t as complex and exhibits a much stronger alcohol flavor (though still not too too bad for 10.8 abv.). The alcohol sort of outweighs everything with a sort of watery fruity backbone. It is very strange for a barley wine - the same goes for its feel on my palate. It is very very thin for its abv and its style - little to no carbonation and smooth. but alcohol warms and punches the stomach. Overall: this is a crazy unique brew that seems a bit out of balance, like it needs a lot more heavy malt and maybe some age; worth a try but I don’t think I could have more than 1 at a time. It did seem to get a bit more bearable as it warms. [RERATE] Im gonna leave the same score. Though it does seemed to have improved with a year on it flavor wise. It is not very hoppy and leaning towards the traditional English Barley Wine (and NOT American) style due to the lack of serious hop profile. It is good and easy going for the abv, but a bit thinner and less hoppy than I would like. Though still pretty good with a year on it. I will try another in a year or so.