Brooklyn Monster Ale

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

Bottle, 2003. Moderate malt notes of cereal, caramel, and milk chocolate, light citrusy hops, and dough for the yeast. Fizzy white head with fair lacing that’s fully diminishing. Color is a murky iced tea color. Flavor is heavily sweet lightly acidic/sour, and finishes moderately sweet and acidic, lightly bitter and a touch salty. Palate is med/full bodied, syrupy, between soft and flat in the carbonation and noticably aclcoholic. Not the best barley wine, but well worth trying.

Brown with Orange/Red Hue and White Ring. Syrupy Barley, Spice and Yeast Aroma. Medium Mouthfeel. Syrupy Body. Warming is Evident Right Away. Strong Malt Presence, Fruit Notes and Bread. Simple and Very Enjoyable.

12-oz. ’04 Thanks, Maria! Pours deep dark crystal clear brownish amber--you can hardly see through it, but not for the obstruction...it’s for the color. Bits of lingering grayish head here and there, nothing heavy for a BW. Big sweet bready fruity sweaty nose...raisins, dates, figs, and gasoline there too. Alarmingly sugary. Surpisingly light body, stillish carb, and gently sweet flavors. Cherry, apple, caramel, toffee, marshmallow. Insanely sugary...not sure how much of this I can handle but I bet I finish this one in honor of the late great Geogre Washington and the fact that I will probably never see another one of these in my life. But other than that it’s kind of an occasional treat.

Poured from a 2006 12oz bottle into a tulip, this barley wine poured a very dark amber brown color with a good sized yellowish tan head that slowly faded, leaving behind some good lace. The aroma of this beer was roasted caramel malts, some dark fruits, and just a bit of oranges. The flavor was an astringent/sweet fruit taste with an unbalanced alcohol note. I had hoped for much more judging by the aroma. A bittersweet taste lingered around on my tounge for a while. The mouthfeel was also a bit thin for a big beer like this. Not bad, but the appearance and the aroma had given me high hopes for this one. A bit of a let down overall. (By the time I finished the first bottle, the alcohol convinced me to crack open another!)

Amber red body with a small ring of foam. Fruity aroma at the begining and more hoppy at the finish. Small notes of citrus and syrup gets more bitter at the middle. Very thick in the mouth almost like syrup. The finish is very caremely.

Bottle, aged about a year, not bad. Flavors are acidic, chiefly of apple, with hints of wood on the aftertaste which warms. Deep red amber color. Alcohol prevalent overall. Somewhat of a watery mouthfeel. I would like more richness.

[Tasted with svoger at Carlsens in 2005.] Thisone was too much at that time. No doubt I’ll find it better today or in the future. Time will show. As it is with barleys, the dominat alcohol is too much and it only ran very slowly down in the deep south.

Bottle gift from Stegosaurus. Amber pour with small head. Piney hop aroma with hints of fruit. Mild in taste but blended rather well. I liked this.