Brugge Brasserie Son of Thunder Monkey

(labeled only as Thunder Monkey) Indy Winterfest ’08. Warm hazy brown with a thin creamy offwhite head. Big banana estery nose over dark malt. Very malty. Some spice, balanced. Creamy full body, average carbonation, but a bit heavier. Sweet malty backbone. Light astringency. Big esters, bubblegum. Some holiday spices, but no ginger.

Pours a deep, dark red. Looks dark and delicious in the glass. Lots of things to like here, but the aroma isn’t one of them. Smells of damp earth and musky blankets, intentional I’m sure, but turned me off. Flavor more than makes up. Taste is candy and yeast, with just a touch of spice and notes of flowers. Flavor is nice and subtle, the yeast takes center stage but everything is held nicely in balance by the spice. Not overdone at all. Flavor is very, very nice.

tap at the brewpub - Pours amber with a thin, lasting tan head. The aroma is of fruit accented malt with some spices and an odd funk that I really can’t figure out. It doesn’t smell like lambic yeast. It strikes me as almost sulfur-like, which makes me think my nose is crazy, but nevertheless it’s not a pleasant component of the aroma. The flavor is sweet and a little spicy with some yeast that’s not too bad, but convinces me that that’s the origins of the odd aroma. This medium bodied brew is drinkable, but just doesn’t work for me.

On tap at Brugge Brasserie (Indianapolis, IN). Pours a hazy dark caramel brown color with thin white head. Aroma is sweet and somewhat malty with notes of cooked mushrooms, spice, hints of barnyard funk and nutmeg. Flavor is slightly malty, slightly sweet with hints of spice, honey, some faint sour malt and barnyard funk. Generally light to medium body with a watery malty finish.

Tulip at the brewpub. Pours a cloudy caramel brown with a creamy thin ring at the edge of the glass and a swirling island of tiny bubbles. The nose is an assortment of spices (coriander, orange peel, clove?, and perhaps grains of paradise) along with caramel malts and a fruity Belgian yeast strain in the background. Medium-bodied, slick and creamy with a lingering spicy finish. The flavor is super spicy with notes that match the nose. I got a lot of clove, but interestingly see no one else mentioned that in their reviews. The caramel backing is barely enough to contain the spices in this brew, and as soon as our red curry mussels hit the table the flavor profile morphed instantly. I was immediately reminded of the flavors imparted on shrimp or crawfish from the boiling bag typically used to prepare those shellfish. Understandably, that made it pair quite well with the mussels. Overall I found it a tad overspiced, as a standalone drinker, but I enjoyed it never-the-less.

Draft at brewpub. Poured hazy dark brown color with an average frothy off-white head that was lasting and produced good lacing. Average dark toasted malty and spicy yeasty aroma. Medium body with a slick texture. Moderate spicy sweet flavor with medium bittersweet finish of moderate duration. Very refreshing.

Full cloudy brown with dirty tan head and decent lacing. The aroma is definately spiced. Ginger and corriander came through along with some sweetness and a bit of yeast. Definately has the standard holiday spices in the flavor. Cinnamon is most presant among the carmel and bready malts.

dark apricot pour with an anemic grey head that laces. smells like spun yarn. woody flavor with some burnt plastic. acidic and biting. like biting on pennies. finish is cardboard. too much of something that reminds me of corriander(happy now?). not great.