Cropton Monkmans Slaughter

Bottled. Dark brown color. Bready, slightly salty aroma. Malty, salty flavor with balckberries, pear and a hint of licorice. Just a bit earthy. Medium bodied, fruity ale.

Cask gravity at Rare Breeds BF 08. Deep russet/orange/dark brown. Dryish aroma with some fruit. Decent strong dark beer. Not overly roasty, fruity or syrupy. Decent hop on end. Some really good malts. Balanced beer, bit of spice. Good and surprising.

Tasted 25/06/2008. 500ml bottle from Regional Wines and Spirits, while watching "Into the Wild". Pours a bright chestnut reddish-brown with a thin beige head that collapses and laces lightly. Rich aroma of caramel, dark stewed fruit, a little spice, wood and liquourice. Rose-like esters with a light mineral note in behind. Rich malty character in the mouth, showing off nice darker crystal notes and a fruity spicy hop flavour. some pleasant oxidised notes in the malt flavour. A little wood and aniseed in the hop flourish - the combionation of flavours almost tends toward tartness. Off-dry finish with medium bitterness. Medium weight and light-medium carbonation. Possibly lacks a little complexity through the middle but is well made, nicely drinkable, and has travelled fairly well. Nice beer, good movie.

Nice reddish brown pour with strong head and lacing. Earthy aroma with the malts predominating. Flavor is certainly malt and the sour/bitterness of the hops finishes it off at the end. Very nice!

Not a good traveller? Bottle was purchased fresh on arrival from distributor, but seems like it ran into some travel problems. Otherwise, the brew is just sub-par. Looks nice- dark muddy brown pour, healthy full off-white head that sticks around a lot. Smells of musty toasted earth and some drak fruit. Overly sharp bitterness for the brew, invades the palate with sharp, slightly off-sour flavors. Bready, toasted biscuit malts flavors comes through too weakly.