Manchester Studly Monk

Brewed by Manchester Brewing
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Concord, New Hampshire USA

A very slight noise as I pull the flip top from the bottle. No head whatsoever. Pit fruit and alcohol aromas. Flat with upfront pit fruit and a sweet, lasting pepper finish.

1 litre swing-top brown bottle obtained at McKinnon’s in Salem, NH. Pours a very hazy brick-red body with a thin film of light tan head. Smells very fruity (berries? grapes?) with some brown sugar, toffee, apple skin, caramel, and very slight chocolate notes. Fruity flavor is immediately noticeable, with some toffee, brown sugar, caramel, notes of chocolate, coffee, and alcohol warming. On the upper side of medium-bodied with moderate carbonation. Easy drinking for the style and complexity. Exceeds my expectations on every level, an easy-drinking example of the style and very tasty to boot. I’m every impressed! EDIT: This review was of the first bottle I had. Since then, most bottles I have had have been flat, though not spoiled otherwise.

My Bottom Line:
Syrupy caramel sweetness envelops orange zest before peppery, herbal hop bitterness sinks into this unbalanced Belgian-style Strong Ale.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A ring of foam surrounds the dark orange.
-That caramel is almost burnt at times, which actually works because of all the residual sugars.
-3 out of 4 beers I’ve had from them have been underattenuated. Sweet teeth or lazy yeasts?
-The dextrins aren’t too diversified either, offering very linear caramel flavors.
-Oh yeah, this was ridiculously expensive at Concord Co-Op.

Bottle.

Bouteille de 1 l, avec bouchon de céramique, partagée lors d’une dégustation Ratebeer Montréal chez MartinT. Arôme: Odeur de petits fruits avec une pointe de caramel et d’épices. Apparence: La couleur est ambrée orangée. Présence d’un mince col mousseux et d’une fine dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Goût d’agrumes avec une pointe de caramel et d’épices. Durée moyenne de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est moyen avec une etxture légèrement huileuse. Moyenne effervescence en bouche. Légère présence d’agrumes en arrière goût. (Rating #2573)

Somewhere between light ruby and cherrywood colored. Not much head to speak of in my Maudite glass.
Mostly prune and spicy, gingerbread aromas.
Quite sweet, maybe a little too much for my taste, as it seems too cloying and masks just about everything else. One interesting characteristic was in the aftertaste, which I could only describe as waxy with a side of church insence. At first I thought iw was from the chesse I paired up with it, but even way after I ate the cheese the aftertaste was still there. It was strange, but interesting, kind of like the slogan on the bottle: "Belgian style, with kneepads". I’m going to write this one off as a cultural thing because no one in the half-dozen Quebecers present at the tasting got the joke.
It has promise, if I had an extra bottle of this stuff I would let it age for a couple of years to help mellow out the sugars.

Ruby pour with a small head. Aroma has lots of dark fruit, nutmeg, molasses, apple, and sweet malt. Flavor isn’t complex, but tasty- great malt character, fruity but not overly sweet. Impressive beer from a start-up brewery.

Copper pour with a nice head. nice malty aroma with some fruit,spice, bit of strawberry, caramel malt. Mouthful is similar, rich and spicy with some lovely fruit notes. Great stuff

Reddish copper with excellent white head that starts with one finger and dissipates to a veneer. Aroma is spice, caramel, apple, orange peel, and tons of dark fruit. Flavor is loaded with sweet dark fruit malt character with hints of caramel and clove. Palate is medium with a full, mildly carbonated body that sticks nicely. Finishes dry and delicious.