Rock Art Vermonster

Brewed by Rock Art Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Morrisville, Vermont USA

Barley Wine Tasting with Hophead22. Aroma of hops and malts with some caramel present. Taste was very hoppy and strong malt backbone with a bitter crisp finish. Appearance was golden amber with small head. Pallet was full bodied. Overall very good barley wine.

Bottle. Ah, the know famous VERMONSTER! how fun....Pours a brown color with a medium off white foamy head. Head recedes to leave a ring and a small film island. Light lacing is nice. Nose is hoppy up front with a nice alcohol note and some choclate malts in the background. Palate is smooth, warming, leaves the tongue stinging. Flavors are dominated by bitter hops and alcohol; very MONSTER like. A light fruit note is deeply hidden. Tastes very young, hopefully he is aging some of this stuff for a release in a year or so.

22oz bottle from Kevin at H24. Rating #116. Dark brown with a tan head. Rich malty aroma with a underlying hoppiness. Nice hop bite, very nice with a good malt profile as well, very good, take that Monster. (1065)

22oz bomber bottle from Charles Street Liquors, 12 November 2009. Clear coppery red colour. Beige head. Well, it certainly is a monster in some ways. The hop bitterness really leaps out, grabs you by the throat and dominates everything else. Except for the heat of the alcohol. The mix of astringent bitterness and boozy burn really lingers, long after the beer has gone. There’s some sticky sweetness which, together with loads of pine resin really coats the gums. Very rich mouthfeel. There is some raisiny fruit and treacle toffee lurking in the background but it is rather overwhelmed by the hoppy bitterness. Although the foregoing sounds rather disparaging, I rather liked the big, bold attack but found it hard going. Although I am not usually one for aging beers, I’m sure this one would benefit from a year or two to soften out the hops, mellow the alcohol and allow the flavours to integrate better. At the moment it all seems rather too harsh and unbalanced. A couple of points added to the overall score for potential.

Hazy ligth brown coloured beer with small white head and alost no carbonation. Bit hoppy aroma mixed with some malts. Full creamy palate. Finish is sweet spicy with some hops though soft bitter touch. Nice one.

Pours brown, perhaps a very dark amber, with off-white head. Nose is very candied, almost suggesting a winter warmer. Malt & light citrus are noted. On the palate there’s a big influence of malt and not just hops, and I was expecting nothing but hops given the boastful 100 IBU label. So, there’s more balance than expected, but nothing spectacular one way or another on the palate - hops don’t stand out, malt doesn’t stand out. It’s balanced because not much is going on. Finish is somewhat short.

22oz bottle. 2007 vintage (at least that’s the year I bought it!). Poured a deep orangish/amberish color with a larger sized off white head. Aromas of caramel, nuttiness, raisins, and a little earthiness. Tastes of caramel, citrus, nutty, toffee, and some dark fruits. Overall alcohol content well hidden.

22oz bottle. Cloudy dark red-brown body with small off-white head. Aroma is moderately sweet, grapefruit, caramel, some pine, light raisin. Taste is moderately sweet, grapefruit/pine, alcohol, light orange, cherry, caramel. Medium-full body, fairly resinous, some stickiness.