Rock Art Vermonster

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

22 oz bottle from Spirits RB. Poured a deep dirty looking chcolate brown with an average to slightly large foamy light beige head. Aroma started off with some strong chcolate aromas blended in with melted toffee, molassess and grain and finished with some grapefruit citrus rind. The body on this one has some alcohol heat on the back end and a harshly bitter finish with a medium body and strong carbonation for a barley wine. The flavor had some alcohol, caramel, wax, and even though this is a new bottle there seems to be some oxidation aready. As a barleywine this one is so-so but for a Rock Art it’s solid.

Pours a deep orangey hue, forming a light craggy head of foam. Aroma of tropical fruit, grapefruits, and hops. Complete hop bomb, grapefruit goodness. Has a juicy quality, unbelievable beer!

Thank to Joe McPhee for sending me this now famous beer in a trade. The 22 oz bomber poured a clear copper color with a tan head and good lacing. It is well named for it is a monster. The nose is malts and floral hops and the mouthfeel is rich and alcoholic. In the flavor hop bitterness dominates everything else except for the burn of the alcohol. While not bad I felt this one would have benefitted from a couple years in the cellar to tame it down somewhat.

Bottle from dogfish120love. Thanks a ton, man!
Pours a thick, dark mahogany witha nice head of "Halloween III" robot-gut-juice yellow. Aroma is a light, grape/raisin malt with a tinge of raspberry preserves. Flavor is a blunt grape-soaked hops with a bittersweet malt and raisin finish that ends with bready, hoppy notes. Decent mouthfeel, but not spectacular. Good beer; worthy of being fought for.

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.