Struise Aardmonnik / Earthmonk

Formerly brewed at De Struise Brouwers
Style: Sour Ale
Oostvleteren, Belgium

Thanks _____ for getting me this one. This ended up being the most interesting beer we had that night, in my opinion. Pours a dark deep ruby brown with zero carbonation. Very still brew. The nose is very complex and layered, sweet, lots of spice, nutmeg, lightly sour, vinous, port, dark raisin and plum, balsamic vinegar (adjective courtesy of turdferguson). The flavor is very "portish", lightly tart, spicy, nutmeg, dark fruity, balsamic again (thanks turd for putting a finger on that). Very still in the mouth and lightly tart. The finish was very complex, maybe moreso than the flavor. Balsamic flavors, spices, gradually warming, nutmeg, portish. In the end a very very interesting beer that defies what I was expecting from a sour.

33cl. bottle at home: A beer I have been enjoying for a while but just now getting around to actually rating. Pours an extremely dark opaque brown with just the faintest whisper of a bubbly soap scum head around the edges. wonderful rich aromas flow from the glass. Apple skin and a touch of cherry add a nice sweet fruity vein through a nice woody, lactic, farmland. Some metallic, or even ozone, notes on the nose as well. A slight roast too. Not burnt, but more than toasted, with an earthy and choclately character. When tasted there is a sudden flash of tin and then malt that moves quickly out of the way for lactic acid and balsamico. Very soft carbonation (almost none). The nice smooth sourness sits on top of a raisin and fig bed. Old dark fruit compote. Some fresh dates. Then earthy roast chocolate breaks up the dark fruits and hangs around for a while. Red wine soaked pears start to come in and mingle with a touch of blood or tin. It turns more tart/sour as the beer finishes, giving you a nice long satisfying sourness with a touch of fruit and some musty earth. Fantastic!

Heeft het aroma van het oude Vlaams bruin bier. Een licht zurige maar fruitige smaak van oude porto, caramel en noten en er zit zelf een oude vermufde smaak van dorre bladeren in. Een heerlijk biertje om lekker van te genieten in de safa bij een winterdag

Bottle, many thanks to Ian ’Harrisoni’ for this one, cheers mate! Pours dark brown with wispy head. Aroma quite striking and I was immediately hit with a glorious basamic vinegar scent, this was interspersed with zesty orange, and cherry, quite stunning. The taste was quite bizarre and nothing like I had anticipated. If truth be told I wasn’t immediately taken by this, it was a classic grower in the way that records back in the old days (the 80’s say) would chart at say No:33 and take about 5-6 weeks before the reached the heady heights of the top ten this was just like that but by the end I wanted more. Loz on the other hand was taken in by it straight away and kept remarking about the cherries, old classic wine qualities and lovely effervescence of course she was spot on, I got balsamic vinegar again we both noted the similarity to the Rodenbach Vin de Cereal, this was great. Once again a big, big thanks to Ian.

Bottle during 4/12 dmetal quazz with J in c-bad. Thanks a lot Mike for sending this my way!

Nose is sweet fruits smothered with tart cherries, toffee, bubble gum!!!, jelly bean, plums, wood, marshmallow - pretty wild!. Flavor is def strange but quite exciting - red wine notes with a slightly sour background, malty caramel, raisin, licorice, plum, berries, muffled grass - and a bunch of other weirdness laughing in my face. Really uber-complex - so much so I really can pinpoint half of what is going on...a plethora of flavors and just a complicated beer. Definitely unique to say the least!

Bottle generously shared by jarspag for the April 12 Death Metal. Appearance is deep red-brown with large white bubbles and swirls. Extremely sweet aroma of caramelized sugars with chocolate-covered cherry, raisin and bubblegum. Some red wine acidity is present, with a touch of smoke and a light balsamic tone. Flavor consists of burnt wood and grass; the profile starts sweet with tannins and brown malts and sour raisin, transitioning to an acetic aftertaste with a strange sting on the palate. Peppery finish with a long-lasting spicy tartness. Interesting. Thanks for hookin’ this one up J.

Bottle rated March 31, 2008

This gem arrived courtesy of ygtbsm94. It cost me a Red Poppy, but goodness was it worth it. They’re both outstanding sour ales, but this one has got a certain something extra that puts it over the top. I’m afraid there is nothing in this one to keep me from continuing as a hopeless Struise fanboy.

The beer pours much darker than I ever would have expected, deep thick brown with a ruby glow emanating from within. Relatively modest head - I should have poured more aggressively - with long-lived lacing along the sides of the glass. Absolutely beautiful beer. (Two thirds of the way through the glass I’m coming back to write more about the appareance; I can’t get over how beautiful this beer is. I never do that. I’d give it a 6 out of 5 if I could.)

The aroma is rich with sour cherries, mild vinegar and tannic notes, the acrid notes of a finger rubbed against an old 1920’s black rubber fountain pen, light herbal spicing. The flavor...ah, the flavor. Where do I even start? Lovely cherries, tart but not too tart. Rich earthy notes, like burying one’s face in a pungent spicy humus layer, woody tannins, just a tiny bite from the acidity, spices that ceratinly don’t jump to the attention but which, on serious contemplation, must be there to round out the complexity and balance this elixir with the perfection that it displays. Never sweet like (the delightful) Goudenband, but never lacking for ample sweetness to balance out the flavors. Rich, earthy, full, spectacular.

I’m in love. I’d buy this by the case if I could, and drink it every night before bed. If I had but one beer to illustrate what beer has to offer to a wine connoisseur, it would be this one.

A final note: My poor wife says it tastes like a metal key dipped in Worcestershire sauce. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt so sorry for her. It’s as if one played Bach’s 5th suite for solo cello, and she heard only nails along a chalkboard.

Bottle rated April 24, 2009. Much of the above holds, but this one is really flat -- almost no carbonation whatsoever. As a result, palate drops to 3 and overall to 16 for an 0.4 point drop. Hope the other couple of bottles in my cellar don’t suffer the similar flaw. But still -- for a flawed beer? Dang this is good stuff.

Bottle at Kulminator in Antwerp, Belgium. Almoust black and a brownish bubbly head.Aroma is very complex and interesting! Has earth, blums, dark malt, winous, rubber and tar. Flavor is sourish, winous and malty. Also some sweetnes shines trough.