Struise Aardmonnik / Earthmonk

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

Pours a muddy dark brown with extremely minimal cinnimon head. Smells of sour cherries and black licorice, fig and earthy. Taste is very tart and mildly fruity and a lot of vinegar. This is extremely complex though I must admit my limited knowledge of the style takes away from me knowing them. Medium in the mouth and a dry finish. Sips and drinks like a wine.

Recent rating: Bottle shared by Urbain and Struise Farm in May 2008.
Amazingly pungent, sour, prickly, complex, deep and chewy. Incredibly rich and delicious, balancing sweet candy sugar with prickly vinegar sourness, but the points are gained with the exceptionally rich and frothy body. AMAZING beer.
9/5/10/5/17 = 4.6

First rating: 330ml bottle. Pours dark brown with little to no head. Without knowing it I poured this beer precisely as the description suggests... cellar temp, into a tulip, with a bit of height... the result is a small brown film on top of a deep brown body. The nose is first some licorice and chocolate with heavy wood tannins, but it’s a faint aroma overall, not exactly whafting out of the glass. Spicy licorice and syrupy smoke, with an explosion of acidic licorice, liquid smoke and a flavor that resembles blood. Peppery on the back, with a buzz of spicy wood and prickly licorice/smoke/char, and then a strange caramelized melon note, with some fruitiness in the lingering finish. A strange beer.
7/3/7/3/15 = 3.7

Huge thanks to Mike for the chance to try this beer!! Shared between my brother, mike, and I. Great aroma on this beer full of earthy notes, sour under ripened fruits, a little bit of acidity, and even a little vinegar...but not enough to be obnoxious. the aroma was where it was for this beer. Great stuff! The flavor was lots of the sour and tart fruits with some presence of muddled earthy tones. There was a little bit of a metallic finish towards the end...but that was about the only fault I could find in this magnificent beer. Really good stuff, and thanks again Mike!

Simply out, this is my favotite beer of all time. Like Balsamic Vinegar in a bottle. I want to drink this for the rest of my life.

750 ML bottle at Delerium Cafe. Pour is a murky brown...little to no head. Aroma is sour fruit and earthy. Flavor is tart, but not overwhelming. Nice earthy, musty and woody notes. Fruit is there, but subdued. Very nice body and texture. Great brew!

Bottled. Hazy dark reddish brown coloured. Acidic vinegar aroma with notes of wood and glue. Well balanced flavour with some malty sweetness and quite some acidity. Lots of raspberries. Very pleasant.

Thanks to beastiefan2k for sharing - Semi-cloudy amber/brown beer - the aroma is equal parts acidic and sweet, with some christmas cookie kind of spiciness - loads of red wine tannins in the aroma, that carry over into the flavor - sour/tart, but not dry, like a sweet-ish red wine - a wee bit of oak, and those tannins really persist throughout - I enjoyed this.

From ygtbsm94. The beer pours brown and dark, no head, very still and looks dead. Aroma starts off nose tickling sour, good start. It’s a very balsamic vinegar sour and has a very thick cocoa maltiness behind it. Also, a spice herbalness at the end of that. There is a nice cherry/strawberry thing in the fruit area. Taste is very underwhelming, especially after the first hit of sourness in the nose. There is a low level of sourness in the flavor, the fruit flavor is very subdued. My biggest complaint goes to the mouthfeel, which is a bit slick and way too under-carbonated. This makes the beer come off as light and watery in the flavor department. Thanks again Brad.
11.2oz bottle, St. Paul tulip/snifter glass.