Struise Aardmonnik / Earthmonk

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

Thanks to Mette & Theis for saving this one. Pours a clear dark brown with a small head. Sweet and sour with a hint of vinegar. Spirits. Aromas of cherries and a bit of oak. Tastes like the smell of a white wine cork. Strong effect in the back of the throat bit like wine that stood open too long. Medium to soft carboantion. Sour metallic finish.

Bottle at home ... Thanks to Joris for this ... Deep wonderfull scarlet ruby red... Sharp touch vinegary but deep somthing aroma... ohh the flavour to this is intence... now im not a sour beer fan but this it on the Edge between love and loathing. The sourness of the flavour is definitly not my thing but what that same sourness does to the mouth feel is sublime. Flavour sharp bite sour but rich intence fruit and balsamic vinegar and possibly a touch of iron(as in flavour of blood). Im not sure i can describe it but the sumation for me is that i know this is a beer i want to restock

In short: Intensely sour/tart beer. My favourite Flemish Sour Beer? Maybe…
How: Mtl-crew Halloween-tasting session. Bottle from Rastacouere my hero. This is from the first batch (and only one so far I believe)
The look: Cloudy purple body without much head
In long: From the nose you know you’re in for something intense. It’s a tight rope to walk to make such an intensely sour and tart beer and not fall in the vinegar side. But the earthmonk does not only walk the tight rope, it’s making backflips on it. Sour oak and tart dark cherries (or is it the other way around?) supported by a chocolate backbone and some spicy notes. Intensely sour/tart/acidic. I’m talking making-funny-faces sour/tart/acidic. A sipper. It might be sweet, I don’t know, my taste buds were too busy with other more intense aspects of the beer. The really soft carbonation would be considered dull in any other beer but is totally fitting here. I‘ve been smelling the empty bottle for a few days now. Drinking that unannounced masterpiece with my favourite beer-geek friends was one of those “beer-moment”. It’s remembering moments like that that fuels my passion for beer although unfortunately it is also because of beer that I don’t remember many moments like that.

Bottle at the always packed Delerium Café. Very dark brown beer with a thin tan head. Lovely nose initially, chewy cherry with some light red grape, balsamic character and a touch of oak and vanilla. Loads of woody/earthy notes. Classic Flemish aroma, light acetic with lots of raisin and red grape. Some light spiciness hiding behind the fruity top notes. Flavour is surprisingly soft with a light sweetness and a touch of oaky character. Pronounced cherry and balsamic flavour. Less acidic and with more fruitiness than the aroma would suggest. Soft tobaccoish/leathery flavour through the middle. Lovely plummy fruitiness on the finish with the acidity also helping balance the sweetness. Surprisingly balanced for 8%. Nice brew.

33cl bottle from Joris/Brad. Also sampled this at Delirium Cafe. I didn’t do a rating from the bottle at Delirium as I’d already had a few beers (read: 8) and I didn’t really like it, so I figured it must be inaccurate. Well, not much has changed, and this time I’m (mostly) sober. Dark black pour with no head. Aroma is very earthy, cumin, mild sour, high grade balsamic vinegar. Taste is kind of trapped in an odd minty/spiciness -- south asian spices -- and all sorts of odd fruit notes -- pineapple, clementine, papaya. Nothing really fits, nothing meshes together. The sourness up front is nice but afterwards a million flavors hit from a million angles and it becomes, in my opinion, a trainwreck. I really just can’t get into this beer. Sometimes I’ll take sips that seem alright, but in the end, most of the time it just goes down in a really odd fashion. Hell, I’ll admit it, I didn’t even finish the bottle at Delirium.

(on bottle, batch no. 7) Hazy like mud, reddisbrown, no head. Sour cherries, moscovado, raspberry vinegar, maltsyrup, grapes. Light taste, yet malty and complex(gets more complex throughout the drink). Very dirty, as in dirt and humus. The grapes are a constant in the taste, sour, on the rounded and potent side. Has an odd clay- ryefinish; kind of "rubbly" in the mouth. Indeed a weird beer.

Bottle from Brad over in beer heaven. Pours a dark brown with small bubbly head on top. Nose slightly sourwith spices, berries, fruits, acidic. Flavor is even more sour with big time cherry. Not stellar, but drinkable for sure.

Bottle from Cracked Kettle. Black colour. Oily. Sour nose indeed. Very strong sour taste. Once gotten past that there are some traces of dark berries, especially towards the end. I can appreciate but not really enjoy. Pretty expensive too.