Two Brothers Monarch Wit

Brewed by Two Brothers Brewing Company
Style: Belgian White (Witbier)
Warrenville, Illinois USA

Date: 09/15/2006
Mode: Bottle
Source: Roadtrip

golden with a slight haze, whispy head, sweet candy aroma with light spices, slightly thin body, same lightly spiced sweet malt flavor, light citrus, light bitterness, not very wit like

Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 4/10; Flavor: 5/10; Palate: 4/10; Overall: 10/20
Rating: 2.4/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: *4

Bottle best before 9/18/05. Poured a medium and hazy golden color with an averaged sized white head. Aromas of coriander, oranges and lemons. Tastes of oranges, spices and wheat. The body wasn’t quite as thin or watery as some of the other Belgian Wit beers I’ve had lately.

Hazy golden color with a thin fizzy white head and a light yeast and citrus aroma. Watery, faint lemonade body reminds me of a radler. A very thin, light, easy to drink, nicely spiced beer, but it's just too watery.

Rather a mediocre offering for their anniversary beer - It pours a hazy straw color. The small bubbly white head is slow to form, but does manage to vanish rather quickly. The aroma is fairly acidic with slight hints of the coriander and orange peel. The two spices show themselves in the flavor, a bitter rind coming in first. There’s a hint of citric, yeasty flavors, but these are very mild. The finish is orange peel bitter.

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Lightly hazed straw color with a bright white foamy head. Light aroma of citrus, and coriander. Quite dry and thin. Light flavors of orange zest, lemon, and coriander. Lighty malty, with hints of wheat and oats. A lawnmowing brew. Thin and refreshing.

Bottle. Poured hazy golden color with a minimal fizzy white head that diminished quickly with fair lacing. Moderate sour citrus and spice aroma. Medium body with soft carbonation. Medium sour citrus fruity flavor with a medium sour finish of moderate duration.

Head is initially small, frothy, white, mostly diminishing. Body is hazy dark yellow. Aroma is lightly malty (grain), lightly yeasty (cobwebs, mold), with notes of clove, orange/lemon peel, coriander. Flavor is moderately sweet, moderately acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, moderately acidic, moderately bitter, husky. Light to medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation. A rather vicious aftertaste reveals the same flawed character I've found in all of the other Two Brothers products I've sampled. Overspiced and husky. Even the raw yeast scent has an off character to it. Perhaps the most sadly amusing thing is, their beer has a butterfly on the label and the name Monarch (a very well-known type of butterfly)...but the butterfly shown is clearly a type of Swallowtail (probably a Zebra Swallowtail), not a Monarch. I mean, showing a picture of the oft-mistaken Viceroy butterfly would be one thing, but a Swallowtail? Good grief.

12 ounce bottle from Woodmans on Gammon Road, Madison WI (October 2006) consumed at cellar temperature from a Duvel glass. The head is smallish to moderate and decays immediately leaving a thin white film, the body being translucent, lightly yeast-cloudy gold, lacing minimal and quick-falling....fairly typical aroma, plenty of wheat sourness, lemon and orange peel, faint spicing, reasonably yeasty (cobwebby) and dry.....which leads to a very dry mouthfeel and flavor indeed, only a tiny modicum of honey’d sweetness at midpalate, surrounded by dry, lightly mineralic and unfortunately pretty thin, watery wheat-sourness....it’s actually fairly refreshing and easy to drink with the dryness, no syrupy-sweetness here as in many American renditions, but the downside is a dullness and lack of farmy or earthy complexity....strongly carbonated, mineralic/vaguely metallic to finish. So-so I guess.