Weyerbacher Merry Monks Ale

Brewed by Weyerbacher Brewing Co.
Style: Abbey Tripel
Easton, Pennsylvania USA

tasting at GDBTF on 10/18/08. golden color. nice soft full body. some yeast and light fruit on the nose. crisp finish with some citrus bitterness. very enjoyable.

Pours mostly clear, medium to dark gold in color. A small, foamy, off-white head settles to a wispy film with a dense edge. Minimal, spotty lacing returns to the body. The nose is not good at all. Huge bubblegum notes and intensely sweet, candy sugar malts nearly bowl you over on the first inhalation. Stale cardboard notes, hot, grainy alcohol, and soured vegetables are just downright off-putting. As hard as it is to believe, the flavor just might be worse. Massive, sugary sweetness is worsened by a stark, contrasting vegetal element. Thick, syrupy, and cloying on the palate, the finish is sour and downright offensive. I can barely gulp enough of this down to record the rating. Drainpour.

12 oz bottle, vintage 2003 at Akkurat, Stockholm. Slightly hazy golden color. Bread, banana and acetic acid in the aroma. The flavor is sweetish with banana, bread, some warming alcohol and pickled vegetables. The acetic pickled vegetable flavor basicly ruins this beer.

(Bottle). Aroma is medium-sweet banana and pear. Orange-amber body, almost no head. Flavor is very tasty pear, not too sweet, pleasantly carbonated. Fairly lengthy finish. Alcohol is not obvious. Excellent and satisfying.

Pours a cloudy orange with minimal head. Aroma is very sweet with sugar cane, banana, spice and yeasty. Flavor is sweet and malty up front then more bitter. Medium bodied, bubbly texture. Alcohol very well hidden.

Maybe I’m just anticipating all the great beer I will have in Belgium next week, but I really enjoyed this beer. It is very, very light for a Belgian Tripel, in color, aroma, and flavor. Aroma is tripel-ish, but light on the spice and heavy on the sugar, but in a way that is very light and very tastey. Flavor is more of the same, but the mouthfeel is notably light. Many times, I find tripels to be thick and sugar-y. This beer is sweet and light simultaneously like angel-food cake. It’s really good. I would recommend this beer.

This beer is fantastic with a bit of aging. I just poured a bottle I’ve been saving for about 5 months. Pours golden with a creamy white head. Bread/yeast in the nose. Candi-sugar, a lot less alcohol, and subtle fruits across the palate. Great stuff.

Should have tried this one early, cause I don’t remember jack about it. I do have a high respect for most abbey ales. This was number 29 on my list of 35 plus beers to try. This was the last, I am tapped out and hope I don’t get sick later or am hung over tommorow. I was going to try their Slam Dunkel, but this one was their instead. I don’t think this will be the last beer I try this year, but it might be since I hit my goal of 100 different beers in 2008.