Brooklyn Monster Ale

Brewed by Brooklyn Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Brooklyn, New York USA

2007 bottle. Pours a dark amber colour with a minimal with head. Aroma is yummy! Lots of hops, pine needles, caramel and dried fruit. Flavour is rather sweet. You do taste the alcohol. Caramel, some dried fruits, milk chocolate and some grape fruit zest. The finish is salty. Quite good. Hopefully this will improve with cellaring.

355 ml bottle from Systembolaget. Beutiful copper color. Taste is great of port/sherry (or something like that) and raisins with a very nice hop flavor of citrus. Rather fruity with some toffee in the aftertaste with the alcohol bringing a warming end. Great mouthfeel. 4,3

Update: This is a 2007 bottle, which has been standing for a couple of months now. Pours a nice copper color with a small white head. Smell is very nice of dried fruits, in particular plums. Also a bit vinous, almost portwine-like smell. The taste is of dried plums, raisins, malt, toffee, slightly of hops, but not that much as in a fresher bottle. There’s a nice port/sherry-note and also some warming alcohol after a while. Mouthfeel is pretty filling, and actually quite smooth after been standing for a couple of months. It was slightly better now in august than may actually. Gonna wait with my last bottle until the winter I think. Good beer! It’s gonna be interesting to try an older bottle next year! 4,2

(One and half year old bottle or so) Copper color, small white head which dies. Vinous, dried fruits, caramel aroma. Flavour is malty and vinous with some caramel and dried fruits. Warming alcohol. A bit straggling though... I will try a new version of this when I have the chance. It’s still decent but not that good I thought the first time I had it. 3,7

Bottle 35,5 cl. I really fancy this one actually! Really nice tones of cherry (or maybe white port) and some fudge in there to. It has a very thick and sweet mouthfeel wich makes it excellent for drinking when smoking a good cigar etc. Well I don’t smoke, but anyways. Excellent!

Light aroma of citrus and sherry. The flavour is quite light, the abv considered. Mostly a rounded hop flavour, some sweet malt to balance the ship and a slightly fat end. Not that fantastic - I remember it being a monster of a barley wine

Bottle at Oliver Twist, Stockholm. Pours glowing copper with a medium tan head. Nuts and raisins aroma. Good dry nutty flavours, hint of chocolate, some fruit. Full-bodied. An enjoyable barley wine.

The aroma has (dark fruit) raisins, toasted malt, caramel, and yeast. The appearance is light brown with an average head. The flavor is like the aroma and bitter. The palate is smooth. Overall it’s good.

Hazy copper with an earthy caramel aroma. Spicy, fruity, dark caramel flavours.

This is a fantastic classic-English-style Barleywine. I prefer it to Sierra Nevada, I think. I have now added “barleywine” to my MS Word’s spell-check dictionary. As should all beer drinkers, based on this offering from Mr. Oliver & co. Rumor is that they blast the opening chorus from Carmina Burana when they brew it. This is what we call a “fighting beer.” Useful in hand-to-hand combat, I’m sure. Treat it with respect and it will satisfy you long into a cold winter’s night. Try it with dessert, especially if dessert means creme brulee.