Brooklyn Monster Ale

(Bottle, vintage 2005) Dark copper colour with small, very brief head, leaving just a beige ring around the glass. Fruity nose with notes of caramel, toffee, treacle, marzipan and hints of dark rye bread ... Earl Grey tea? A dash of rubbery hops hovers above it all. Fiery, fruity taste leaning in a vinous Madeira direction, accompanied by notes of dried fruit (dates, figs), marzipan, moccha and molasses. A sweetish, but fresh dash of hops sends you off towards the finish. Full bodied, syrupy, but still smooth. Definitely a bit sweet, but well balanced with the hops in the finish being exactly what is needed. Not as aggressive as many barley wines, but brilliantly balanced and actually very nice.

"Born in 2004" Good to hear, Brooklyn! Thanks for the 411. Appearance: Pours a robust brown, with a touch of red. Like an English Breakfast tea, except its beer, and with a crowning off-white head which faded (there it goes!) into a tight, neat bubble ring around the glass. Smell: Cherries soaked in alcohol. Possibly a bit of freshly cut pears, but its rather difficult to smell around the alcohol. Taste: Hoo-boy! Very sherry-like in flavor, with bit of wood in there. Hmm. I’m not really getting any clear cut malt or hop signals beyond the alcohol fumes. Long, spicy finish that eventually begins to erode the back of the throat. Mouthfeel: The body is a bit thinner than most barleywines (reminds me of Young’s Old Nick, except way more alcohol). Its all rather coarse on the palate, but it’s only a young barleywine and one that I feel is much need of a good, long nap in the cellar. Drinkability: 11.80%?! Well, that explains alot. Hmm. For some reason I thought it was less, but I certainly *feel* the ABV. I was wondering why my typing skills were degrading throughout this review. Not one of my favorite barleywines.

Great under estimated mega drink! The manly barley wine. Beautiful color, nice and strong yet sweet and warm with biting finish. A lovely drink.

bottle . . pours deep dark brown with a light white head . . aroma is raisins, malts, whiskey, dried fruits, slight hops . . taste is molassas, brown sugar, raisins, slight hops and grapefruit . . alcohol is hidden well . . i really enjoyed this one . .

After having this beer, I became convinced that we need to have vintage rating available on the site. 2000 bottle sent by Drewbeerme, thanks! This was a spectacular example of an aged barleywine. The aroma is lots of wonderful melted caramel and toffee with light brown sugar and malts. Deep brown body with a thin head. The palate is delicously creamy and full. Taste is amazing! Tons of toffee, caramel, sweet fruits--raisins and plums. Absolutely top notch.

2005 batch, cracked open August of 2006. Scrapping my initial review for the following: 2006 Edition: Revisiting this one because I wasn’t satisfied with my initial thoughts on this brew. Glad I got this years batch because either it’s better, my taste has improved, or both because this beer is great. Beautiful cherry red color, fuzzy white film on top, splotchy lacing. Sugary malt scent with dark fruits and some medium floral hops. Sweet and creamy mouthfeel with a quick burn. Flavor is much better than I recall. Dark cherries, sherry, and sugary bready malts. Low bitterness, quite floral and really tasty.

Bottle. Amber brown with white head. Caramel, bitter, sweet. Good, complex aroma. Medium body. Short after taste. Quite strong.

Very nice strong bitter aroma. Nice amber color. Balanced bitter and sweet aroma. Complex taste with some fruits and alcohol. Nice beer