Brooklyn Monster Ale

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

This beer is great for getting completely bombed. It’s taste is pretty bitter, but drinking it is worth the great buzz and not too expensive. Great to give chicks at a party. Also known as the date rape beer!! WAHoo!!!

Amber color, small head. Light alcohol brandy like taste, but intense. Almond and amaretto nose. Long lasting with a kick of hoppiness in the end. Nice.

2003 vintage. Small fizzy off-white head. Delicious-looking reddish mahogany color. Aroma has alcohol, orange, fruity bubblegum, caramel. Flavor is a light oak with some resiny hops, tobacco(?). Full body and almost syrupy. Some kind of alcohol or hops burn on the tongue. Pretty good... alcohol could be better masked. Maybe its just me today, but by the end of the bottle, its a bit much.

Amber color with small off white head. Aroma of malt, citrus and bread. Sweet malt flavor with hints of dark fruit and caramel. Has a nice dry finish that is very warming.

Mettalic coppery pour with a slightly off-white head that lingers and laces well. The nose is rich sweet malt, citrus hops and alcohol. The flavor is malt forward...roasted caramel and toffee, oak, vanilla, and dried fruits. The citrus hops, prominent in the aroma, recede somewhat upon tasting, bowing to the big sweet maltiness. The palate is dominated by the malt bottom followed by a lingering citrus hop bite in the finish, all interspersed with an intermittantly very prominent ABV that plays peekaboo throughout!

12 oz bottle, 2001 vintage, consumed Oct 2006. Pours a clear dark copper colored body with a few small chunkies floating about. Head was rather small, fizzy, light brown, and faded quickly. Aroma is as expected for a 2001 Barley Wine. Lots of thick syrupy malt with a good dose of oxidation. Some sherry, port, and light soy. Minimal to no hoppiness remains. The oxidation works really well in the flavor. Nice sherry and port up front fading to a light soy with touches of cardboard on the finish. There is still some risidual bitterness remaining, but nothing like when fresh. Mouthfeel is a little thinned out from the years, nearing full attenuation. The carbonation is still rather lively and fizzy surprisingly. Overall, this was a very interesting experiment. Really a textbook example of what you expect from aging. Not sure it’s better than when fresh, but maybe more interesting.

Bottle. Small pale brown head. Dark amber colour. Aroma sweet and malty with notes of ripe fruits. Taste very sweet and malty, toffee, quite thick.

Sampled at another monday night football tasting over at scottyp’s. Sampled blind with 6 others. All poured a clear amber red. Nose has a buttery note, but that is absent in the flavor. Has a perfumy floral hop presence. Good job of hiding the abv. The third favorite of the night.