De Proefbrouwerij Monstre Rouge

Brewed by De Proefbrouwerij
Style: American Strong Ale
Lochristi - Hijfte, Belgium

Serve in Snifter, Trappist glass

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

An $18 imperial flanders collaboration with a belgian brewery that I can’t pronounce and an American one who’s stuff I usually can’t get. Off to a great start.... A - Pours a dark, cloudy red with a huge frothy head. This sat for about two weeks after the purchase, and with a slow pour there’s still a decent bit of sediment and yeast "tadpoles" floating around. S - Cherry, oak, vanilla, malts, brown sugar, and...hops. This does smell great. T - Cherries and the oak along with a malty backbone. The finish is light hops and some alcohol but it is very clean. You can tell that the hops on their way out. After reading the reviews on here I was expecting something terrible. This isn’t groundbreaking, but I think the flavors do work fairly well. I am missing the usual flanders bite/funk though. O - This is half of a flanders red ale, with an IPA awkwardly mixed in. Still a good beer, but its just missing some aspects that made me buy this in the first place. Worth the price tag? No way. If this was half the price I would probably pick up another one to see what happens when the hops completely fade out.

Pours a brownish color with an off white to white colored head. Lacing was ok. The aroma was caramel, funk, bret, cherries, citrus. The flavor followed, an odd hop/flanders combo, but this thing was off with the burnt or toasted oak that it was supposed to have. I mean this was burnt off flavors with citrusy hops, just completely incompatible with the base beer style. Sure, creative, in that it was an odd thing to even conjecture. But, heck, if it is this bad of a concoction, don’t bottle and sell it. Creativity fails when the blend is nasty incompatible. Would love to try the hops w/ Flanders Red, OR the burnt oak with the Flanders Red, but all this at the same time... Nasty. And, I think the burnt oak was the worst part of the new creation. Sorry, bad stuff. Mouthfeel was moderate in body, flavor too obnoxious to even appreciate.

Pours a brown with a white head. Aroma is hops, vinegar, grains, veggies. Flavor is lots of bitter hops, weird vegetal flavors, and spices. Something went wrong, this flanders red is nearly a drainpour and tastes like medicine.

750 ml bottle thanks to jcwattsrugger. dark amberush color. nice white head. not tart to style. some dark fruit but not very smooth.

Corked bottle an served in my big arse Karmeliet snifter: Pours a deep rusty brown with an initial big frothy head that left streams of lace upon the glasswork. The aroma has notes of toffee, rye bread, peaty iodine, herbal and grassy hops, a bit boozy, touch of chocolate and leather earthy yeast esters. The taste is sweet malts, earthy tones, damp musty wet grains, very minor dark fruits, some rye notes, medicinal, and utterly lacking of an Flemish Red Sour character. I feel ripped off, damn it! The mouth feel is a tad oily and aggressive yet seems not to do much to enhance the experience. WOW, what a disappointment. More "Imperialism" of a traditional ale and not enough Flanders Red... it is a big American Strong Ale with some rye that is under fermented and muddled. (and if not for the rye, my score would be even less)

Dark fruit peel, plum and apple, and old cocoa aroma. Deep amber hue. Light taupe head. Flavor is molasses sugary malty and not very hoppy. I reminds me of crystallized sugar in a frying pan that has gotten cold. Athena, GA? WTH. Well it is a big red.... should have known from the translation.

Peach, pineapple, and oak nose with thistle accents, intensely wonderful! Murky brown, medium yellow head, good lacing. While the peach notes were stronger in the aroma, the flavor is dominated by oak with peaches underneath. Alcohol is a tad insistent, but not too terribly distracting. Good balance and strength. Very unique and defies classification, so ASA is entirely appropriate. Tastes pretty damned good too!

a nice smell of toffee and caramel. brings a nice silky taste with a touch of hazelnuts and cocoa. hops are strong but not overbearing

The aroma is very yeasty with a slight fruity tartness and toffee. The appearance is reddish brown with a medium head. The taste is like the aroma with a bit too much astringency for me. The palate is average. Overall an interesting beer but not a great beer.

(bottle) Medium beige head atop a murky, dark, brownish-red body. A strong aroma is immediately apparent upon pouring: sour notes, overripe fruit, barnyard musk, roasted malt, and alcohol. Flavor is sweet with a little sourness. Taste of raisins, dark cherries, caramel, a lot of spice, and alcohol that warms up quite a bit. Very sweet, but the bitter/sour notes help balance it. Very nice. Medium body. Left a lot of nice lace on the glass--the kind that actually looks like real lace.