Founders Blushing Monk

Bottle. Blushing is a great descriptor for the color... a deep red with a fizzy pink head that doesn’t stick around. Aromas are very fruity and almost have a champagne side to them. Cherries and raspberries are the dominant fruits in the nose. Upon first sip, I’m not sure I would have guessed this was a beer if you handed it to me and asked me what it was. It’s more like a raspberry and cherry sparkling wine. Has a very sweet fruitiness to it and a very dominant ammout of cherry, which drowns out any malt or hops flavors. It’s almost more like a candy or soda than beer, but you can feel a slight warmth from the alcohol and every now and again it comes through in the flavor. I like it plenty, but come on... $15 a bomber is killing me.

Deep amber coloured body with strong ruby highlights and a thinnish tan head. Aroma of pure raspberries, malt, a bit of sugars and even a faint yeastiness. Medium-bodied; Sweet flavour mixed with some tangy raspberries and a bit of malt, coupled with alcohol and pears. Aftertaste shows sweetness along with some sour raspberries and a bit of icing sugar. Overall, a good beer - perhaps one of the best fruit beers ,perfect with good alcohol, a good body and of course ,the potency of the fruit. I sampled this 65 cL bottle purchased at Merchant’s in Dearborn, Michigan on 17-November-2007.

22oz bottle, courtesy of Schutzenliesel. Thanks, Tom! Pours a hazy, bright ruby-red color; pinkish head with good retention and lacing. Bright red fruits (bing cherries, strawberries) and cherry pie in the aroma; quite fruit and sweet. This actually tastes like gummy worms and sour cherry pie combined: intensely sweet and viscous sugary goodness; no sign of alcohol; the gummy worm aspect is quite pleasant (this coming from a reformed gummy candy fiend), and the mild tartness brings up the drinkability on this a lot; lengthy, berry and sugar finish.

Champaign Urbana Beer Club November meeting. I’ve had this on tap before, and I had forgotten what a wonderful fruit beer it was. Certainly to be enjoyed in small quantities as one would a dessert beer or apertif. Notes of grass and sour raspberry lead into something akin to quince paste on the palate, with secondary notes of blackberry, butter, straw, and a wonderful sour and acidic finish. Excellent stuff, as one has come to expect from the likes of Founders.

Super dark bright red (makes sense?), almost a heavily saturated pink color with a light pink soda-looking, big-bubbled head. Huge potpourri nose of cherries, cream and perfumy and tart floral notes. Peppery flavor, big but not thick, with some light cream noticed before a mostly boozy and tingly finish. After a few minutes it seems to resemble Robitussin and sour patch kids. Weird beer.

Deep plum red, some bubbles, smal pink head. Aroma of nailpolish, rasberries..smells sweet. Tastes like rasberry syrup...might be good on pancakes...cant taste much besides rasberries...very tart..some acid in the finish. Palate has a nice sizzle but is offset by a syrup texture. Disappointing for the price. So much rasberries its sorta bitter...

Bomber, with a huge thanks to BBB63 for this most amazing bonus; sure appreciate it Mike! Pours a clear ruby red with an ample fizzy pinkish-red head, minimal lacing. Aroma is not overpowering, but dominated by raspberries, and only the slightest presence of breadiness. Flavor is a great balance of sweet and tart, lots of fresh raspberry, and not a hint of that 12% hiding in there! Very close to being up there with NG Raspberry Tart; great stuff!

Home Run! Founders hit it out of the park with this one. Pours a raspberry red in color with some nice carbonation bubbles filling the top of the glass. Smell is tart raspberries. Taste is much the same. Amazing enough, I didn’t tire of it by the end of the bomber. This is a very easy drinker, you get no hints of the 12.3% ABV. This was a real treat.