North Coast Brother Thelonious

Sampled from 750mL courtesy of Naka. Mild funky notes to this one, with caramel and toffee, light butterscotch and diacetyl. Mild fruity character and cherry skin. Light papery hops. Dark brown-amber clear, with a fairly good sized off-white foamy lacing head. Medium watery body with medium carbonation. Starts with a tangy fruitiness, like macerated raisins and plums, caramel and toffee, with a light oaky-acidic tang. Mild funkiness and light fruity hops. Overall, it’s very sweet, and almost a bit cloying in the finish. Funky and woody, and just a bit watery in the end.

I’m glad this is styled as a Belgie strong, because it certainly does not represent any kind of tripel by the furthest imagination. Brownish slightly hazy ale. Has a rather volatile alky olfactory. Strong alky bitter malt flavors. Old time taste does little to hide the alky. Rather crude. Goodly amount of carbonation for a high alky beer. Difficult at times. medicinal finish. Rather raw and coarse.

Brilliant red/brown color with a tan head. Has a musty wood and sweet caramel aroma. Smooth and full bodied. Decent taste is toffee sweet with black pepper and other spices. Has a nice spicy alcohol burn to finish. Worth a try i suppose. 3197

Bottle. Not a big fan of this interpretation. While it did have the requisite bananna and other fruit ester notes, there was an annoying funkiness that I can’t even really describe. Worth a try, but not a second buy.

clear brown and thin headed, brown sugar nose, earthy sweet malts, woody, caramel, sweet yeast

Bottle. Poured a dark reddish brown. Aroma of dark fruits, Belgian goodness. Taste was similar (reminded me of a Chimay Bleu or a Kwak), also got some wheat at the end. Very smooth and easy to drink. Classic Belgian. I liked it a lot but it wasn’t as complex as some of the fruitier belgian strong ales or quads.

Bottle. Aroma very Belgian strong at its base, dark fruits and the like, but with overtones of both a little bit of funk as well as I’m not sure what, but something that reminded me more of a brown ale. Flavor gets even better as raspberries come out along with some prune, apricot, other fruits, and a dry coffee background and finish. Nice solid palate, I actually really liked this one, interesting American take on the Belgian style.

More sour than I would think it would be. Full and chewy in the mouth. As it warms it increases in bitterness down the middle of the tongue. Aroma of dark fruits and caramel. Slight berry taste in the finish.