North Coast Brother Thelonious

Brewed by North Coast Brewing Company
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Fort Bragg, California USA

Corked and caged. Sweet malty nose, Belgian yeast with sugar, spice, and a touch of alcohol. Rich overripe fruit but only lightly plummy. Deep-ruby body nears black in the glass and supports a foamy, yeast-driven and -sustained beige head. Long lasting lacing and spoonable. Full, thick body is smooth but burns strongly with alcohol, and the finish-aftertaste is candyish in the childish way. Touch of salt and hop-prickling. Brown sugar and faint wood. Too boozy and sweet, though I do love Monk.

Bottle: Reddish amber pour with a small beige head and light spots of lacing. Aroma is on the lighter side with spices, yeast, and a little candied sugar. Flavor is fruity with plums, sweet brown sugar, and a little malty. Well balanced, yet lacked a difinitive flavor.

Dark red-brown. A ton of alcohol in the nose and in my mouth. Some dark fruits and caramel. A little spice.

ABR 2007. Very spicy nose with candy sugar, malt, dark fruit. Similar palate with a yeast bite and alcohol warmth.

(draft @ The Old Toad - Rochester, NY) Copper pour with a mound of tan head. Aroma is light but very sweet and malty with a hint of alcohol. Some dark fruits as well. Taste is very smooth and sweet with lots of sweet malts, cherries, yeast, alcohol, and a bit of toffee at the finish. Very chewy and quite tasty.

Pours out a nice darkened reddish ruddy brown to settle nearly black as blood in the moonlight. Huge soft capping of dull yellow foam sits like an immoveable sponge. Large cutains of lace pull together with a few areas being torn apart into thick blobby strings. Aroma is a low fade of dark fruits, kinda cherry and raisin with a bit of dry yeasty spice floating about. Unique little spices of pumpkin, apple, plum skins, and cinnamon make some nice noting. Actually became better in character as it warmed up a bit, however; not in its strength. Flavors are an easy going meld of loosened dark fruity stuff and malt. Fuzzy and textured with skins and bubbles of carbonation tickling the tongue and mellows out well to create a great finishing quality of subtle layers and complexity. The fornt and middle is a bunch of set up yeast and buzz with a bit of plummyness. Then, as the carbonation settles it lets loose with a nice creamy display of chewy breads, cherry, raisin, and thick cake richness. Uniquely active and candied with some solid tastes. Pretty firm carbonation here that tends to get in the way for the most part of its stay. Its only until the finish where it flattens out and all the character takes place. So with that I found it to be a bit off-putting. Stays pretty full and active, ahhh the finish is what kept me sipping it though. It slightly got better as it warmed and what I recommend serving it at. Warm as it you can take it. 52+ degrees is where I tended to like it much more. A true sipper of delicate nature. Again, the warmer the better.

You can sense the quality by its strong, almost cherry influenced aroma. It pours a smooth reddish brown color. The taste is what you’d expect from your average Belgian strong. The aftertaste is long and pleasing.

Geeze. What to say about this beer. Bottle is a ton of hype, but I figured I’d give it a try since this brewery has treated me so well for so long. Pours a hazy brown with red and cherry tones. Head is slightly yellowed and tall. Aroma of cherry, vanilla, sherry, caramel, pipe tobacco and light lemon. Taste is extremely average though for a Belgian. I figured this might be a uniquely hopped or "bigger" West Coast version of a Belgian Strong. Instead, they went for the traditional approach. However, it seems they didn’t aim for the stars of Westy, Rochefort or even Chimay, and instead aimed right into the mid-pack likes of Maredsous or Pirate. For this money (i think I paid over $ 10 at Total Wine) they need to step it up, its not even imported.