 Fin (2357), Merton, Oxfordshire, England
Feb 18, 2008
Cask , gravity at Merton Winter Beer Festival Feb 08 Pours jet black, so black in fact that you can almost see the light from the room being sucked into the inky blackness, it’s scarily rather black hole black, no head to this but then I suppose that got sucked under into the deep dark depths as well. The beer has a wonderful oily texture to this and has an aroma of dark dried fruits that have been steeped in a wonderful Christmassy combination of grannies favourite spirits; there is also a dusty Port like aroma and some bitter chocolate. I had this on three separate occasions over the weekend, a sneaky sample on Thursday night, some on Friday and then again last night (some that found it’s way back to my house) I can state quite confidently on each occasion it was different, presenting differing flavours, different aroma’s and more and more facets to it’s character, the only thing than remained a constant was that shark eye blackness it’s eerie. It was sweeter and more chocolaty on Thursday, it was more mysterious and bitter chocolate yesterday, I then had another small one as a night cap and it was different again, back to that lovely sweet chocolate and dark figgy fruits another thing that did change is the score, even though on each occasion it was 3.8 or above even reaching the giddy heights of 4.3 for a tightarsed rater with my markings like me. But I’ll have to give it an average so 4.1 it is, lovely! One last thing that I like about this beer is that everyone seems to think that it’s name is a monarch link when in fact its named after an a rare east anglian vegtable that used to be quite popular but has now fallen out of fashion, not like this beer!!
DSG (867), Yuvalim, Israel
Aug 9, 2008 (6/29/08) Bottle sample at RBESG08 grand tasting in Plzen. Black color with a brown head. A quite burnt aroma with some dark chocolate and hints of alcohol. Very sweet roasted flavor with chocolate and some caramel. Very full-bodied with a thick mouthfeel.
KimJohansen (4296), Copenhagen V, Denmark
Aug 3, 2008 Black with ntiny brown head. Sweet aroma with roasted malt, alcohol and coffee notes. sweet flavor with roasted malt, caramel, coffee, liquerice and chocolate notes. Lovely.
bager (2060), Copenhagen N, Denmark
Jul 29, 2008 Bottled @ RBESG Grand Tasting 2008. Very dark brown in colour with notes of roasted malt, dark fruit and vanilla.
Papsoe (10459), Frederiksberg, Denmark
Jul 23, 2008 (Bottle 27,5 cl) Dark brown with an orangey tint and a light brown head. Distinct burned coffee aroma. Quite full-bodied with sweet chocolatey accents. A little low in carbonation. Plenty of vanilla also. Almost no bitterness. 290608
TBone (5116), Pori, Finland
Jul 20, 2008 Bottled@RBESG Grand Tasting 2008
Pitch black color, small tan head. Roasted, some oakish notes. Sweetish, licoricey. Aftertaste is sweet and toasted. Nice sipping beer.
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