Rogue Monk Madness

Pours an amazingly clear and crisp looking dark copper color, with a lasting yet thin whitish head. Aroma of hops and alcohol mixed with vinous fruits. Pleasant and surprising. The taste is ok. Not enough depth of flavor, yet I very much enjoy thr bitterness. I’m not sure what to think, because I really like the hop quality, yet it seems like the balance is off. Also, not sure about the monk name, I expected this to be highly malty like a Belgian. Overall not a bad beer, yet I’m not sure where they were going with this. Cool as hell bottle though.

This is a beer that i truly love. Has a hint of hops and is very basic. Has a slight aroma of yeast to it.

Thanks Chuck. Sampled on 4/10/07. The beer pours to a dark amber/caramel body with a thin yellowish tan head. The aroma is malty and lightly yeasty. The flavor is lightly bitter hops, simple malts, very basic overall. The palate is bitter on the tip of the tongue.

Sampled March 2007
Pours with a brilliantly clear, ruby red, amber color that is topped by a frothy, initially three finger thick tan colored head. Initially it is a touch fruity, yet there is a raw hop character that is fairly green, quite noticeable, yet not really all that dominating. There is some malt aromatics around the edges of the aroma here; mainly notes of caramelized bread crust, toasty biscuit malt and a touch of raisin like fruitiness around the edges. There are definitely some vegetal hop notes here as well; green onions or even a touch of garlic make up the aroma profile (looking at the label I see that it has Summit hops, which to me have green onion and garlic undertones to the more typically noticed fruity notes). Actually if you dig around a bit a nice hop fruit character (sweet citrus, tangelo, and apricot) as well as a fresh from the toaster whole wheat toast characters are quite noticeable as well.

Fairly sweet taste up front with a soft raisin like fruitiness and a caramelized grain note. It quickly picks up a touch of dark grain sharpness and lots of biting, herbal hop character. As the beer warms a bit the hop fruitiness becomes a bit more noticeable, in addition to the citrus notes a nice, soft berry note becomes apparent. There is a nice gripping bitterness here as well, though at times it can be a bit green and astringently herbal. A herbal / menthol character is evident but really quite well balanced by the fruity hop notes; neither is dominant, but both together certainly play the leading roles in this beer. I really like how the sweet citrus notes interlace with the sharper hop notes of garlic, green onions and (are you detecting a recurring theme here) the herbaceously, freshly cut green flavors here. Other than that initially noticeable malt character the malt tends to play a supporting role; it is not as subservient as one would see in a nicely balanced, yet hop focused IPA, yet instead has lots of fairly noticeable, interesting, malty notes that play a secondary role. Raisin character, concentrated plum, a touch of fig, caramelized brown sugar, molasses, lots of caramelized sweet bread notes, toasted malt and even a touch of cracker-like biscuit character.

The more I root around in this brew, the more I am coming to like it. The complexity is what really grabs my interest here; I certainly would not say this is the most balanced brew in the world, there are a lot of harsher, herbaceous notes here that don’t quite jive with the malt or citrus hop character, but they do bring something to the table. These notes bring a sort of palate cleansing effect, without actually requiring a separate palate cleansing between each sip. I wasn’t not expecting much from this brew, but it has nicely surprised me in the end and I am definitely enjoying it.

Nose was a little weak yet sugary. Inviting foamy beige head. Flavors of soft brown sugar, raw cookie dough, and molasses. Prominent NW hops that meshes satisfactorily with the other well-balanced ingredients. Not predominantly yeasty or Roguey. Very enjoyable beer that I hope to try again soon.

(bottle) Ruby brown with off white head and some lace. Mild aroma - malt and some alcohol. Flavor is a complicated balance of malt and hops. A little yeast flavor as well like a Belgian ale.

Pours a rich cream colored head on a surprisingly dark ale. More brown than copper. Herbal aroma masks some of the citrus notes you would expect. Flavors a litle muddy, improves as it warms. Malt flavor evens out late in glass. Not my favorite Rogue.

I absolutely loved this beer. I generally don’t like beer that is above average in terms of bitterness but this was really good. The aroma of the beer I found to be very pleasant. Head retention was good and the tannish brown color of the beer was very appealing. I noticed I enjoyed this beer the warmer it got, you could really seperate the different hop flavors/aromas.