Rogue Monk Madness

Bomber, served in a snifter at cellar temperature. Pours a cloudy orange-brown, with a quickly billowing white head that has great staying power, and lacing later on. Nose is similar to a weak barleywine, but with stronger hints of fig, spice, and freshly baked bread. Taste is of just-ripened fruit, heavily malted. Mouthfeel is a bit thin, but retains some of that great Chimay-like breadiness. Very solid brew...would like to try this with a spicy seafood dish.

Bomber bottle, Tulip Glass -Pours a medium to dark ruby with dark brown at the edges, does look similar to grape juice in some ways, has a good creamy off-white to tan head that hangs around for a while, and left some creamy lacing on the glass. Trappist Glass- pours a muddy ruby with haze, hada good cover of an off-white head that disappeared quickly, head shrunk to a ring and came to life when swirled, left some lacing on the sides of the glass to. This has an aroma of dark candy sugar, malt sweetness, dark candies, raisins and plums, there is a buckwheat honey sweetness in the background, some faint chocolate and brown sugar, I found this to be predominately sweet on the nose, taste of brown sugar, dark malt, and some raisin flavor, not as full on the palate as it looked or as I was expecting, a lot of hop bitterness that is a fine bitterness and provides a pretty clean finish, that left some sweetness lingering around, I sensed just a touch of alcohol after this reached room temperature, the mouth feel is light for an American Strong Ale, about medium or so on the palate but to me felt very light on the tongue compared to the other American Strong Ales I’ve had, I think this would have better with more oomph on the palate, that is why I gave a lower score on mouth feel, not a bad drink at all.

650 ml. Clear red-tinted chestnut with a small, creamy and lasting head. Earthy cocoa and toasted pecan aroma is delicious. Flavor is similar: dark-roasted pecan, molasses, and caramel. All the great malty flavors are more than balanced by acidic orange and evergreen resin from tons of hops. The balance creates an astringent mouthfeel, but a toasted nut-bittersweet cocoa flavor throughout. Medium body is smooth until the finish and aftertaste when the hops become too hoppy-bitter and astringent for me, but then I just take another swig of the big malty front to even the score. Dangerously drinkable in this way! Really one of the most starkly bipolar flavor swings I’ve tasted: from the big malty entry to the mouth-puckeringly dry aftertaste; but overall a nice brew.

Bottle courtesy of Indybigtom: Poured a deep cloudy brown ale with a thick foamy head with good retention but no lacing. Aroma of West Coast hops is easily discernable with some huge caramel notes. Taste is also dominated by some bitter citrusy Pacific hops with some notes of caramel and toffee and some medium sweet malt. Full body with some average carbonation and no apparent alcohol. I was expecting a Belgian style ale but instead I got this hybrid beer which is a frustrating and more or less successful experiment.

Bottle just as image shows. Pours dark red/brown. Taste was dry and bitter... nothing overly impressive, long finish.

I’ll make this one quick as it isn’t worth much time. Starts off nicely with a muddy brick body and a lasting beige cream but the nose is a stupefying imbroglio. All I can cry is, "Where are the monks?" Not terribly offensive, but you could hardly find more modern and American. Almost barleywinesque the nose stresses syrupy hops, ripe banana, caramel, soap and honey. The flavor starts off with mildly unpleasant over-steeped white tea but the dégringolade continues from there. The intense bitterness is appalling, suggesting old socks, perfume and orange peel. I opt for a quick swallow, hoping to abort the looming disaster but encounter a final burst of acridity. The aftertaste is what I imagine sucking a on a nasty old teabag would be like. My notes concerning the mouthfeel actually read "Uggh..." Rogue is generally well regarded, which is perhaps why my words are harsher than my score, but this is a flippant brew indeed.

Pours a ruby orange color with a tan head. Nice crisp taste that is malty. It was good, but I wish it was better.

Bottle. Pours a dark red brown. Aroma is sweet and malty. Flavor is semi sweet. Not bad beer, defenetly Rogue quality but there are nothing Monk about it. Im not even mad