Struise Aardmonnik / Earthmonk

Formerly brewed at De Struise Brouwers
Style: Sour Ale
Oostvleteren, Belgium

Bottle, Stockholm, Sweden. Very dark, almost appears black in the glass, but pours a rustic brown. Full, very light brown head. Vinous nose with a variety of dark sour fruits. Flavor is very sour and acidic, with hints of wild red grapes, blackberry and hints of dried chocolate on the finish. A rich, flavorful beer, with an authentic character, a clean sourness and nice balance. Clearly immensely high in quality.

[1139-20080229] 330mL. Oaked red wine and sweet malt aroma with a bit of candy. Dark dark brown body with a quick foamy light brown head. Sweet malt flavour is quite sour with hints of seaweed pods. Medium body with a non-puckerer sourness. Interesting.
(@ Kulminator; Antwerp, BE; w/ jerc)

Bottle shared by emacgee and aubreya. Thanks a lot, yall. Pours an almost still dark ruby with minimal bubbles and no head to speak of. As this is mentioned it the beers commercial description, I will not take off points here. Nose is very interesting--almost port-like at times--picked up on some cinnamon, chcocolate, black cherry skins, oak tannins, spices, balsamic vinegar and a little but of funk. Flavor had more balsamic, black cherry skins, rich tannins. This was a very complex beer. I felt like the flavor lacked a little bit of tartness that I like in my sours, and the palate was kind of boring considering what was going on in the nose and flavor departments. Still, a very interesting beer that I feel privileged to have tasted. Struise continues to impress.

woo hoo.. lucky to find this little gem in brugge. Dark ruby pour nearing brown w/ a small big bubbled soapy head and some light lacing. Aroma is very nice.. wine like, some deep currants hidden in there, notes of belgian yeast, lightly sour fruit, very earthy some warm alcohols. Palate is big and aggressively tart as well as well coated. Flavor is surprisingly sour, especially for the age, very fruity, front leaves a sweet tingle on the tongue after the swallow, some other berries in there I can’t place.. a touch of earthy leathers and a known alcohol, very complex flavor as there are several things I can’t pick out in the fruit and spice, very well blended though, I think some white peppers are in there as well as the oaky notes come through on the tongue. I really enjoyed this, too bad it’s retired.

Thanks _____ for getting me this one. This ended up being the most interesting beer we had that night, in my opinion. Pours a dark deep ruby brown with zero carbonation. Very still brew. The nose is very complex and layered, sweet, lots of spice, nutmeg, lightly sour, vinous, port, dark raisin and plum, balsamic vinegar (adjective courtesy of turdferguson). The flavor is very "portish", lightly tart, spicy, nutmeg, dark fruity, balsamic again (thanks turd for putting a finger on that). Very still in the mouth and lightly tart. The finish was very complex, maybe moreso than the flavor. Balsamic flavors, spices, gradually warming, nutmeg, portish. In the end a very very interesting beer that defies what I was expecting from a sour.

33cl. bottle at home: A beer I have been enjoying for a while but just now getting around to actually rating. Pours an extremely dark opaque brown with just the faintest whisper of a bubbly soap scum head around the edges. wonderful rich aromas flow from the glass. Apple skin and a touch of cherry add a nice sweet fruity vein through a nice woody, lactic, farmland. Some metallic, or even ozone, notes on the nose as well. A slight roast too. Not burnt, but more than toasted, with an earthy and choclately character. When tasted there is a sudden flash of tin and then malt that moves quickly out of the way for lactic acid and balsamico. Very soft carbonation (almost none). The nice smooth sourness sits on top of a raisin and fig bed. Old dark fruit compote. Some fresh dates. Then earthy roast chocolate breaks up the dark fruits and hangs around for a while. Red wine soaked pears start to come in and mingle with a touch of blood or tin. It turns more tart/sour as the beer finishes, giving you a nice long satisfying sourness with a touch of fruit and some musty earth. Fantastic!

Heeft het aroma van het oude Vlaams bruin bier. Een licht zurige maar fruitige smaak van oude porto, caramel en noten en er zit zelf een oude vermufde smaak van dorre bladeren in. Een heerlijk biertje om lekker van te genieten in de safa bij een winterdag

Bottle, many thanks to Ian ’Harrisoni’ for this one, cheers mate! Pours dark brown with wispy head. Aroma quite striking and I was immediately hit with a glorious basamic vinegar scent, this was interspersed with zesty orange, and cherry, quite stunning. The taste was quite bizarre and nothing like I had anticipated. If truth be told I wasn’t immediately taken by this, it was a classic grower in the way that records back in the old days (the 80’s say) would chart at say No:33 and take about 5-6 weeks before the reached the heady heights of the top ten this was just like that but by the end I wanted more. Loz on the other hand was taken in by it straight away and kept remarking about the cherries, old classic wine qualities and lovely effervescence of course she was spot on, I got balsamic vinegar again we both noted the similarity to the Rodenbach Vin de Cereal, this was great. Once again a big, big thanks to Ian.