Brooklyn Monster Ale - Brooklyn Brewery

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BA SCORE
84
good
-
1,466 Ratings

rAvg: 3.7
pDev: 13.51%
Reviews: 1016
Hads: 450

Ratings Help

Brewed by:
Brooklyn Brewery

New York, United States

Style | ABV
English Barleywine | 10.10% ABV

Availability: Fall. bottle (970), on-tap (42), growler (3).

Notes:
ABV varies a bit year to year.

View: Beers (51) | Events (0)

Reviews

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Reviews by nhindian:

nhindian

Pennsylvania

4.3/5 rDev +16.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

12oz bottle poured into a Great Lakes snifter.

A - Pours a persimmon-esque colored body, a bit tawny as well, but crystal clear. Head is composed of a 1.5-finger pillow of foamy white head, but it disappears quickly leaving little lace behind. Multiple nucleation points let off slowly rising bubbles.

S - Even just after popping the cap on this, I'm getting an extremely heavy aroma consisting of a delicious combination of caramel and port-soaked cherries. Very sweet smelling, yet dangerously alcoholic as well. Vaguely reminiscent of amaretto. As it warms the alcohol becomes much more apparent, similar to how Brooklyn's Black Chocolate Stout reacts, which I am not a huge fan of.

T - Honestly, the taste of this beer is much better than I would've expected. Of the barleywine's I've had so far (unfortunately have had 2 of the 'English' variety - Old Foghorn and Insanity, which is bourbon barrel aged), I found that they were a bit too overly sweet. Here, I feel Brooklyn did a great job balancing this beer. It's not necessarily hoppy, but the impression I'm getting is that the malts are toned back a bit and let some of the alcohol do the balancing. I think this works great, as the malts are there and present, but as before, the fruits and especially cherries do wonders to balance. Of course, this means the alcohol is more apparent and the heat is certainly felt, but it's not offputting and I actually enjoyed it.

M - Mouthfeel is medium bodied with relatively low carbonation. Sweet at first yet with an alcoholic bitter finish. Long lasting and thus a bit more dry.

D - Drinkability is high. I actually finished this bottle before completely finishing this review, which is a testament to how easy drinking it is despite the high alcohol. Given, it did take a while to write this, but all the same.

Serving type: bottle

01-12-2011 05:07:06 | More by nhindian

More User Reviews:

KStark

British Columbia (Canada)

4/5 rDev +8.1%

05-24-2013 14:02:17 | More by KStark

Mantooth

North Carolina

3.75/5 rDev +1.4%

05-24-2013 13:46:38 | More by Mantooth

OldhouseRecs

North Carolina

3.5/5 rDev -5.4%

05-23-2013 00:45:22 | More by OldhouseRecs

mikeincharleston

South Carolina

3.75/5 rDev +1.4%

05-22-2013 01:11:16 | More by mikeincharleston

seplo

Connecticut

3.25/5 rDev -12.2%

05-21-2013 16:48:11 | More by seplo

Mish

Texas

4.75/5 rDev +28.4%

05-21-2013 16:28:00 | More by Mish

jibjib513

Ohio

3.75/5 rDev +1.4%

05-21-2013 12:45:07 | More by jibjib513

Benny3000

Michigan

3.5/5 rDev -5.4%

05-20-2013 22:38:48 | More by Benny3000

CraftBeerTastic

Pennsylvania

3.73/5 rDev +0.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

Ba Review #272
Served On: 5/20/2013
Glassware: Duvel Glass
Labeled ABV: 10.1%
Date/ Code: 2012 Release

This was a 12oz bottle from a 24 bottle case I snagged at North York Beverage in York, PA ($34.98).

Look: The aggressive pour rendered a thin beige head comprised of tiny bubbles. Lacing was minimal. Carbonation level was low with a small but steady stream of bubbles rising up the middle. The color was brilliant copper color with surprising good clarity.

Smell: Heavy sweet plum and raisin notes. Heavy candy sugar with some very faint biscuit in the background.

Taste: First up was a cloyingly sweet burst of caramelized winter fruits and brown sugar. Then a roasted note set in towards the middle, like burnt sugar in a frying pan. Then a quick bitterness hit, but nothing that contributed to any balance to the heavy malt sweetness. The finish was some lingering biscuit and raisin notes. The aftertaste had the sweetness moving into some bitterness again. 10.1% ABV gave a warming sensation but was note a big factor on the palate aside from some metallic notes.

I found this brew to be a solid English Style BW. I don’t know that this one would age very well. I’m afraid the high level of sweetness would just become more intense.

Serving type: bottle

05-20-2013 16:08:14 | More by CraftBeerTastic