Monks Cafe Flemish Sour, bottle from biggcb. Orange-brown body, thin-medium off-white head. Rich aroma, tart and fruity with notes of balsamic vinegar and a firm caramely backbone. Dusty. And then, a big shift to the lackluster, watered-down body, with light tart notes and toast and a bit of earth, but nothing strong to latch on to. I’m not sure I’ve been underwhelmed by a beer with this kind of aroma to this degree previously.

Bottle: Reddish-amber coloured, stable foamy layer; moderate to stronger acidic nose: "oaky" vinegar, covering malt and fruitiness; moderate sweet-sour flavour; moderate sour, a bit fruity and cellary, a bit lambic-like finish. Pleasant, a bit sharp, nothing really great............

bottle pours out a hazy brown topped with a nice off white head. A very nice aroma of sour fruit as it should. But the tast was very thin. More sour than anything. Thanks Pinkzambia for this one.

bottle - Pours a hazy reddish brown with a finger’s width of head. It has a very sour fruit aroma. The flavor is mainly of very tart cherries. The body is medium and lively on the palate. It’s not complex, but it’s good.

Bottle. Barnyard, cherry and soughdough aroma. Cloudy dirt brown color with moderate head for style. Musty sourdough flavor with hint of sour cherries. Light body. The sourdough malt flavor is different - not bad.

Ive been really fascinated with sour ales recently...and this is my second ..but my first on draft...a very fragrant cherry-apple nose....light and cidery body with a distinct cherry burst..and some green apple...very tasty and very easy to drink..dark reddish amber color with some decent lacing

A pretty nondescript 0.25l bottle at the Hopdevil in Zagreb Didn’t know what to expect with this one. It poured a murky, quite dark red colour, with a medium sized beige head that went fast. The aroma was interesting, funky, a pungent cherry / Griotte (I think I used this before... a type of candy from Croatia, chocolate filled with cherry brandy) nose, with hints of yeast as well. As some have noted this one really does have two sides to it. It starts with lovely cherry candy, bubblegum, some sourness, funkiness and dust and it breaks down to an odd blood/iron stale taste. In the same sip. At first it puzzled me, then I had enjoyed it, and in the end it became a struggle to finish the last few cl in the glass. This one’s hard to rate. Damn hard. Not nearly as good as the other Flemish Sour I’ve had - Rodenbach Grand Cru, but interesting and pleasant and at the same time repugnant in its own way.

Bottled, labeled Monk’s Cafe - very turbid brownish red pour, with a tiny head - very musty, tart, dry, tannic aroma of purple grapes, with background barnyardy/funkiness - medium sour up front, with sour apples, some light plum and even a hint of clove and chocolate - the flavor thins out really fast, though, getting a nearly salty, mineral quality, and leaving a nearly lifeless finish that is both dry and watery at the same time, which I didn’t think was possible - starts pretty strong, but overall not that great.

A hazy brown beer with a thin brown head. The aroma is sweet yet quite acidic with notes of wood and berries. The flavor is sweet and very acidic with strong notes of wood combined with acidic berries, which lends it a bit of vinegar towards the end.
Earlier Rating: 6/7/2003 Total Score: 3.2
The aroma is sweet and a little sharp from wild fermentation. The color is deep red with a small fine fast disappearing head. The flavor is dominated by sharpness from the wild yeast but at the same time soft and very fresh. It is pretty much like Duchess du Bourgogne - but not quite as good. It is not sweet enough.