Brooklyn Brewery Monster Ale

Monster Ale
(has 5 batches)

 

Brooklyn Brewery in New York City, New York, United States 🇺🇸

  Barley Wine - Barley Regular
Score
7.13
ABV: 10.8% IBU: - Ticks (all batches): 179
Brooklyn Monster Ale is a classic barley wine, a style of ale originally brewed by the butlers to the English and American aristocracy. It is brewed from three mashes of heirloom British malt and spiced with aromatic American Willamette, Cascade and Fuggle hops.
After four months of aging, it has a magnificent burnished copper color, an aroma redolent of sherry, citrusy hops and fruit, a soft, warming, complex palate, a spiritous finish, and a strength of 10.8%.
It is vivacious when young, but will age gracefully for many years, becoming more complex over time.
 

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7.5/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7.5 Flavor 7 Texture 8 Overall 7.5
Found 3 loose bottles of 2011 for $2 each… I know, a 4-pack is just $8.99, but it’s cool that I paid as much for this as for a tallboy of PBR in the same cooler. I can put the other two next to my 2003 bottle for later comparison. Pours a deep amber with a lot of bubbles on the side. Bubbly ecru head that settles quickly. Deep malt with alcohol in the nose. Slight sprinkle of hops in the nose. Taste is mostly strong malts matched to warm alcohol. Basic hop bitterness keeps the malts settled, probably until they smooth further. A nice little barley wine, though I hope some more aging gives it more personality.
Tried from Bottle from Lemon Tree Grocer on 17 May 2012 at 19:48

7.5/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 8 Flavor 8 Texture 6 Overall 8
From a 355ml bottle on 15/5/2012. ABV listed as 10.3% rather than 10.8%. Pours a dark copper with almost no head. Has a strong aroma of sherry, cough mixture, caramel, toffee and ripe fruit. In the mouth, it’s very fruity, with a real fortified wine character. There’s some sweet caramel and heaps of warming alcohol, which merges with a strong, slightly sour bitterness. The texture is quite syrupy. All up, a quite enjoyable, big vinous brew.
Tried from Bottle on 15 May 2012 at 02:43

7.5/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 8 Flavor 7 Texture 8 Overall 7
33 cl bottle @ Ølfestival København 2012
Aroma is sweet and perfume‐like with ripe fruits and some toffee. Flavour has candi sugar, some ripe fruits and toffee. Feels like an aged belgian strong ale. I am very surprised if this doesn’t have any belgian ingredients. Too sweet for me.
Tried from Bottle on 12 May 2012 at 05:18

6/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 6 Flavor 6 Texture 6 Overall 6
Bottle. Vinous fruity malt and huge alcohol aroma. Red orange with a small beige head. Big boozy fruity malt, molasses, spice, grapefruit peel flavor. Medium full body. Way more alcohol than I care for.
Tried from Bottle on 06 May 2012 at 14:16

6.8/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 6 Overall 7
2011 bottle. Dark amber with a good coat of beige head. Gentle but pleasant aroma of toffee, orange zest, sherry, apples, some spices. Slightly sticky, gentle carbonation is useful. Sweet before firm bitterness - oranges, toffee, vanilla, prunes, spices, some pine. Modest oxidised flavours. Boozy, but far from excessively so for what it is. Clearly at the ’drinkable now, but waiting a year or two would be better’ stage. [3.4] Was the house graphic artist on holiday? Less hoppy, booze well integrated although its strength is obvious. Solid but not really memorable.
Tried from Bottle on 15 Apr 2012 at 06:12

8.5/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 8 Flavor 9 Texture 8 Overall 9
Pours syrupy dark amber with a large, fading, off-white head.Nose shows caramel, light fruity hops, orange marmalade, toasty malt, dried fruit and booze.Flavours include more toasty malt, piny and grapefruit-like hops, copious booze and faint marmalade, all followed by a mildy boozy and bitter finish.Nice syrupy body and moderate carbonation.
Tried on 03 Apr 2012 at 02:22

7.2/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 6 Overall 8
A very good example of a traditional barley wine. Hoppy example if they were going for the English variety, but still an easy to drink beer.
Tried on 24 Mar 2012 at 06:16

7.9/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7 Flavor 8 Texture 8 Overall 8.5
Purchased at Armanetti’s in Chicago, IL; enjoyed on a busy Monday night after a long work day. Appearance is a dark clearish brown with a thin white head that rims around the glass. Aroma is mostly malty, a bit of nuts, caramel, a bit of toffee, as well as alcohol, really is a nice aroma. Taste goes down very smoothly, definitely masks the 10+% ABV, and retains a lot of the aroma attributes. Not really getting any hops from this, but that’s OK. Typically I think barley wines are a bit harsh, but this one is nice. Really happy to have had this one, it’s very good.
Tried on 12 Mar 2012 at 18:43

7/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 6 Overall 7
Bottle @ hotel room, Ithaca. Hazy, bright orangish, ruby red appearance with a small, off-white head. Somewhat potent, grassy, a touch citrusy, organic hoppy, sweet toasty malty aroma. Tangy, sweet caramel malty, moderately fruity, citrusy, organic hoppy flavor that’s quite smooth for 11% abv.
Tried from Bottle on 06 Mar 2012 at 22:50

6.6/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 6 Overall 5.5
Bottle, Beer Ritz, Leeds. Poured a clear amber colour with a fast fading tan head. Fruity sweet malt nose. Flavour was caramel malt driven with some muffled hop bitterness and fairly prominent booze. Lacking any real complexity. A disappointingly average barley wine.
Tried from Bottle on 04 Mar 2012 at 13:56