Lunch With The Monks
Wig And Pen

Tried on-tap at the Courthouse in Melbourne during GBW 2013, as part of the ACT's Pint of Origin venue.

Pours a solid golden colour, perfectly clear, with a light but silky body that flows like liquid metal. Head is white, but minimal, forming a futzy ring that fizzles out until it's swirled again. Overall, it looks fine, but a little lacklustre.

Big estery characters on the nose. Banana, rounded Belgian yeast, acetone, with some organic characters of pine nuts and cherry pits. Ooh, it's all very intense and quite complex. They've got a lot of flavour out of this beer.

Light yeasty entry on the palate, rounded and bold. This moves to a fruitier melange mid-palate, and both duskier and fresher, with the addition of cherry, pepper and grapeskin. Finish is smooth, pleasantly masked booze and spike of spice above a silky finish that coats the palate and soothes it.

Feel is very smooth, light, but silky, and really cushions both the complexities of the flavour and the booze, which is very nicely held in check.

Overall, this is very good stuff. For 9% ABV, it's astoundingly drinkable. It's lightness and delicacy are its great strength, while its complexity provides it with stacks of flavour.

Deep golden colour with a moderate sized but ultimately short lasted white head. Nice lacing but less than I expected from this.

Moderate spice and stone fruit. A touch of apple and pear. Cinnamon. Good.

Smooth, sweet, caramel malts with a dose of fresh, crisp fruit. Mild raisin notes. Mild alcohol.

Medium-full body with moderate carbonation. Fine.

A decent strong pale ale. It isn't as good as the best of the Trappist examples but on the whole it's pretty good.