Cheeky Monkey
Chaos Mountain Brewing

Belgian yeast aromas are predominant, with the sediment, it pours a hazy gold with a dusting of white head. Light bodied, very dry, with moderate carbonation. Notes of light fruit, biscuit, and spice notes. A nice light easy drinking beer, although I think a bit more carbonation would help it out.

 

 

 

 

Pours a a bright copper color from a 12 oz. bottle into a goblet. Small cream colored head that fades fast, leaving only a long lasting ring around the glass. Aroma and taste feature British malt and Belgian yeast. The yeast provides kind of a hefeweizen bananas and cloves type of thing. The malt is the dry biscuity type. More prominent in the taste than the aroma. Mouthfeel is fairly rich. Nothing sensational but not a bad beer either.

12 oz bottle from 11/7/17 poured into a tulip glass, a pale dark orange with a thin rim of lace. Some banana and spice notes on the nose, yeast as well. The flavor is muted, but still present, and follows the nose. The mouthfeel is medium light, the carbonation sharp, with very active bubbling on the tongue. Bubbling on the tongue. Just put that into print. A good belgian pale, if understated.

 

Poured from bottle into tulip glass. Poured a hazy deep honey blonde with thick foamy cream colored head. Hints of Belgium yeast and fruity with a hint of spice. Slight taste of fruit (banana) and cloves with sweet malt. Medium bodied with a somewhat slick finish. Good example of the style.

 

 

 

Chaos Mountain Brewing "Cheeky Monkey"
12 fl. oz. brown glass bottle, coded "02 09 17" and sampled on 06 27 17
$2.29 @ Total Wine & More, Virginia Beach, VA

Notes via stream of consciousness: Although this beer may seem old (I'll assume it was packaged on February 9th and not "expired" by then) I'll take no responsibility for it. I searched just about every bottle in Total Wines (singles, six-packs, and cold), and I also found the same exact date at Bottlecraft and several grocery stores. That said, I couldn't pass it up given the name and the label. The label, by the way, is one of the nicest I've ever seen, and probably pretty expensive as it's got a metallic layer to it. It worked to pull me in though, so maybe it'll pay off for them. With a 'glug' and a rough pour I've brought up an inch thick head of pillowy white over a hazy deep amber colored body. I'm not expecting much from the head retention as it's almost gone by now, and I type fairly fast. It's sweetish and malty, I get candy and wheat, perhaps bubblegum... yes, I think clove, definitely. Ahh, there's a little bit of some other spiciness in there as well. It smells pretty good. By now the head is mostly gone with just the thinnest of collars and no lacing at all left behind. Disappointing. Moving on, the flavor is at least a pick-me-up, although it's not quite what I'd expected. It's got a very caramelish, rich maltiness to it that made me think of homebrew. Is it in fact a little husky and astringent? Yes, I think so. Odd. I initially thought wheat but I'm not sure how much is in there at this point. There's also a little bit of acidity that I actually like, but wasn't expecting either. The clove remains and I get some black pepper, and honestly it reminds me a little bit of Chinese Five-Spice powder which usually also contains cinnamon or star anise. There's some light banana in there as well. There's a passing note of grassiness and then it finishes dry and earthy with the pepperiness increasing as the small amount of residual malt fades, and then some increased herbal character. It's interesting. Certainly not what I'd expect of a "BELGIAN STYLE BLONDE ALE" or "BELGIAN STYLE GOLDEN ALE" - the label lists both - but it's a Belgian style so you can do whatever you want, right? Of course fruitiness is kind of required and I'm not getting much there. Medium leaning medium-light in body and lightly crisp with a restrained carbonation. A little more carbonation would certainly help with the head, but then it might accentuate the spiciness a bit too much so I guess it's a trade-off. And so I don't really know what to think about this beer. It's an anomaly but it works, and although it's not the greatest technically I think I'd still have it again ~ there's a certain charm to it.

 

 

L: Poured from a bottle to a tulip glass. Had a golden orange color and a somewhat hazy consistency. There was a small amount of foamy head that quickly dissipated.

S: A so-so aroma of spices, Belgian yeast, malt, and fruit. Nothing particularly interesting here.

T: Tasted of some bananas, a lot of cloves (perhaps too much), light hops notes (more in the finish than anywhere else), malt, Belgian-style yeast, and some other light citrus notes (orange). The flavor never really has a chance to shine; it seems too unfocused for its own good.

F: A good amount of carbonation with a slightly slick finish. Medium-bodied.

O: Certainly an uneven beer. Could have been more interesting than it is.

Deep golden color with minimal head and average carbonation. Aroma is full of bread and bananas. Taste has bananas, yeast rolls, malt, cloves and light cinnamon. Mouthfeel is good, light and finish is crisp with a bit of sweet malts, banana and light spice.