Barrel Works Series: Monstrosus
Southern Tier Brewing Company

Poured from a bomber into a Dogfish Head tulip. 2017 bottling date

L: Black pour. Minimal mocha colored head and a thin rim of lacing. Low carbonation.

S: Roast and sweets... booze and bourbon. Vanilla, oak, and more booze.

T.F: Just like it smells. Sweet and boozy... caramel, vanilla, oak, and bourbon. Good roast character gives a little balance, but definitely on the sweet/boozy side. Low carbonation... medium bodied (expected it to be thicker really). Strong bourbon even after 4 years in the cellar.

O: A really well done BBA stout, and a great effort from Southern Tier. That 14.7% is dangerous.

L: Midnight black brew with a half finger espresso cream head, fading to a wide ring with great retention, and a single wide band like a dragon around the glass.

S: Some complexity here. Darks roasts, molasses, baker’s chocolate, vanilla, bourbon, oak, and leather.

T: All the nose with a good carbonation and lingering large in flavor. A bit sweet for my taste. Could have been more bitter, but it’s fantastic.

F: A weighty, but not too syrupy mouthfeel.

O: Southern tier can start out bold and rough around the edges. With monstrosus I elected to age this one a while and share with a friend, now, nearly a year into Covid I folded and cracked’er open 41 months in my cellar.
And wow it aged better than I would have guessed. They should say “Like a fine stout!”

 

When I bought this July 2017 22 ouncer, well before I started cellaring things in earnest, the guy at the grocery store said this would be good to age for a while. And here we are!

Pours a dark brownish color with very little head in the tulip. For whatever reason, the smell is the weak point of this. When first poured after 50 degree cellar temperature I couldn't smell anything significant. I was thinking WTF because, although I don't consider myself anything other than a regular guy when it comes to olfactory sensitivities, I usually detect something worth commenting on. Maybe it's seasonal allergies. When it warmed up some boozy chocolate and vanilla sweetness came to the fore. But the taste, dear God! A very thick malty mashup of sweet flavors (Southern Tier never scrimps on the sweetness) along with incredibly well hid booze and the barrel. A near perfect taste experience. The mouthfeel was up there too, thick but well carbonated too.

A very pleasant experience (plus somewhat esoteric music is sounding great). Too bad it was so damn expensive or I'd have bought more.

 

Smaller fizzy dark bubbly head, low retention, good legs, pitch black

Nose loads of chocolate, dark choc and cocoa, fudgey, little nutty, caramel, toasted oak barrel, little vanilla, light bourbon, thicker caramel as it warms

Taste thick fudgey dark chocolate, cocoa, little syrupy fair sweet, mild warming alcohol but fairly smooth, lush chewy, big caramel, little nutty, cocoa dust and candy syrup, creamy oatmeal, little roasty, mild bourbon, little vanilla barrel, toasted oak, barrel is fairly light overall

Mouth is full bod, rich creamy thick lush, mild warming alcohol, decent carb

Overall not bad, base beer is good except little too sweet, nice mouth thickness, wish the barrel was more

An attractive dark pour with a pleasant nut brown head - quite fragrant. It's thick and quite heavy, and in spite of age, it's still fairly hot. Tremendously sweet. I'm not getting much in the way of barrels.

It's a very big beer, but nothing much stands out to me - it's boozy and hot and sweet as hell, and finishes a little dirty. It's fine but not particularly memorable.

 

Now that is more like it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Properly cellared 1 year old bottle. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing nearly opaque black in the glass with a half finger dark khaki head that dissipates slowly to thick patches with light lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, bourbon, plum, dates, a hint of cherry and ethanol. Flavor is dark toasted malt with slight char, plums, dates, raisins, oaky vanilla and lots of bourbon. Finishes hot with notes of caramel, cocoa and more bourbon. Medium bodied with light creaminess and good mouthfeel. A monster of an imperial stout that is closer in profile to a strong ale due to the very nice dark fruit notes. Like a lot of Southern Tier brews, a touch sweet, but well withing the style for a big stout or strong ale.Too huge to be a classic imperial stout, but a damned fine bit strong barrelled stout with good bourbon flavor. Aptly named, but it's a good monster. Very enjoyable.

 

 

 

Poured from 22oz bottle into glass. Version bottled in July 2017 (detail on label).
Black colored body, with a thin edge of brown when presented to light. Tan head, with swirling islands fed by carbonated bubbles. No lacing.
Aroma has bourbon barrel notes, chocolate notes, and boozy burn.
Taste has alcohol burn, oak bourbon barrel, chocolate, toffee. Behind the alcohol is dark fruit, such as prunes and figs. Dark bready malts. Low hop bitterness.
Totally has a coating and heavy mouth feel, which exposes all aroma and taste aspects.
High alcohol, heavy barrel influence stout. Quite the show with the rising small bubbles reinforcing the cap islands; the islands swirl about. Overall sweet but slammed with the barrel and high ABV.