Unorthodox
Monkless Belgian Ales - The Brasserie

Hazy dark brown body with a one finger uneven head and good lacing. Smell hop forward but still very balanced with roasty malt. Notes of pine, coffee, and toffee. Seems a bit muted, maybe because it’s been sitting in my fridge all winter. Taste is hoppy upfront, mainly citrus notes. Malt comes through next, though fairly nondescript, maybe a few hints of cola and toffee. The hops come back on the finish, brighter than upfront, with orange peel and citrus rind. Moderate carbonation.
This one’s kinda weird to me. Blind, I would have guessed it was an average Winter IPA or a below average Black IPA. Maybe I sat on it too long.

Look: Pours dark brown and looks black in the glass with a poofy beige head that slowly settles and holds as a pillow, leaving great lacing behind

Aroma: Wheat malt and bread, coriander, lemons, tangerines, light chocolate and roast, black tea, and Belgian yeast. This smells wild and this has to be in the top 5 most interesting/odd smelling beers that I’ve ever had

Taste: Chocolate and roast kick it off and quickly followed by coriander and dried orange peel. Warm wheat bread comes next along with a nice citrus blend and some black tea that intermingle with chocolate/roast until yeasty notes arrive as it closes out

Mouthfeel: Full, clean, smooth, medium-high carbonation, and clean, smooth, and soft on the finish

Overall: This is some tasty stuff. This combo/hybrid of two beers I dig seemed way too interesting to pass up trying and I hoped these folks would do it justice. Whelp, they did and it is a really well-executed merging of a CDA and a Belgian Witbier that blends the roast/choc./citrus of a CDA with the wheat/coriander/orange peel/yeast of a Wit. Very interesting and tasty to boot – give it a go if you feel adventurous and this won’t let you down

 

16oz can pours out dark like a porter, with almost of finger of khaki-ish head. A couple things going on right away, the impression of citrus and some modern juicy hoppiness combined with a roasted grain profile bordering on some chocolate sourdough...initially I was pretty excited, but for me it turned into more of a witbier and less of a Black IPA, which was what I was hoping for when I learned of the hop components (Citra-Pacific Jade-Idaho 7) and orange additions. Really landed more like a dark lager with some wheat additions and some notes of citrus. Not bad, just not my favorite.

16oz can from Hops & Bottles. Dark brown pour, one finger cream colored foam cap, lacing. The aroma is a blend of roast grains and oranges. Light notes of chocolate too. The taste is light citrus, chocolate, roasty with very subtle winter spice. Almost a faint coffee character at the finish.