Monkish Brewing (April 2017)

I find the hazy pale ales to be too watery for my taste. That Cellarmaker collab, for example, didn't really do much for me. The change in malt bill and the use of yeasts that do not floculate really soften the hops a lot so I find myself wanting more than I am getting in a pale.

I find I prefer WC-style pales and IPAs and NE-style IPAs and DIPAs.

They don't taste like anything, though...

That ends up being my issue with the haze - they can mask the higher ABVs so I either give up flavor for sessionability or sessionability for flavor. Flavor usually wins.

 

On the other hand, Juice Lee is the best Monkish beer I've had.

I did not like Legend of the 2nd Dumpster, Jello's Jigglin, Larry H Parker, or April Babies (incredibly watery). Spock It tasted good, but only after a month and it's the only Monkish can I had other than Juice Lee.

To my tastes, Juice Lee represented a pale ale done right, with as much of a flavor punch as an IPA. April Babies is a whole 1% ABV less, so maybe that's why the balance didn't work for me. It really did taste like flavored water. But Juice Lee was 6%, which is just a little smaller than most Monkish IPAs. I don't even understand why people didn't like it.

 

To each his own. I did not enjoy Juice Lee very much at all.

I didn't like it because I felt it was very light in flavor. Not enough hops for me regardless of where it ends up on the ABV scale. Going back to my statement that flavor will beat out sessionability most of the time.

Were you an IPA person before the haze craze? If not, perhaps that is why you are not a fan of the more prominent hop profiles.

I've loved hoppy IPAs for 15+ years and so, for me, I am looking for a notable presence of hops which is just missing in most hazy pale ales, IMO. Interestingly, though, I am not a fan of TIPAs.

 

• I like IPAs
• I like hazy IPAs, but not exclusively. In fact, I probably like hazy IPAs much less than the BA community as I don't feel like many don't do it well
• From my 3 visits to Monkish, I agree that in general their hazy IPAs have very strong flavors... but to a fault. They're almost one-dimensionally strong. I'm not a fan of their flavor profile.
• Like you, I'm not particularly interested in sessionability either, but I would say that for my palate... I tend to dislike higher ABV hoppy beers because they taste malty, boozy, or both. I've gotten those flavors with all the Monkish DIPAs I've tried (albeit, with considerable hop character too.)
• My favorite brewery is Cellarmaker. I feel they are able to extract a lot of hop flavor, at a lower ABV range too. I actually prefer their blondes / pales over their IPAs 80% of the time. I've yet to see a brewery make pales like them. Although Moonraker is up there. SoCal hasn't quite figured it out though.
• I do find it interesting that you indicate you've loved hoppy IPAs for 15 years though. I feel like most classic IPAs didn't have a lot of hop character - mainly just bitterness and malty backbone. But what some breweries are doing today with even something more semi-classic like Simcoe amazes me. Of course you get some dank weedy character, some grapefruit but I've also gotten some Simcoe-only beers that are very peach/stone-fruit. So I love hop-centric flavors too. I just think there's been a revolution in how people are brewing with hops the last few years vs the last couple decades.

 

Cool... and I'd agree with this. Mumford has had 1 hazy that I enjoyed a lot. Still waiting on HPB and Modern Times to wow me.

Haven't had King's or Noble or some of the other ones getting some attention.

To each his own - my issue with the hazy pales is you don't get any bitterness from the hop which is something I enjoy which was why I brought up having been a fan of the West Coast style for a long time.

I happen to feel that West Coast IPAs are every bit as good as the NE-style but I prefer to have them in different contexts. I'd take a nice sharp, bitter West Coast over a hazy if I was eating a solid pizza, for example. Sometimes I want a sharper, biting bitterness. Other times, I want a soft, juice like beer.

Right... it just sounds like our thresholds are different. I haven't liked the Monkish TIPAs because they taste boozy to me - almost like a screwdriver and I am not a fan of screwdrivers.

I tend to enjoy hazy IPAs that come in between 7-8% - they are generally hopped up enough but aren't too boozy or malty. IMO, the best balance of mouthfeel, hops, malt, etc.

I rarely get overly malty flavors from Monkish - IMO, that is a characteristic of East Coast IPAs which tend to be notably under-hopped, IMO. Basically any IPA from Dogfish Head tastes like malt to me.

Haven't had any hops from either so can't comment but am interested to try.

I find this a baffling comment because the West Coast IPA really differentiated themselves by over-hopping compared to super malty East Coast/British style IPA in order to provide a lot of hop character.

If we were to compare 2 classic Americans DIPAs - RR's Pliny vs DFH's 90-minute - I'd be shocked if "malty" was used to describe Pliny. Personally, I do not think it is malty at all and is full of hop charateristic whereas 90-miniute is all malt to me, barely pick up any hops at all.

IIRC, the hazy IPAs introdce the hops at a different point in the brewing process (post boil?) so how the hops are represented are different, but I certainly think plenty of WC IPAs highlight hops beautifully.

This might be a palate issue where you pick up different notes than me because the bitterness gets in the way.

New things are being done with beer all of the time. Does not discount the old.

West coast IPAs will always have a place in my frigde right next to the hazy IPAs. And, its not like there is a solid producer of hazy IPAs that are distributed and easily found unless you count unfiltered Sculpin (which I don't).

 

I appreciate the thoughtful response! I'm getting a better feel for what you like and what you don't, which is cool.

Ah, OK, well that makes sense. It's true that Monkish IPAs/DIPAs have a bitter bite. That's pretty true of most NorCal haze too (Cellarmaker, Moonraker, Alvarado Street, SARA). Fieldwork hazy beers often have less of that bitterness.

And it also makes more sense why you're not into Monkish pales. I would agree they lack that bitterness. Although NorCal hazy pales do still have that characteristic.

Oh you're totally right on that. I wouldn't say Monkish beers taste malty per se, but with the DIPAs and TIPAs, you get a lot more sweetness to balance the extra bittering of the hops. So from what's on tap right now, Jello's Jigglin is a lot sweeter (and hoppier and more bitter) than April Babies.

No I totally agree that 90 Minute doubles down on the maltiness, vs PtE. But similar to what I indicated with Monkish DIPAs, there is a malt backbone that pairs with the resinous character of West Coast IPAs that adds a touch of sweetness. Maybe I meant IPAs are malty, compared to a Pale Ale, where the malt base is more bready/biscuity.

 

...so this latest batch of Anomaly is definitely one of the better batches they've done in a while

 

Double can release today. A new double and new triple ipa.

 

Torrance PD and surrounding tow yards are licking their chops !!!!

Cheers,

 

More Hops is better right?

 

Pssh..who uses hops anymore. Thats so 2016. Its all about dat powder

 

i should start paying attention to my dreams more

 

I moved away from LA two years ago, and while I am happy for Monkish's success, I'm sad that it has come on the back of a total change in direction. I quite enjoyed their Belgian offerings and have a hard time believing I'm still the only person to have reviewed Apophatic on here, despite it being their anniversary beer for the first few years. (Disclaimer: I moved before all the IPA hype and have never even tried any of their cans.)

 

The new triple IPA is amazing

 

I think Monkish makes delicious NEIPAs, but they are rather one note in relation to the offerings I've had from the EC, particularly Other Half and HF (no, I haven't tried TH, and only a pale from Trillium...). Juicy as Hell, tropical in the nose, with limited dankness. They are also quite dry, and the higher abv ones are pretty damn hot. The lower abv ones are velvety, though still not overly sweet.

I personally think they do lower abv exemplars better, since I do think the heat detracts from some of their bigger beers. They are doing a fantastic job, overall, and love them to bits.

Also, there's a lot of direct copying of the Monkish take: I just got my hands on BW's Picnic Lightning and it's really very reminiscent of Monkish (not as juicy, a bit danker and sweeter on the nose...). And the last Mumford one I had also had the same basic profile.

I have yet to try Noble Ale Works' and Highland Park's take on the style, but think they made some of the best WC IPAs in SoCal, so I expect them to get more aromatic complexity and maybe higher bitterness as well.

 

Just picked up 2 four packs of Picnic Lightning yesterday and had one last night, great stuff.

Cheers,

 

Yeah, I picked up three! Also, an Indie NE IPA can (name eludes me...) Quite forgettable, alas.

 

Indie One More IPA

 

I think they have good potential! I really like their XP pale on tap. It's actually quite juicy itself. But they are still polishing their goods.

 

I like to think of "variety" as more than just 2 types of jokes that are told over and over again.

I have not had much from BW but the limited stuff I've had didn't do much for me. Are their hop offerings better?

Haven't been blown away by HPB's haze, but their WC offerings are stellar. Mumford's "90s R&B" was fantastic but probably the only beer I've really enjoyed from them (out of a handful).

Casa Agria's IPAs are on point, IMO.