Monk's Blood; or A Can of Belgian

Tonight it's a can of Belgian for me. Weird huh? Well the can revolution is sweeping the craft brewery world, as you all must know, if you're reading this. So when I saw a Belgian beer from 21st Amendment (repeal of the 18th amendment: Prohibition) from San Francisco, California I had to have it. It's aged with oak chips and black mission figs, and has stuff like cinnamon and vanilla and stuff. This is a 12oz can and is 8.4% alcohol by volume.
The color upon pour is a dark brown with a hint of red, like many of the dubbels I've had. And had a very quick head (dissolved as I was describing the color.)
To the nose it smells like alcohol and cinnamon and just a touch of bananas - Bananas Foster anyone?
Tasting it! This beer is sweet, not very carbonated, a little syrupy, alcoholy, and tastes like dessert. If you close your eyes and breathe in through your nose as you drink, it tastes like an uncooked cinnamon roll or sticky bun, only more runny and without that uncooked flour flavor (not that I've eaten any uncooked cinnamon rolls in the past...) I promise. This is a very tasty beer.
If it isn't too sweet for a beer it's delicious. It is a great dessert beer and I recommend it as such. It may also go well with a good smoky barbecue. I'm glad it comes in a 12oz can because a 22 would be too much and a pint & 9 would be downright gluttonous.

1. Duvel
2. TJs
3. Damnation
4. Piraat
5. Ommegang Abbey
6. Monk's Blood
7. Chimay Blue
8. Orval
9. Brother Thelonious

Piraat Pics

Piraat

A Piraat's life for me? We'll see.
It's one of those cute stubby bottles. A manageable 11.2 oz. A cartoon illustration of a ship at sea, a glass of ale, and a foppish pirate who looks like he's never spent a day at sea (reminds me of me, sans foppishness I can only pray.) It is a magical 10.5% alcohol (do I like Belgians because I like feeling tipsy? or, do I like feeling tipsy because I love Belgians? No time for philosophy now, I must push on with the mission at hand!)
This beer, when poured, has very little head and is a dark golden liquid. It is sparkling from the bottom like a champagne, or a Duvel.
I am surprised at how it smells, like the smell toward the end of a hot summer in Rancho Cucamonga when all the fruit we could not eat had fallen from the apricot, peach, and plum trees and begun to sour and swarm with bees and flies. A real memory, but wrought with hyperbole given the beers actual smell: simply that of slightly sour apricot. But I am surprised at it's sourness, the dominant smell.
Gotta taste it. It is sour and bitter, but palatably so. It is dry with hints of alcohol. It is sweet and delicious.
This really is a delicious beer, it lingers on the tongue and won't really let me forget it. I mean that, and I'm still drinking it. It is really good, I repeat, and is extremely hard to pin down. It is not like any other Belgian I have tried. It's perhaps a cross between one of those Russian River sours and a mild ESB/Red Ale and a dubbel. Quite tasty, but I'm afraid it will not rank as high as it could have if it had only played by the rules.

1. Duvel
2. TJ's by Unibroue
3. Damnation
4. Piraat
5. Ommegang Abbey Ale
6. Chimay Blue
7. Orval
8. Brother Thelonious

Ommegang Pics

OMG! Ommegang Abbey Ale

Ommegang is a brewery in Cooperstown, New York. They claim this to be a "True Belgian-Style Dubbel."
I've got a Pint & 9 here and it is a 8.5% alcohol ale. And I did not know this until thoroughly reading over the label but apparently Ommegang is part of the Duvel family of fine ales. So I bet we are in for a treat, given Duvel's deliciousness.
I pop the cork and pour myself a tulip glassful. I immediately smell a fruitiness and the color is what I would expect from a double: a dark auburn with a decent off-white head of foam. To the nose it smells fruity, like a reduced plum with the slightest hint of banana, burnt caramel with just a touch of evergreen. If the scent is any indication, this should be a flavorful ale.
It is. It is malty and sweet, slightly spicy, there is an astringency in the foreground, and there is that fruitiness on the tongue. I don't taste alcohol (must be masked completely by the sweetness). The finish is nutty. This is a good beer.

1. Duvel
2. TJ's
3. Damnation
4. Ommegang Abbey Ale
5. Chimay Blue
6. Orval
7. Brother Thelonious

Duvel Pics (thanks iPhone)

The Duvel and Jim Liddle

"The pilsner malts, Bohemian hops, and unique yeast strain combine to create Duvel's intensity, aroma and allure. And the unusually long maturation process at our brewery ensures a mellow, balanced and beguiling flavor."

We'll see about that.

A Pint & 9 Belgian Golden Ale, registering in at 8.5%. A forceful pop as I loosen the cork, as if I let something out I shouldn't have. (get it like the devil, or one of those bad genies.)

I am instructed to pour unhurriedly, but I pour how I damn-well please - fairly unhurriedly, and it produces more of a head than expected. A lovely pure white head, atop a pale golden ale - reminiscent of a Pabst Blue Ribbon, or other clear Golden american beer - that is effervescent like a Champagne (active stream of bubbles from the bottom.) So far so good. Alluring: as they told me.

It smells like Belgium! bananas and wheat. I am dying to drink it (which I have sipped it but I must continue the narrative as if we are traveling together, chronologically...)

Wow! Now that I have sipped it, it is delicious. And I don't use that descriptor lightly.

It is light but flavorful. Sparkling in the mouth. Does not taste too much like alcohol, and is not too sweet. It is slightly bitter, but dances all around the tongue. It loses it's head pretty quick, but who needs a foam mustache on top of a their current hair mustache? Not me - maybe the stranger, one mister Sam Elliott, but I digress.

This is it.

I think on the back of the label they say it best: "Refreshing and Golden like a pilsner but with the flavor, depth and complexity of an ale. This Belgian favorite has been brewed by four generations of the Moortgat family. Enjoy chilled with discerning friends or good looking strangers."

Thank you Moortgat family. This is what Damnation wanted to be.

1. Duvel

2. TJs Dark Unibroue

3. Damnation

4. Chimay

5. Orval

6. Brother Thelonious

Russian River Road Pics