English Ales Monks Brown Ale

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 7

Good nutty character. This beer pours a reddish cola color, quite clear, with little head. The nose is all specialty malt. I’m trying to come up with better descriptors, but this one is all nuts for me. It’s a good nuttiness but a little one-note ultimately. That said, I like nutty brown ales, so I’m really not disappointed. The flavor is a bit too sweet. There’s some sugary malt that gets a bit in the way. Mouthfeel is probably better from a cask but it’s still not bad from the bottle - slippery but clean. This is a nice session beer, and it’s always good to see more nearby breweries dabbling in English styles.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Another 12-ozer from this rather unknown brewery, in-or-around the Monterey CA area. I was mildly impressed with their flagship English Pale Ale. So let's see what their English Brown Ale does for me, shall we?

Weird label, like most of the rest of the beers from English Ales Brewery. And if I remember my Advanced Dungeons & Dragons®, monks (aka Clerics) aren't allowed to weld edged weapons like swords and such. The important question here? Is it bad that this beer's label is kinda dorky..., or that I'm such a dork to even bring up such questions? ;^)

But seriously, this is a very nice, well-balanced, even-handed Brown Ale. Could almost see it coming across as something of a Mild Ale, if the alcohol was toned doewn to <4.5%ABV or so.

But anyway, this went pretty well with my jacked-up Albertson's generic Hamburger Helper (with more cheese, cumin, chili powder, seasoning salt, and enough cajun-style hot sauce to kill a small ox!).

Really appreciated the malt bill of this beer. Malty, but never cloying. Filling, but not heavy or heavy-handed. And the hop bill? Clean and and efficient, and *not* "in your face" -- as a good English Brown Ale should, IMO.

Perhaps a little simple, by some West Coast Craft Beer standards. But for what it sets out to do, this beer does good.

Music: Strapping Young Lad's "City".
//TB

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

If anything ever looked perfect served up in a pint glass than this is it. The taste is a balance of roasted malts and some other flowerey shit I'm not qualified to determine, but it's damn tasty. In the Monterey Bay area this brewery is King.