Struise Aardmonnik (Earthmonk)

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

Time to go against the grain here. A dark amber color with no head. The aroma smells like an attic full of boxes of rotting cherries. The flavor is sweet and cloying like going on a bender with those chocolate covered cherries you see around Christmans . Vegetable oil coating on the tongue. This is too much right here.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 4

out of the box, .. . low foam, big bubble headring (butt) .. . smells of sour molasses and musty wet cork . . almost no carbonation .. . a tad thin . . metal,dry, metal, raspberry, and old cherry flavours .. . why so much metal? was kept in good condition.. . old style shit.. trust me, this ones a stinka! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQdIiEUFtqk

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Bottle courtesy of Fonefan: Poured a deep cloudy red color ale with a medium foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma consists of oak with some sour cherries and some cloves and some very subtle light black chocolate notes. Taste is also a mix between some black chocolate covered black cherry with some clearly identifiable oak with a sour finish. A lot more complex then most traditional Flemish sours out there. This is definitely a beer I would like to try more often in order to try and decipher all of the characteristics.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

750ml Bottle with cap & synthetic cork, Best by date of July 2011, Sampled September 2007
Pours completely flat looking with a couple bubbles sitting around the edges of the glass. When some additional beer is poured from a height of 1.5 feet (46cm), a very large bubbled frothy, quickly disappearing, amber tinged, light brown colored head is summoned forth. The beer, a concentrated-amber / black-cherry color, is dark enough to be opaque as it sits in the glass but shows a brilliantly clear dark ruby color around the edges. The aroma is quite tart smelling with notes of balsamic vinegar, lactic acid, tamarind and some touches of cherries & other vaguely fruity notes. There are also some light, aged / oxidized malt notes that lean towards sherry in the nose. The aroma is quite tart, quit nice and quite enticing for this lover of sour beers. As the beer warms a bit, rich malty notes become much more noticeable; significant caramelized malt aromatics, toasted grain, brown sugar and toffee become much more apparent and actually soften the tart aromatics over time.

The beer feels completely flat, yet has some fullness to the body; almost a bit viscous as if there should be quite a bit of residual sweetness. The beer is fairly dry, but there is a touch of malty sweetness (though not quite as much as the palate might suggest). Richly malty, with a chewy, rich, almost umami character to it. Definitely sour, but not as much as the aroma might have suggested; the acid character is here, it is just that the body of this brew provides a really nice counterpoint and even foil for the tartness, such that it is not as overwhelming as it could be. Quite fruity tasting but leaning towards the dark side of the spectrum. I get notes of sour raisins, dark pie cherries, tamarind, figs, prunes, notes of sherry & Madeira. As the beer warms up a bit, a touch of woody / tannic astringency becomes noticeable in the finish (I think this is more from fermentation character than any wood used in the brewing of this beer, but I could be wrong). As the beer warms it picks up a striking balance to it; even at the beginning the flavor was balanced, but as the beer warms the aromatic components balance out, as does the body & flavor components.

Despite being flat, this beer is rich & tasty; I am actually quite surprise how good this beer is with the lack of carbonation (the rich mouthfeel really helps here). Hopefully I can get a hold of a carbonated sample of this brew as I have a feeling the carbonation would make this beer quite stellar. I certainly got hung up on the lack of carbonation at first, but the more I taste this beer the more impressed I am by its complexity and balance; I still think some noticeable if not effervescent carbonation would put this over the top though. I actually was a bit disappointed in this beer at first, but it has really grown on me, and in fact really needs to breath a bit before it comes into its own.

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

Dark amberish ruby colour, small off-white head. Aroma is big sourness. Flavour is sour dark fruits, earth, plum and raisins. Very sour fruits in the aftertaste. Nicely done!

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Poured an opaque, brown red color with tan bubbles.. no real head or lacing. Appears to have low carbonation. Aroma of cherries, nuts, cocoa, and a bit of wild yeast. Taste of tart cherry, vinegar, smoke, dried fruits, caramel, and nuts, with a Rodenbach like, dry, woody, sour cherry finish. Unfortunately I found this a bit overrated, I had higher hopes for it... Though I did mix this with some Pannepøt and I bet that the Aardnon is pretty kickass!

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 9

Really dark brown and opaque. Almost no head, just small bubbles swimming araound. Huge balsamic aroma of black cherries, wood, earth, nutmeg and vanilla. the flavour is even bigger; it’s almost exploding at the first Strong vinous notes of black currant, wood, pepper, black cherries, leaves, salty licorce and aged vinegar. Full, sappy and smooth mouthfeel with a low carbonation. Finishes woody and slightly sourish from currant and cherries but the sweetness from spinnes dugar and dried plums and dades. A fantastic brew to drink and enjoy

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

This Flemish sour pours a dark reddish brown color from a 330ml(?) bottle. Medium sized white foamy head. Aroma is fruity and funky, vinous and tart. A medium to full bodied Flemish sour. Malts are funky and fruity, vinous and tart. Lively carbonation. An amazing balance between the fruit and the funk. Lots of cherry and vinegar, must, leather and cobwebs. Nice beer. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet and tart.