Founders Blushing Monk
Huge thanks to hoppymeal for knocking off this 'want.' Thanks, Derek. Blushing Monk pours a deep reddish brown color. It's a little hazy, but sufficient lighting gets through to reveal a really nice scarlet hue. It's topped with a foamy pinkish looking head. It only rose to about a finger and dissipated quickly. No big surprise given the abv. Lacing was on the light side. Nice looking stuff all-around. The nose is initially very sweet and chock full of berries. Very strong raspberry aroma. There's a little malt in there. Perhaps some light grainy notes. The strong berry aroma seems to interfere with anything else that may be present. Much to my surprise, I'm not picking up any alcohol. Extremely nice job there. Not a whiff is noted. Toward the end a little yeast is noted. This is an above average smelling beverage. Doesn't resemble beer much at all, but it smells alright nonetheless. The flavor profile is not quite what I was expecting. It is a little sweet up front. There's plenty of raspberry flavor noted throughout. What comes as a surprise is the sour flavor. It resembles sour cherry a little. It's a pleasant sour flavor though and isn't overbearing at all. I like that aspect of it quite a bit. It blends well with the sweet raspberry flavor. Frankly, I'm not too enthralled with Founders fruity releases, but this is easily the best of the bunch. I like it, but don't quite love it. Amazingly, I'm still not picking up any alcohol. That's quite the feat. My bottle indicates 12.3% abv. Really impressive. There is a bit of a yeasty flavor on the tail. At the end of the day, it's good stuff. Still not a lot going in the 'beer' department, but it's a good beverage. Blushing Monk has a medium body that's relatively smooth. Carbonation seems a little high and prevents it from scoring any better. Drinkability is above average. I like the flavor here pretty well, but it is strong at 12.3%. I also find fruit beers interesting on a pretty limited basis. I'm happy to split this bomber. Founders did a nice job overall with Blushing Monk. Personally, I prefer this to their other fruit beers. Yeah, it's somewhat one dimensional, but there's enough flavor to score pretty well. It does have a nice taste. Founders did a really nice job with the alcohol in this one. You'd never guess it's over 12%. For a fruit beer, it's good stuff. If you're into the style, you'll probably really like it. If you're like me and have a tough time getting into the style, you might just be surprised. Definitely worth picking up if you have the opportunity.