Founders Blushing Monk
Sweet fruitiness numbs the palate. Presentation: 750 ml brown capped bottle. Lazy label with Founders branding in soft faded scarlet hue with the name of the brew and a cut out of a raspberry and faint images of the fruit in the white background. Shows vintage 2001, and 9.2% Alc. by Vol. Poured into a snifter. A - Deep crimson pour, short pinkish head with moderate to low retention, and little lacing. S - Intense raspberry nose, heavy and sweet. Quite mono-chord, faint yeasty touch in the background. T - Ouch, the nose was actually a shy advanced of the things to come Brutally sweet raspberry. Hefty sweetness destroying any nuances that this brew might be riding on. Imaginary yeasty touch in the distance, cloying sweetness screaming raspberry, and screaming annoyingly loud. M - Medium-full body specially after the intense sense of the brew, moderate if fair carbonation that does not entertain much the brew beyond its hammering identity. O - Not a horrible brew but the overwhelming and mono-chord fruitiness seriously compromises the drinkability. Two or three ounces as a curious taste are actually more than enough. Notes: Founder's brews some of my all time favorite brews, and then stuff like this It is not as bad as their Cerise but the experience with their fruit brews This one lacks the complex boozy punch of say DFH's Fort, or the tart nuances of a good lambic. Quite surprised by the hype generated by this brew, and that this one was selected as the first release in big bottles.