Second beer review- The Vermonster
The Vermonster is a barleywine style ale made by Rock Art Brewery. Rock Art Brewery is located in Morrisville, Vermont. As per their website, they describe themselves as follows:
"Rock Art Brewery was born in the mountains of Vermont, inspired by the spirit of Kokopelli and guided by the beers of the world.
The brewery name symbolizes ancient petroglyphs, images that were etched in rock, therefore "Rock Art". Kokopelli is one of those images and some believed him to be a wandering flute player that brought music and good times to the people that he visited.
So grab some "Rock Art" and your friends, and maybe you'll see Kokopelli too."
Rock Art Brewery makes 19 different types of beer, and, of the few that I have tried, they are all of very good quality. The Vermonster is their barleywine offering. This year's offering is 10.00% ABV with a 100 IBU. It is classified as an American barleywine. As per their website, they use 110 lbs. of malt per barrel. I used a chalice glass for my tasting.
A- Pours a deep brown to mahogany color with a 1 fingerwidth tannish head that dissipated quickly. Good lacing
A-The first thing I smell are the intense hops, which dominates. There are some roasted malted tones, with some sweet caramel undertones
T- Big hops taste with lots of good piney, hoppy bitterness. There are also some strong citrus notes. There are undertones of caramel and roasted malts. An extremely well balanced beer between the hops, citrus flavors and malts.The hops and bitterness dominates and lingers, and gets stronger as the beer warms up
M-The body is fairly heavy but balanced by some nice carbonation. The bitterness dominates, and is not for the weak of palate. Some nice alcohol burn, which is not unexpected at 10.00% ABV.
D- A very good beer. For a barleywine, it leans towards being a bit more hoppy and bitter, but overall a very smooth beer. I definitely enjoyed drinking this beer, and would definitely pick this one up again.
Comments- I love barleywines, I have had many, many barleywines. The Vermonster is a bit more on the hoppy and bitter side than other barleywines, and was most enjoyable. For my taste, I didn't enjoy it as much as the Great Divide Old Ruffian, and if you want something even hoppier, I would recommend the Rogue Old Crustacean. Other good barleywines that I would recommend is the Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot, or the Brooklyn Monster Ale. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this beer, and would definitely buy this one again! Of note, Rock Art Brewery won their fight against Monster energy drinks and are allowed to keep the name "The Vermonster".
Overall grade: A-
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Great post, I bet a lot of work and research went into this article.