Brew Love: Ska Brewing Monumentale
Concluding a little impromptu interview this past weekend, Kristen from Ska Brewing offered up a sample of their yet-to-be-released 20th Anniversary beer. Even though I am planning on attending their festivities, I jumped at the chance and threw it in the fridge as soon as I got back to the Front Range.I've very much enjoyed their Cru d'Etat and Skaface barrel aged releases, so I knew this one had to be just as good or better. (Hint: it's better.)Monumentale is a tart and wild ale aged in Peach Street Bourbon barrels and then blended with cherries. Ska picked out 1-, 3-, and 5-year old barrels of this brew to blend into what I can pretty easily say is the best beer I've ever had from them. It is a perfect beer for their anniversary.
Right out of the bottle, Monumentale is quite effervescent, but only for a little bit. The head subsides rather quickly, but that's probably due to the acidity.The aroma is what keeps drawing me back sip after sip, with fragrant bourbon, vanilla, oak and cherries. Attention sour fans: while this beer is not overly sour, it still packs a nice punch to your tastebuds. While there is a hint of slight syrupy sweet flavor that coats your tongue after the initial tart subsides, it stays away from being cloying.At only 7.5%ABV, but with strong bourbon flavor, this beer rides the line between booze and easy sipper. I can see more of this in my immediate future.Being that this beer isn't bottle conditioned, I don't expect their draught versions to be much different, so this will most likely be the beer everyone's drinking while watching Reel Big Fish and Mad Caddies this weekend! Expect to see some distribution in Colorado, most likely similar to Skaface this spring. Cheers!
