Apr

05

Monk’s Cafe Flemish Sour Ale

By Andy Murphy

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Not long after starting this “one a day with no repeats for a year” challenge, I began hearing about Belgian Sours. Chris from 52Brews.com originally brought sours to my attention, but I never did the legwork to learn more about them. So during my last beer run I scoured the shelves for anything that said “sour”, and found a bottle of Monk’s Cafe Flemish Sour Ale.

Monk’s Cafe is a Belgian beer-lover’s oasis in Philadelphia, billed as a “Belgian Café & Beer Emporium”. Their Flemish Sour Red Ale is a private label beer brewed by Brouwerij Van Steenberge, and rumor has it this beer is actually the same as Van Steenberge’s Bios Vlaamse Bourgogne. But who cares — isn’t Flemish Sour Ale more to the point?

It’s definitely easier to say.

You can imagine that I didn’t really know what to expect from this beer, since I knew nothing about sours. But I’ll admit it — I thought I had a clue. I actually thought I knew what I was getting into. You see, after truly discovering funky brett for the first time in Orval, and puckering up for the oh-so-sour Girardin Gueuze 1882, I imagined myself worldly in the ways of Belgian beer.

But there was at least one more surprise to come; and I hope there will be many, many more.

“Whoa!” I stole a whiff of the Flemish Sour Ale while it was still in the bottle. “Wow, wow that’s sour!”

I poured the beer into a tulip glass, and even with a careful pour it whipped up a big, pillowy head atop a dark, reddish-brown beer. But the aroma stole the show.

My first impression of the aroma was of Worcestershire and A1 steak sauce, a meaty sourness that made me wonder what I was getting into. The first taste was surprisingly sweet — yes, quite sour, but nowhere near what the aroma suggested.

But here’s the thing — I couldn’t get enough of this concoction. The aroma and the taste were strangely wonderful. I pulled tart cherries from the flavor, and something I’m recognizing now may have been an oakiness, but I was too busy being thrilled by the rich, vinegary aroma and sweet and sour flavor to parse out more.

So I owe a word of thanks to everyone who pushed me to try Sours, and to Monk’s Cafe for coming up with a beer that clearly reads “Sour Ale” on the label — now I need to seek our more.

If you have suggestions about sour ales I should try next, please share them via the comments!

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Categories : Beer a Day