Brews 1: Drink the Monk up!

Tonight I had the pleasure of imbibing a 750 mL bottle of North Coast Brewing Co.'s Brother Thelonius. It wasn't my first time but 1, it's been a while since I've had quality beer. 2, it's been even long since I've had Brother Thelonius. And 3, this beer is easily in my Top 5 Beers Ever, if not Top 3 or even Most Ultimate Favorite. So I think it's only fitting that my first "Brews" entry to this blog is for this beer.



Now onto the beer!



Having started a blog to review beers among other things, I've realized that I should pay attention not only to the fact that a beer is tasty but what exactly makes it tasty to me. The first thing I noticed was the colors. The body of the beer is rich and dark and the head was a nice light tan color. Next thing I did was smell it. Despite the fact that my sense of smell isn't super developed, I must say...if Awesome had a scent, this would be it. It didn't sting the nostrils like Sex Panther would but it was rather soothing.



Next I took a sip, naturally. Now this is a Belgian style abbey ale and it's ABV is 9.4%. Pretty hefty! But it doesn't really cut through the taste. I mean, in any beer over about 5.5-6% the alcohol is going to become more and more apparent, but having drank "The Beast" (Avery Brewing Co, 15.~% ABV) I must say I prefer this one. (Even though The Beast is pretty awesome as well.) It goes down even smoother if you eat something chocolatey while you drink it. Tried Chips Ahoy! once but this time I had Swiss Rolls which work way better. I can only imagine what it's drinking this with a nice, rich brownie. My guess is a slice of Heaven.



This beer isn't for lightweights at all. This one bottle is the equivalent of about 5 cans of Bud Light. Of course, in my book this only adds to the awesomeness!



Brother Thelonius is a nice, dark abbey-style ale and I'll let you know right at the very beginning of this blog journey that I'm a little skewed towards dark ales. This isn't to say that I don't enjoy any lagers or light-color beers but given the choice when it comes to beer I say the darker the better. Along with the color it's on the thicker side. I don't know about you but I love drink a thick beer because it's actually satisfying.



I give Brother Thelonius 4.5 pint glasses out of 5, mostly because 5 pints might be too much awesomeness for one night!