Third Monk Mocha Stout

[Jay Reynolds]

Interesting if they are actually using Hershey's chocolate syrup. Certainly, during the boil, that could easily be added instead of an alternate type of sugar.

It's chocolate malt and Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee.
http://www.southerntierbrewing.com/beer ... blackwater

[@?,*???&?]

While Garges didn't care for my stout (But I've got at least a dozen friends that do), it's being judged tonight in the Michigan Daily (University of Michigan school newspaper) Homebrew competition.

Entered alongside were a Black Berry Porter and a Tomato Wheat.

I was instructed to make category descriptions for the judges to judge the beer:

http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/catdex.php

Which sort of seems like, in a direct comparison, that all records should be judged against "Who's Next"...but I'm not complaining.

My chosen style for the stout was Sweet Stout.

The Black Berry Porter was entered under the Fruit Beer style.

The tomato wheat was entered under the Specialty beer style.

I'll let you know how it goes. I didn't brew to enter ANYTHING in any competition, but since the competition presented itself, why not? Perhaps Chris Garges will feel vindicated!

[cgarges]

Someone seriously brewed a tomato wheat? Really? I can think of few things that sound more awful to me, but I kind of hate tomatoes that aren't in some kind of pasta sauce.

I've been biting my tonuge on here, but since you brought it up, yeah, that stout was freaking terrible. And I generally like stout.

Someone else who posts on here had a chance to try it out and hated it, too. So did my wife.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[@?,*???&?]

Someone seriously brewed a tomato wheat? Really? I can think of few things that sound more awful to me, but I kind of hate tomatoes that aren't in some kind of pasta sauce.

I've been biting my tonuge on here, but since you brought it up, yeah, that stout was freaking terrible. And I generally like stout.

Someone else who posts on here had a chance to try it out and hated it, too. So did my wife.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

Like I said, you got some of the batch with liquid yeast- not desirable. Dry yeast suits the Sweet Stout style better. Btw, you should take time to look at the descriptions under stout- my guess is that you are not a sweet stout fan, but prefer something harder, dryer and more bitter.

As for someone else who posts up here, unless it's my intern, I can think of no one else who's had it who would even cross over in to this domain.

As for the Tomato Wheat, yeah, that was MY submission. Someone recently handed me a terrible bottle of 'Bloody Beer' from Short's Brewing Company in Traverse City, Michigan. They have made a Bloody Mary-esque beer complete with horseradish and peppercorn used during fermentation. My goal was simply to use it as a fruit and the result came out great. A 60% wheat/40% barley mixture and hallertau hops both in the boil and dry-hopped, suited the fruit well.

Flavor has 3 rails of complexity. Pretty interesting result.

[cgarges]

I was unclear as to whether or not the tomato wheat was yours. At first, I thougt it was, then I read it again and it read like someone else was submitting that. That just sounds absurdly bad to me. How anyone can NOT dig pumpkin beer but think that tomato beer is alright has something misfiring.

I'm not sure that I've ever had a Sweet Stout, but it sounds like the sort of thing I'd like. Yours did not taste or smell anything like the classic deinfition of "Sweet," but I have no idea how that might apply to stout. I did recently have a Founder's (which you mentioned to me a while back) and it was quite good. I've also been drinking a fair amount of milk stouts lately.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[@?,*???&?]

I was unclear as to whether or not the tomato wheat was yours. At first, I thougt it was, then I read it again and it read like someone else was submitting that. That just sounds absurdly bad to me. How anyone can NOT dig pumpkin beer but think that tomato beer is alright has something misfiring.

I'm not sure that I've ever had a Sweet Stout, but it sounds like the sort of thing I'd like. Yours did not taste or smell anything like the classic deinfition of "Sweet," but I have no idea how that might apply to stout. I did recently have a Founder's (which you mentioned to me a while back) and it was quite good. I've also been drinking a fair amount of milk stouts lately.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

Milk Stouts are pretty awesome. Mackeson Triple Stout is a winner.

The Founders stuff is consistent. Their Pale Ale hangs together well and the result of dry hopping is firm. Hopping in the boil produces a 'tea-like' quality to beer. Look for the 'Dirty Bastard' from Founders, it's quite good.

The Weird thing is that I thought Short's was doing a decent job brewing, but I've begun to see a rash of badly thought-out beers that are making it to the store shelves. I had a really bad raspberry wheat from them at the Milford Michigan Beer Fest a month or so ago.

I've got a 6-pack of the Flying Dog Pale Ale here at the studio right now and it's got an obvious liquid yeast beer, but with a good clean hop character. Malty character is about 10% too weak for me though.

An excellent Pale Ale I've had recently had is from Breckenridge Brewing Company in Colorado. Perfectly balanced. Seek that one out.

[cgarges]

Not a giant fan of uber-hoppy beers, so pale ales aren't usually my first choice. The Founder's was pretty good, though.

The Mackeson's is indeed an excellent stout. I like the Flying Dog stuff, too.

I'm not a raspberry fan, so I can't comment on that. Raspberries or blueberries, really although the blueberry beer (can't for the life of me remember which variety) that they brew at the Boston Beer Garden in the Fen is astounding. At least it was a few years ago.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[MoreSpaceEcho]

the blueberry beer that they brew at the Boston Beer Garden

i drink beer pretty much never, but even i like that one.

[@?,*???&?]

Okay. Working with some noted rubrics for this stuff. Using Beer Advocate vocabulary, I just had a future project in tonight and subjected them to free beer (tough sell right?) here at Third Monk, brewed by Third Monk.

Using the Beer Advocate categories of Look, Smell, Taste, Feel (mouthfeel) and Drink (drinkability), here's how three of the Third Monk brews rated:

Maple Ale:
Look- 4
Smell- 2.3
Taste- 3.3
Feel- 3.3
Drink- 3.6

Bad Reputation Stout
Look- 5
Smell- 4.1
Taste- 4.8
Feel- 4.6
Drink- 4.1

Dry-hopped Alt
Look- 4.5
Smell- 3.6
Taste- 3.1
Feel- 3.8
Drink- 3.6

Now, granted this is but 4 guys who are all in the same band (peer pressure?)...interesting to see how Garges' opinion weighs in versus 4 other opinions on the stout...but as I've noted, Garges had the liquid yeast NOT the dry yeast variety. Also, a different blend of coffee in the stout he had compared to my standard now.

The other interesting thing to me is the character-less-ness of the Alt beer. While still a beer, it NOT a SPECIAL beer. The band agreed, it tastes like beer, but I countered, but it's far too common tasting. It has a succinct 'lack of melody'. The stout is complex in so many ways. The maple ale is elegant in it's simplicity.

[cgarges]

Yep. One of, if not THE WORST beer I've ever had in my life. And I've had A LOT of beer.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[chris harris]

I like how he started backpedaling and making excuses BEFORE you even offered your opinion.

Yours just had the wrong coffee in it, Chris....

[MoreSpaceEcho]

when i was down in NC last summer, CG was "kind" enough to share some of jeff's beer with me, and i can confirm that it was pretty much like drinking tree bark.

[Bro Shark]

http://www.thirdmonkbrewingco.com/

[Snarl 12/8]

They are going to get sued by Apple.

[Gregg Juke]

Drunken Zombie Thread Alert...

GJ

"My personal favorite was the peach nugget, kale, and tofu stout. Mild, but also bold in an understated way. Melodious, yet full of snap, crackle, and popping rhythm. Sort of like a Diet Coke from McDonald's, with grass, pebble, dirt, and 10W-30 oil additives..."