Initial Impressions:
This afternoon, the news broke that the Mariners will honor Ken
Griffey's request that he be traded to a ballclub closer to his
Orlando home. My spiteful side hopes that club is the Tampa Bay
Devil Rays (what a stupid name for a stupid team packaged in profoundly
horrendous uniforms). I suspect the team will be the Atlanta Braves,
in a package that should include at least one guy named Jones
and a young chap named Millwood.
While this news certainly warms up the winter stove, a more immediate concern is finding the means to assuage the pain of losing the greatest baseball player Seattle has ever seen (possibly save for the year that Rogers Hornsby managed the old Seattle Rainiers). For this, I need to take no chances, so it is to Victory Brewing Company that I turn in my moment of need.
As many are aware, Victory is one of my favorite US breweries. The brewers at Victory are fearless in brewing inspired interpretations of classic styles. Dedicated to the craft, their lager heavy repertoire features outstanding beers created with not inconsiderable expense in raw materials or procedure. The beers are terrific across the range, nary a dud in the group, drawing legitimate comparisons to Sierra Nevada and Anderson Valley.
Golden Monkey is hard to pin down stylistically. It claims to be a tripel on the bottle, but comes across more Duvelish and with a stronger representation by the spicy interests than a Westmalle. Tasting this beer and discussing the stylistic distinctions with Jim Busch piques my curiosity about the distinction between the two styles.
A loud hiss announced the Monkey's first glimpse of freedom from the bottle (little did it know that it would be swiftly damned to a brief residence in my stomach) indicating a gassy beer. Sure enough, the pour yielded a moderately opaque beer, light orange in color and capped by a dense, rocky white head. Indeed, one could argue that this beer is the poster child for the "dense, rocky head" partisans in beerland.
Nose:
Spiciness dominates the nose, both herbal and
phenolic with the balance clearly in favor of the former. The
spicy aroma is framed by a light maltiness. Inviting, remniscient
of a La Chouffe perhaps.
Flavor:
There is a remarkable complexity of flavor for
a beer of such modest mouthfeel. A delicate, yet not reticent
maltiness opens and slides into a yeasty spiciness. This, in turn,
evolves into a more herbal spiciness. The beer concludes with
a return to the initial maltiness, rather bready this time around,
and a light acidic sourness. Equally notable is the absence of
an obvious alcoholic presence, a difficult accomplishment in a
beer of this (9.5%) strength.
Final Analysis:
Golden
Monkey is an excellent beer, something I would expect of a Unibrou,
a Duvel, or a real God-fearing monastery. Yet, this comes to us
from a brewery designed for world-class continental lagers, one
that quickly found their best seller to be an American IPA. I
can't help but conclude that Victory's ability to brew terrific
examples of disparate styles places it a cut above the greats
like Sierra. Surely I can't be the only one who finds Victory
without peer in the US?
Rating:
****
(Excellent on my 5-star scale)