5:16 PM, Jun 28, 2004 tagged with
dotw
Golden Monkey
I visited my sister in Cleveland, this past weekend, and got to see the city pretty well, as well as earn a blister or two. On my first night in town, Julia and I met some of her friends:
...at a bar in Lakewood, called the
Winking Lizard. The bar had an excellent selection of beers, both on tap, and in bottles. On our first sitdown, we decided on the featured beer of the week,
Victory's high-alcohol, Belgian-style tripel,
Golden Monkey. Because of its high content and bang for the buck, it comes in a small, fancy-looking glass.
It pours a deep golden color, like most tripels. Like most tripels, it looks dauntingly lower in quality than it really is. Maybe that's why they only charged us $3.50. From start to finish, it's a wonderful glass of beer, with more to discover in each sip.
Anyway, I switched to Great Lakes' Edmund Fitzgerald Porter after that. Now that is another delicious beer.
Ratings (out of ten):
Flavor: 9 (As Belgian triples go, this stacks up well against ones actually made in Belgium.)
Body: 6 (The taste stays with you, but its alcohol content(9.5% by volume) really starts to show, when that happens.)
Aroma: 6 (I can say nothing about it, as I just don't remember it.)
Smoothness: 8 (While it does have a bite, it is still uncommonly smooth.)
Price: 8 (Maybe drinks are just cheaper in Cleveland. It only cost $3.50.)
Yep, they were showing a fishing show in the otherwise classy bar.