When I think of a winter beer, I tend to imagine molasses with a head of foam: something thick, viscous, and chewy that likely counts, calorie-wise, as the entirety of my meal. The holidays are my favorite time for beer for precisely this reason, since for about three months brewers suddenly remember that people really do like dark brews. Brugge Brasserie, Indianapolis' temple to Belgium, offers a holiday beer by the name of Thunder Monkey that is anything but the heavy, rich variety of winter beer that I know and love, but to be honest, I kind of dig it anyway.
I failed to take a photo so you will just have to use your imaginations, cats & kittens. This brew is about the color of a good bourbon, lightly effervescent, and light in the head department. Coriander and cinnamon are the first notes I got in a sip, with a little anise and hops bite at the end. The beer is very light, so the flavor is gone as soon as you've sensed it, making this a fabulous beer to drink with dinner: no fighting between flavors. Now if you hear "cinnamon" and "holiday beer" and fear you're going to have a swig full of Essence of Christmas Febreze, don't panic. If the brewers had messed with any bourbon barrel aging or cloying vanilla notes or even yeastiness, maybe. Nothing of the sort here. In fact, I'd like this brew as well in autumn as I do in winter. It's great with crepes & frites, but I bet it'd be killer with an apple and cheese plate.
The bad news? This stuff is only available in Indianapolis, and is a rare occurrence on Brugge's menu. If you happen to be there and it's on tap, go for it. Hoosier Beer Geek gave Thunder Monkey 3.96 mugs back in 2007, but their review sounds like an entirely different beer, so I imagine it's undergone some revisions between then and now. I strongly recommend the current version--that is, if you manage to snag some.
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