Brasserie Dupont Monk's Stout Dupont

**Aroma:** Heavy honey and mead flavors, leaning more toward floral, herbal, and earthy notes. Lots of pepper spice and a strong thick honey character up front. Some fruity notes—almost berry like. Strawberry? **Flavor:** The honey flavors are a bit more restrained than the aroma, with the peppery phenol character dominant. Considerable herbal and floral character. The honey notes are present but not overpowering; they add some nice sweetness. Clean and refreshing in the finish. Speaermint carries all the way through, and the spiciness can be felt retronasal and also very floral. **Overall:** A tasty beer that showcases the honey well, without losing its beer essence. Refreshing and clean. This beer had a nice body and good flavor, but also had a delicateness about it that I liked. Showcases honey well.

**Aroma:** “Big time coffee, with strong roast, tobacco, earthiness, and an acidic ashy note. Blindfolded, I might not guess this was a beer by the smell alone. The coffee is accented by a touch of dark cherry and supported by roast and chocolate. Easy to smell, almost as nice as my morning cup o’ joe.” **Flavor:** “Smooth cold-pressed coffee or mocha, with a roasted malt flavor that doesn’t fight with the black coffee. It’s well integrated. There is an ashy undertone, with stale coffee, and a touch of acidity that isn’t supported by the base beer. The body is medium but not overly thick—the carbonation is a bit overdone, leaving a slight carbonic bite. Some fruity esters join the malt to assert the beer-ness. Finishes with some tobacco notes and very sweet.” **Overall:** “It’s not too bad of a coffee beer, but the overcarbonation and the highly roasted acidity need something beneath to help carry them. Nice big coffee and quite drinkable. The finish is not quite as smooth as the start, but there’s lots of complexity in this beer.”

**Aroma:** “High fruity note similar to a Belgium with cherry, figs, raisins, orange. A candy-like aroma, perhaps like a cherry sucker. Toasty malt. Slightly oxidized. There is also a sweet milk chocolate aroma. Lots of malt sweetness. Slight coffee. A creaminess is present on the nose.” **Flavor:** “This comes across like a Belgian dubbel. High cherry note up front with a medium sweetness that slowly fades into a low bitterness with slight acidity. A light roast in the middle of the sip. The bitterness toward the end of the sip transitions into the aftertaste. Thin-to-medium body that is cut by the carbonation. Same esters as on the nose with some dark roast chocolate and toasted bread notes. Finishes with an interesting combination of the sweetness from the esters and a low-medium carbonic acid dryness. This beer has a flavor of vanilla cola.” **Overall:** “It’s enjoyable and sweet, but is this a stout? I get more fruity Belgian-like notes. As it warms, there is a bit of chocolate toward the very end. This could be a stout, but not a sweet stout. The aftertaste is too dry and astringent. A confusing beer for a sweet stout, given all of the strong Belgian-like esters and the carbonic ester finish.”