Drinking notes: Rogue Monk Madness
Yeast matters.
That’s the lesson learned from Rogue Monk Madness (a beer I drank six weeks ago and forgot to write about then). Although Rogue used continental malts and some of the same noble hops that Belgian brewers put in their beers (plus Northwest hops that are a Rogue trademark) the brewery never promised a Belgian tasting beer.
The sell sheet reads: “The addition of free-range coastal waters and Rogue’s proprietary PacMan Yeast make this 12-ingredient elixir something Friar Tuck would enjoy!”
Notice it didn’t read Brother Thomas or Father Theodore (two of the more famous brewing monks). PacMan is a wonderful yeast, but not if you are looking for the fruity esters, the raisins and plums, some peppery spiciness and a a variety of other flavors that yeasts used at Rochefort and other Belgian breweries deliver.
In all fairness, a monk-ish beer doesn’t have to taste like it was brewed in Belgium. If the monks at Our Lady of Guadalupe Trappist Abbey in Oregon took up brewing - instead of binding books and making fruitcakes - then you’d expect them to produce a beer influenced by local ingredients.
And in Oregon that would be hoppy. This is an Oregon beer, one that will remind you of Mogul Madness, a retired Rogue beer.
December 6th, 2006 at 12:39 pm
Do you think it would have tasted more Trappist had John M used Westmalle lor Chimay yeast?
December 7th, 2006 at 9:54 am
Jeremy - A Belgian yeast certainly would have given it a lot more Belgian character, but it still would be way hoppier than any Belgian beer I know of.
- Stan
December 16th, 2006 at 11:01 pm
Stan,
Your drinking notes sound like an apology.
I tried this on two occasions with fellow beer geeks ( including two master level BJCP judges) and we declared it “astonishlingly unremarkable”. Understanding that this truely is an American/Northwest interpretation, I would think that at least a nod to the Trappists was in order. Perhaps a little higher gravity, or a higher ferm. temp. to bring out a little more character from the Pacman yeast. Heavier on the crystal or maybe more attenuated?
The previous John’s Locker offerings I have tried were outstanding, by the way.
December 18th, 2006 at 12:26 pm
Hi Bob. Good to hear from you.
I agree that if you were to score Monk Madness according to BJCP guidelines (or the World Beer Cup or GABF guidelines were it entered there) it would get trashed for being out of style.
Perhaps I should have been harder on Rogue for setting expections. I would be quite disappointed if I ordered it in a bar based on the name. Since I saw the list of ingredients, the level of hops and know the Pacman yeast I had a different idea going in.
Yes, I would like to have seen it better attenuated. And it would have been interesting to let the yeast ramp a bit for more ester production. But I’m not bold enough to make those suggestions to John Maier.
I also admit that I was influenced by the fact I always liked Mogul Madness and was sorry to see it go.
October 7th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
Don’t be so strict to style guidlines…or a name, or the ingredients…some times you shold just taste….and some times a beer is just a beer.
(The Zen of Beer Tasting)
October 8th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
Nick - I agree that we shouldn’t get hung up on styles, but when you call a beer Monk Madness then drinkers have the right to presume they will get aromatics they associated with Belgian-brewed beers.
Those are absent in this one.