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Welcome to BeerFM, your source for beer news, tips, and reviews and I’m your host Andy. If you listened to the last podcast you’d have heard a collective review of The Lucky Monk’s atmosphere, food, service, and quality from myself and a written review from my girlfriend Trish. You’d also realize that this place is not only a restaurant but a brewpub and I didn’t talk about their beer.
Well, here is your podcast. Part 2 of The Lucky Monk explores the beer they offer. Due to the fact I tried seven different beers I’m going to review each beer a bit differently. If you’d like to see the full review visit the links section of beerfmpodcast.com. On the right hand side you’ll notice a link to my beeradvocate page where each review is listed at length. Here I’m going to quickly describe each beer and finish it with it’s letter grade, so lets dive right into the brews in the order in which I had them starting with their Pilsner, Cardinal Sin. Each beer I had was served at 6 ounces from the tap into an American tumbler pint glass.
B+ 5% ABV, 25 IBUs.
A – Clear pale yellow color with a small white head. Low retention with a foamy ring and small bits of lace left over.
S – Crisp and clean aroma of pilsner malts, soft, mineral water, and a noticeable noble hop aroma. It all bleds well together. A light touch of yeast to the finish.
T – Pilsner malts balanced well with the floral, light spice noble hops. A soft mineral water touch gives it an authentic touch.
M – Medium-light in body with a soft, smooth texture and clean, dry finish.
D – A solid pilsner with good flavor as well as sessionability. A good first beer to start with here!
Next I had their Tritica Wheat
C+ 5% ABV, 15 IBUs.
A – Lightly hazy but fairly clean for a hefe. Golden yellow color with a thin white head. Poor head retention with tiny lace left over but definitely not characteristic of a hefeweizen.
S – Heavy yeast and banana ester aroma with a light clove hint to it. A bit unbalanced for a hefe considering that’s just about all I’m picking up. No real wheat nose.
T – The flavor is just too full of yeast, banana, and clove. A good start here but it’s a bit unbalanced and the wheat doesn’t really have a chance to shine at all. Small hop finish.
M – Medium-bodied with a fairly big level of carbonation and a moderately soft texture to the finish.
D – A mediocre offering that doesn’t seem authentic for a “Bavarian Wheat” and didn’t have enough wheat showcased period.
Following the Wheat I had their Gr’Ale, an Amber Ale
B 5.5% ABV, 30 IBUs.
A – Pours a hazy, unfiltered amber red with a decently retained off-white head. Patchy lace is left over on the pint.
S – The nose is really low through the duration of the beer. I pick up a mellow spicy hint in the background of caramel malts and faint yeast.
T – Floral and slightly grassy hops are showcased with a low caramel malt finish and a Belgian yeast hint.
M – Smooth and soft with a low dry bitter finish and delicate lingering flavor.
D – Fairly easy drinking but a full pint would be enough of this beer for me. Not something I’d session.
Next in the line were two seasonals starting with the Irish Red poured from a nitrotap.
B+ No info.
A – The Irish Red is a hazy dark amber, almost a mahogany red-brown with beautiful nitro cascading. The head is a dense cream dollop with good retention and a little lace.
S – The aroma has a dry, roasted caramel and amber malt nose with a good floral hop balance. Not bad but nothing really stands out. Pretty one-dimensional.
T – A hint of roasted coffee comes out to my surprise. Lots of roasted amber malts. A drizzle of caramel comes out behind the well-balanced floral hops. A ton of toasted bread in the flavor.
M – Smooth texture from the nitro that goes down well. Classic hoppy dryness for an Irish Red. Mildly bitter.
D – The nitro really was a nice touch for this Irish Red. It makes it a easily sessionable red for St. Patty’s Day.
The other seasonal was their Irish Stout
A 5.8% ABV, 45 IBUs.
A – The nitro pour is completely black. No light shines through. The cascading foam is beautiful as always and leads up to a dense tan head with great retention and thick lace.
S – The nose is bursting with bittersweet chocolate and mocha with roasted coffee and a cream hint. Really roasted black patent malts with a very low hoppy finish.
T – Bold roasted malts bring a big bittersweet chocolate and mocha flavor. A lot of roasted coffee grounds too with a nice roasted malt bitterness. Little hops found here.
M – Rich and full-bodied with a cool, crisp, and very dry finish. The dry, roasted bitterness gives a punch with that 45 IBUs.
D – A very good Irish Dry Stout! By far their best offering of the house-brews so far. Well-brewed and well-balanced.
Not in the line up listed on the “cheat sheet” but something on the wall was a Belgian Dubbel.
B+ 6.5% ABV, 25 IBUs.
A – Very dark brown-amber with a well-retained tan head. Spotty lace left on the glass which was a bit uncharacteristic. It was very hazy too.
S – Starts with a sweet, dark candi sugar nose with an amber malt boldness and Belgian yeast aroma. A touch of spiciness on the finish. A good Belgian Dubbel nose if a bit modest.
T – A noticeable alcohol hint I picked up on right away seemed a little out-of-place for this “lower” ABV Belgian. Good dark candi sugar sweetness and Belgian yeast hint with a mildly spicy finish.
M – Medium-bodied with a warm alcohol finish and spicy feel. Low bitterness. Mainly sweet malts.
D – A decent Belgian Dubbel attempt but could use a bit of tweaking. It’s a one-pint-max beer for me though.
I saved hoppiest for last, or so I though. Their IPA was a little disappointing, but if you remember what I said in part 1 of The Lucky Monk review, the IPA was reformulated and brewed resulting in a much better brew the second time around. So to be concice, I’m going to review what I had then, but don’t let it affect your decision to have it now since it’s better. Also, expect a new review of it soon.
C- 5.7% ABV, 48 IBUs.
A – Hazy apricot orange-yellow with a one-finger off-white head. The retention was OK but it left next to no lace on the glass. Poor for a highly hopped style of beer.
S – Citrusy hops aren’t as potent as they should be and they’ve got a floral hand-soap nose to them also. Caramel malts in the background provide a good backbone and sweetness. The soapiness kills this beer though. Maybe the tap line wasn’t fully clean?
T – Sudsy, soapy floral hops with a citrus splash to it. Caramel malts behind provide a good base but it’s mediocre and the soapy flavor is no good.
M – Medium-bodied with a citrusy finish but an overall low hop bitterness for being a calculated 48 IBUs.
D – Not the best AIPA. The soapiness is no good but not potent enough to feel like you just said a naughty word as a kid, that’s for sure. This beer’s other problem is that it doesn’t fully showcase the American hops. Not that it needs to be overpowering, it’s just not enough at this stage.
Again, I’d like to extend a thank you to The Lucky Monk Bar manager Scott for his hospitality and to Jessica for her willingness to serve me one beer at a time. It was a fantastic way to start at Lucky Monk service-wise as she happily helped me without even seeming slightly annoyed by my request.
Like I said, I’ll be back time and again for different food and delicious beer. If you haven’t been there yet and are in the local area, I recommend making a visit to The Lucky Monk in South Barrington.
And as always, thanks for listening. I’m your host Andy and I hope that you’ll find your way to our twitter and facebook pages. Just search for BeerFM. You can do the same on iTunes and download and subscribe for freeeee.
I’ve got a new email address too, so if you’re looking to see if you should buy a six pack of a certain beer or have a question about a new release, just ask! andy@beerfm.com
Thanks for listening and I’ll talk to you soon.
Cheers!
-Andy
