from the twisted minds of snm
Found also at Marukai, the Kolsch from Kizakura brewery. Pours a slightly cloudy yellow with moderately strong head. Fair amount of hop aroma, but not strongly flowery. There;s abit of tanginess in the middle, abit of bitter, then a grain finish. Mouthfeel is crisp. As would be expected of a kolsch, its pretty easy drinking.
Just makes 3 of 4 monkeys
This years Octoberfest entry from Samuel Adams. Pours clear medium dark amber, medium head. Hop but not flowery aroma, with roasty tones. A bit of tang ending with tapering bitter. Not incredibly complex, I much prefer the Sierra Nevada rendition. Still fairly hearty and drinkable.
I’d say it just makes 3 out 4 October monkeys..
Next up in the variety pack is this blonde ale. Pours clear medium yellow, weak head. Smoke aroma, not a terribly complex peaty smoke, just a straight smoke your bacon smoke. Hop tang and touch of citrus, clean finish. Medium mouthfeel, weak carbonation.
Just makes 3 out 4 smokey monkeys.
In the Samuel Adams Fall Variety Pack, pours a very dark amber with small head. Dark roast aroma, bitterness in the middle gives way to a controlled sweetness. A nice nuttiness sneaks in on the finish. The sweetness along with the carbonation that goes quickly away does give it a moderately heavy mouthfeel.
Not as heavy hitting as some bock’s I’ve had, this is pretty nice drinking. Still it’s more appropriate to slow drinking than sessioning.
I give it 3.5 out of 4 goaty monkeys.
New at Marukai, looks like they are importing this Kyoto craft brew that Dave earlier reviewed. Pours a cloudy medium yellow with moderate head. Doing the swirl with last quarter of pour churns up some pretty chunky bits. Despite the name, mild initial aroma, citrus and hop. Even bitter that fades to a nice grain finish.
A good example of a Weiss.
4 of 4 white monkets
after all these years of visiting Whistler Blackcomb, I finally ate at Mongolie Grill. I guess before you make a judgement, you have to try it. My judgement is I do not need to go back. It’s not awful. Let me take a step back and describe it. You pick out your own ingredients from a self serve salad bar type layout. Selection of noodles vegetables and meats. Ladle on a sauce. Then take it to cooks manning a giant grill where they stir fry your selections while you watch. They occasionally will entertain with some teppanyaki style juggling and food tossing. You are charged by weight, which quickly adds up. In fact, this meal ended up being my most expensive meal in Whistler! So not worth it. In fact, Build Your Own Bowl that just opened in Hawaii Kai does the same thing but Ina casual dinning setting for $10 a bowl that tastes almost as good. True it doesn’t have sockeye salmon, scallops or ribeye, but then it doesn’t cost $35 either.
2 out 4 Mongolian Monkeys, the value isn’t there.
Found at Creekside grocery store, Lay’s Bacon Poutine potato chips, “simulated flavour.” These sounded more appealing than the Szechuan BO chips. Thy are salty and have a suggestion of gravy flavour, ingredient do not list any bacon. It doesn’t really taste like poutine, but they aren’t terrible either, I’ll eat these.
Pours clear yellow, small head. Mild hop aroma, bitter, but controlled doesn’t linger long. Some grain in the finish. Pretty clean dry mouthfeel.
3 out 4 Vancouver monkeys.
 Grabbing Subway on way to border they had the ethnic flavored chips. Decided to try these. I don’t know what they are supposed to taste like, but these were nasty. Couldn’t finish them. I don’t think even a starving Chinese monkey would eat them. Zero monkeys.
Yes, October is six weeks away, close enough for me. This years Oktoberfest from Sierra Nevada was brewed in collaboration with German brewer Mahrs Brau. Pours a brilliant clear gold with light head. Beer is grains, malt and grain aroma. Balanced bitter that does not linger. Crisp easy drinking. Sneaky, at 6% ABV it’s got a bit more but not enough to initially notice. Perhaps because of it being post ride, but I’m feeling quite jolly.
Don’t know if its the alcohol talking, but I’m about ready to give this 4 out 4 Oktober monkeys! I might be overly enthusiastic having a good honest beer. No overloading of flowery hops, no guava/pineapple/grapefruit/cucumber. But I’m really enjoying this!