Beer Review: Golden Monkey from Victory Brewing Beer Sessions

This beer is absolutely unlike anything else we’ve ever tasted. In fact, when we first tried it a few years ago, we hated it! But now that our taste in beer has grown up a bit, we decided to give this spicy, fruity beer another shot.

Beer Details – Golden Monkey from Victory Brewing Company in Downington, Pennsylvania. This is a Belgian-style tripel ale, meaning that it is brewed with triple the amount of malts typical of Belgian ales. (9.5% ABV)

Appearance – The beer is a rich gold color and very clear in the glass. It has a bubbly, foamy head and we can see beads of carbonation streaming up through the liquid.

Aroma – Spicy and heady. The aroma reminds us a lot of mead! We also get a strong yeastiness, like rising bread dough.

Taste – Oh, wow, was ever a different experience than the first time we tried this beer! Right away, we tasted honey and ginger: sweet, spicy, and hot. This transitioned into a brown sugar and fresh orange juice flavor with a nice balance of bitterness at the end. We could definitely taste the heat from the alcohol on the tongue and in the throat after a few sips, but the alcohol is otherwise very well-hidden.

It has a creamy, full-bodied feeling in our mouths. There’s a lot of carbonation, which gives the beer a crispness that works well with the heavy malts and keeps them from being overwhelming.

Our overall impression is that this is a big, complex beer. Every sip seemed to reveal something new and interesting, especially as the beer warmed up a bit. We haven’t had a lot of other tripels to compare this too, but our reaction is positive. This isn’t one that we’d keep stocked in our fridge for everyday drinking, but it’s a good choice for special occasions.

Food Pairings – There’s so much going on in this Golden Monkey that we wouldn’t want to pair it with anything that would distract or complicate. A basic dinner salad with an acidic dressing would go really well, as would simple steamed fish or other seafood. It would also pair very well with caramel and nut-based desserts. Definitely try it on it’s own, too!

Have you ever tried Golden Monkey? What do you think?

Related: Beer Guide: All About Pale Ales

(Image: Victory Brewing Company)