Sam’s new beer falls right in line with my Belgian quest presenting an interesting and rare detour to a Belgian IPA. Which is definitely an American invention and not a Belgian one.
Brewery: Sam Adams
Beer: Grumpy Monky
Style: Belgian IPA
Alcohol by volume: 5.8%
Read on after the break for the full review!
Pours an incredible and unique golden brown hue with lots of fluffy whitish head. The head sticks around for a bit then clings to the side of the glass all the way down.
I can definitely smell some hops as well as some of the fruity bits normal to Belgians with a bit of spice hinted at as well.
The taste contains a fair amount of hop bitterness which is pretty strange to have mixed in with these other flavors. Those flavors are citrus fruits and flavorful spices with a touch of warming alcohol strength.
The mouth feel is smooth and creamy, very enjoyable, with no carbonation to speak of.
A decent beer, but a bit weak for my tastes especially for my taste in Belgians. If this was around 8 or 9% I think I’d have been much more open to it. Also the style is rather strange, it’s really an American bastardization of the great Belgian Dubbel kind of style. In the end I give this a 3/5 and am quite intrigued to try more Belgian IPAs.
BrewMinds 
I go back and forth on how I feel about the Belgian IPA. Some I enjoy, some, not so much. Some make me scratch my head. Try Flying Dog’s Raging Bitch, if you get a chance. I wouldn’t drink six of them at once, but it’s not abd (it also weighs in at 8.3%, so it’s closer to your sweet spot).
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I actually had that a while ago, before I started blogging. Here are the quick notes I made on it
Nice golden color, decent strength, and a good taste but a little too bitter to rank high among other Belgian Ales IMO.
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