Alpine Beer Company Chez Monieux
A Belgian Lambic aged in red wine barrels. Generous amounts of the tart montmorency cherry were added after 12 months of aging. Sour from lactic and acetic acids produced from special wild yeasts. A delicious tart, sour treat.
3.6
226 reviews
Alpine, United States
Community reviews
Bottle from dasilky. Notes of soured apples. Cherries. Touch of apple cider. Wet oak. Dry. Fine.
Poured from a 750ml bottle. Huge aroma of sweaty sock, rotten vegetable. The flavor does not have any of the terrible aromas. The flavor is citrusy, cherry, oak, dusty. Tastes great but smells awful.
Ruby, clear, off-white head. Aroma of earthy cherry, sweaty-sock, some light fruit. Flavor of dry crackerlike malt, tart cherry, some biscuity notes, less sweaty sock/cheese in flavor than in aroma, some acidic sourness.
Pours ruby red with a small pink head. The smeel is very yeasty, not much fruit but there is hints of cherry and grape with some hay. The taste is sweet with a great tart balance. The mouthfeel is soft and delicate, medium body and a long finish.
A friend of mine picked this up at the brewery. Thanks bud. Pours a very pretty sharp clean ruby red with a thin and short lived fizzy pink head. The nose walks a thin line between bourbon/kriek and sweaty feet/cheese. There are definitely some raw funky aromatics coming through and some of those aren’t super desirable. Flavor is nice enough, don’t taste what I smell necessarily. A lively acidity that borders on puckering and notes of pie cherry and a hint of spice come through. Light bodied and crisp, an interesting beer.
750 ml bottle. Pours a translucent red with a large head of pink foam. Aroma is vinegar and cherries with an odd footy note. Taste is thankfully much more pleasant as the cherries and tartness come through nicely. A nice, puckering kriek.
Bottle. Pours a reddish color with a light pink head. The aroma is a little odd to me with notes of swiss cheese and cherry. Not the most appealling note but here goes. Medium mouthfeel with nice carbonation. Cherry flavors upfront mixed with the aforementioned cheese notes. Minimal barrel. Different.
Bottle shared by b3shine. Poured a clear ruby color with a minimal to average frothy white head that mostly diminished with fair lacing. Moderate to heavy sour tart cherry aroma. Medium to full body with a smooth texture and flat carbonation. Medium to heavy sour fruit flavor with a medium to heavy sour finish of moderate duration. This is a solid beer.
750ml bottle, shared by b3shine. Clear red color, minimal white / pink head. Couple dots of lace. Yeah, kind of a funky bleu cheese nose.. In a cherry jam sauce. Light / medium body, light carbonation. Tart taste. Interesting, cheesy aroma. Strange, but pretty nice. I’m actually digging that funky cheesiness. 7 / 4 / 7 / 3 / 13
Re-rate, 3/10/13: 750 ml bottle, shared by brew3crew. Funky light blue-cheesiness. Cherry. Medium body. Medium carbonation. Good tart taste. Very cool to enjoy on a nice warm late-winter afternoon outside.
Bottle shared by b3shine. Pours a clear reddish amber color with some sparse bubbles. Nose is a big dose of stinky cheese that was not very pleasing and dominated the vinous and tart fruit that was trying to peak through. The flavor had some of the tart fruit, vinous, wood that I would have expected with some of the stinky cheese. It was hard to get through my taste; not for me.
bottle thanks beau. pours cranberry red with quick fading head. aroma of blue cheese and cherries. taste is tangy and tart.
Bomber to snifter. Looks good; a semi-transparent cherry with white lacing. Smells of cherry juice and cheese. Tastes like it smells with some red wine notes. Nice on the palate. Enjoyable.
Thanks Adam for sending this. Enjoyed at 55F on my GF’s birthday in a wine glass.
A - Ruby red in the glass, 2 finger head that faded to nothing. No sediment or cloudiness.
S - Smells like cough medicine with cherry flavoring added
T - Tart almost jolly rancher taste up front. Middle is astringent medicine like Robitussin and the finish is semi-sweet melon and cranberry taste with a hint of cherries.
M - Medium body and medium carbonation
O - Alpine is great and I was hoping this beer would be great but it’s not. It’s drinkable but not what I was expecting.
At brewery. Deep red with thin white head. Nose of cherries, sour, hint of wine. Tart cherry taste. Vinegary. Dry feel.
Thanks to Owen for the bottle
dark brownish cherry color. Sort of murky looking. Off white head that settled to a nice ringed collar and left streaky and spotty lacing with this.
Big blue cheese nose. Stinky and funky at the same time. UMMMMMM no cherry???
Cherry vinegar taste. Big enamel ripping taste to boot. Big amount of cherry and vinegar. Some notes of oak.
Big feel and body. Very bold and low carbonated.
I personally liked it once it got to taste and body but the nose was just odd.
On tap at the pub. ruby red. Sour funk on the nose. Big sour notes up front. Think enamel peeling. Grape juice like flavor. Finishes with a nice sour fruit note. Quite sour and quite good.
A - Pours a dark reddish-brown with a thin layer of slightly reddish head. The head fades down fairly quickly leaving behind a bit of lace.
S - Aroma is a mix of sour and tart cherries, vanilla, oak, some wheat, funk, and a bit of cheese.
T - Starts off with some sour cherries with some wheat and vanilla. Through the middle, some oak comes through with some light cheese flavors and some funk. The finish is a mix of sour cherries, tart wheat and lemon, and some funk.
M - Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Feels smooth with a sour and funky finish.
D - Pretty drinkable. Tastes a bit off, but not too bad. The sour cherry flavor is nice, just a bit of cheese mixed in.
Within the context of the style, very average. Extremely acetic+bandagelike but also has a good cherry flavor that sort of bails out the flaws. It’s a bit painful to drink. Would like to see this rounded into a slightly sweeter, slightly less palate-destroying beer.
Draft at Brewery July 2012.
Pours an amber brown with a reddish hue. Aroma of cherries, funk, and slight cheese. Taste follows, cherries, wine funk and cheese. Not bad, not amazing.
Pours thick berry in color with a smaller white head. The aroma brings some sweet cherry nastiness from the yeast and fruit going on, I enjoyed it better than the rest of the crew for sure. The flavor is delicious tart cherries with a somewhat thinner but enjoyed body.
Bottle shared by Damian and Lona. Thanks!
The beer is a light orange color and is mostly clear. The head is fairly thin and fades after a few moments, leaving faint traces of lacing. The aroma is awesome! Huge, delectable scents of oak and sour cherries. The beer tastes great. It is sour, but not puckering. The aftertaste is fleeting. I do wish the tartness and fruit would linger longer. It is acetic, but not overly so. I am very glad to have tried it. Overall, a very enjoyable beer.
Serving type: bottle
Reviewed on: 11-12-2010
A bit plasitcy and spicy at times but overall a very respectable sour kriek beer. This brewery has it goin on.
Draft at alpine with Linh. Pours a deep purple body with light punish white lacing. Aroma is rich red wine and light funk. Mouthfeel is fruity sour and light tart wine. Wine definitely dominates here.
Bottle. Pours a red color with a pink head. Aroma is fairly tart with lots of cherries, I also get lots of funk, blue cheese, old musty aromas, wine gums, some oak and balsamic vinegar. The flavor follows the nose but with less funk, I get more of a barnyard and musty feel than cheese, again tart cherries, decent sourness, some balsamic vinegar and oak. The body is medium with a dry mouth feel. Overall a pretty tasty Sour.
Bottle shared at a recent tasting generously hosted by hannont... Poured cloudy, reddish/amber with a thin head. Man, alpine can make them sour, and they can make them hoppy. They just seem to always nail it. Nice cherry flavor the offered some medicinal qualities along with the souring finish. Some acidity that was countered by sweetness too.
preCBC tour on tap @the brewery-pours hazy red with a pink head. Aroma is medium malt, cherry, earthy. Taste is cherry, wood, medium malt. No real sour, but enjoyable.
Shared a bottle with friends. Poured a light ruby color, small white head. Aroma was sour cherry funk notes, with... cheese, toe-jam. Stink. Eh, did not enjoy the aroma at all, obviously this is not supposed to be this way. Flavor was, quite a bit better - slightly tart, but the aroma is extremely hard to get past. Next time?
On tap at Alpine in a smallish 8oz or so pour. The color is ruby read with a small white head. Aromas is sour cherries. I can’t smell even a hint of wild yeast. The aroma is pretty disappointing. The taste is pretty sour and it tastes like they spiked the keg with lactic acid. It doesn’t really have a typical wild ale smell or taste. To me it’s almost an artificial sour. Lots of sour cherries and maybe some red wine. It wasn’t very good and I had really high hopes since this is the first sour I’ve ever had from Alpine. My first disappointment out of this fantastic brewery.
Sampled at anesbls tasting. Dark brown red with a pink head. A sour cherry flavor. Stomach acid flavor. Odd but interesting.
at Alpine Brewing. good aroma, tart, fruity, cherry, grape, berry, minor yeasty funk, brownish red color, ok head and lace. Tart flavor. Lite body, smooth mouthfeel, bitter tart finish. Good, flavor was best part, had a sweet streak with tartness that I liked.