The Matador Version 2.0 Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery

# 203 The Matador Version 2.0: El Toro Bravo

Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery

Barrie, Ontario, Canada
Independent
Imperial Rye Ale Cedar Aged 10.0% ABV Brown Glass Bottle 750 ml.
$10.40 (Canadian) At the Brewery

Twitter: @FlyingMonkeys

Down to the Monkeys again tonight. Just today I heard of a little controversy about The Monkeys and the Ontario Legislature. It seems as though while Anne Hogarth, the MPP for Barrie was trying to question a lobbyist for the Brewers Retail  (The Beer Store) she insulted the brewers, who are employers and revenue generators in her riding. See the text here. If you are from out of province or unaware of the debate The Craft Brewers of Ontario are trying to end the stifling monopoly in Ontario that is The Beer Store. I will be posting an expose on the whole affair shortly... and putting in my two cents as a beer blogger.

But enough about politics.

Tonight's beer is the second version of the beer a 2.0 if you will. The Monkeys wanted to age some beer on spanish cedar. This one is a rye imperial ale. (I love rye beers!!!).

Release the monkeys!

 Pours a very dark amber with a generous off-tan head made up of tiny bubbles. The aroma is spicy, with hints of cedar cigar box, tobacco, and fresh sawn basswood. First sip is deep and malty with burnt toast notes, more blanket box cedar, sweetgrass, and sage. Strong notes of thick dark German rye bread, some caraway. As the beer warms the flavours smooth out and deepen. the cedar/spice is pervasive like expensive incense. It drinks like a grilled reuben sandwich. toasty, malty, bready, charred, spicy, smooth, and creamy. Aeration gives us more cedar, pencil shavings, and earthy wood tones.

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 

Cost: 5/6 PASS
Colour: 6/6 EXCEPTIONAL
Beer Style: 6/6 EXCEPTIONAL
Re-Order:  6/6 EXCEPTIONAL
Experience:  6/6 EXCEPTIONAL


Final Thoughts:

My father was a master carpenter. He began building houses in South Wales, UK. when he was 14 years old. Ever since I could stand I remember being with him in his workshop. The smells of freshly cut or planed wood, the spicy, musky sweat of a hard day's work, the inevitable thermos of tea. This beer takes me there. Five years old, steadying a board that my Dad is planing, curls of wood piling at my feet. It's hard to describe this as it actually hit me on an emotional level.  To say the beer is transcendent is an understatement. Obviously, the brewers at Flying Monkeys were not trying to send an old farm boy turned blogger back in time. What they did do was, create a very deep, flavourful beer, with incredible aromatic wood notes. I can not guarantee you will be transported to another time and place if you drink this beer... you will however be amazed at its complexity and character, just as I was. The bottles left are in short supply, get them while you can.


CJT


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