Every time I see that a particular brewery consistently wins awards from beer festivals and competitions I take note. As I’ve continued my exploration of highly decorated beers I’ve noticed that many of the beers I enjoy have been honored by the Australian International Beer Awards. This is funny to me for a few reasons. The first reason is that the vast majority of these beers are American. So either the Australians have a deep appreciation for American beers or they just have an unfortunate lack of excellent breweries in their home country. The second reason this tickles me is because I can really only think of one Australian beer that finds its way to America, and that is Fosters. As nearly everyone who has tried Fosters is well aware, this is not exactly craft beer. Fosters is more akin to a Miller Genuine Draft than anything coming out of America’s best craft breweries. That being said, maybe the Australians just have good taste in beer. They export the Fosters and import the good American stuff. It makes sense to me.
Victory’s Golden Monkey is one of the better Belgian-style offerings to come out of the American Northeast. The Australian International Beer Awards hooked this one up with a bronze medal in 2008, and for good reason. I remember the first time I tried this beer I was duped into making a bad purchase. The beer store nearest my home had a six-pack of this running on a deep sale. I couldn’t figure out why until I got home and realized that this was not fresh beer. It had been on the shelf for over a year, presumably pushed into the back where none of the discerning regulars could find it. I found it still drinkable, but it didn’t live up to the hype that surrounded it.
Once I tried a fresh Golden Monkey I had no choice but to agree with the Australians. This is good beer. German malt and Belgian yeast combine to make this vibrant golden beer a real winner. The 9.5% alcohol content doesn’t hurt, either. Just a couple of these and you’ll be exactly where you want to be. The spice and fruit presence in this beer is a little intense, but I don’t count that against it. It is Belgian-style ale, after all. The most enjoyable aspect of this beer is its light-bodied mouth feel. You can drink several of these without any sort of bloated feeling, which is nice for such a high alcohol brew.
