Beer Review: Church Brew Works Pious Monk Dunkel

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 4.30 percent

Appearance: This dunkel was a dark toffee brown with lighter caramel highlights. The head was an off-white beige that seemed under control and remained as a half finger length layer of foam for the majority of the drink. This allowed for some average lacing inside the glass. I also noticed some bubbly texture in the sectors of the brew just below the beige head.

Smell: I noticed tons of sweet caramel and toffee in the aroma. Behind that were some more layers which included nuts and just a little bit of brown sugar.

Taste: As a dunkel should be, this was more malt forward than anything. As I noticed in the aroma, there was a great bit of caramel and toffee. There was also a tasty dark bread character that complimented the malt quite well. The nut flavor just added a kiss of butter-like taste as well. There's a light hop bitterness to finish everything off near the end. The bubbles put an explanation point on everything else by providing some fizzy texture.

Overall Rating: 

This is one of my favorite brews out of Pittsburgh as well as my favorite Munich Dunkel Lager. Nice and toasty, but still sweet and bready. Easy on hop bitterness. Goes well with pretzels. It sometimes even reminds me of some form of a liquid pretzel. My favorite beer from Church by far!