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!

Get Ready, Ohio

I have plenty of family and friends in the state of West Virginia. They're just a two hour ride down I-79 from Pittsburgh. The beer landscape is quite different down there than it is here. There isn't the biggest variety of beers to choose from. One thing they have that we don't is ability to sell alcohol in most stores. Walk into a Walmart in West Virginia and the mid-isle beer displays include Yuengling Traditional Lager, Budweiser, Keystone etc.

From my observation, Yuengling might be one of the more popular selections in that area. It hasn't always been there, though. It wasn't until a number of years ago that Yuengling ended up being distributed into West Virginia. I remember how excited some down there were.

That's why I always smile when I see announcements like that of Church Brew Works in the Pittsburgh Business Times yesterday saying it plans to distribute into Ohio. Ohio will be the first state Church will distribute in that isn't Pennsylvania.

It looks as if Church has a solid core of beers to boast as well. I really enjoy both Celestial Gold and Pious Monk Dunkel. Any thirsty Ohioans reading this can take my word for it. Those brews are worth the trip you'd make to get them. I once had a sampler which included Thunderhop IPA and Pipe Organ Pale Ale in addition to the aforementioned beers. Hop heads might adore Thunderhop since it's loaded with hops. The pale ale is a solid selection in my book, too.