{"id":9619,"date":"2024-01-02T11:57:42","date_gmt":"2024-01-02T17:57:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/?p=9619"},"modified":"2024-02-19T15:01:23","modified_gmt":"2024-02-19T21:01:23","slug":"12-beers-of-christmas-2023-9-victory-merry-monkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/golf\/lifestyle\/9619\/12-beers-of-christmas-2023-9-victory-merry-monkey","title":{"rendered":"12 Beers of Christmas 2023- 9: Victory Merry Monkey"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MerryMonkey\"<\/a>A few missing days here puts completing the 12 Beers of Christmas<\/strong> by the 12th day of Christmas in jeopardy. Gonna be close.<\/p>\n

But the first of the new year accompanied the visit from my brother and sister-in-law for our second Christmas. Kip, former winemaker, now an artist in his retired life, has a well-practiced nose and he had the ideal one-word review on Victory\u2019s Merry Monkey: \u201cDelicious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merry Monkey is a variation on the original Golden Monkey<\/a>\u00a0reviewed here way back in 2010. And Victory Brewing showed up on the list in 2013 with its\u00a0Winter Cheers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The brewery, originally out of Downington, PA, is still there, but with additional tasting rooms and now an alliance with Artisanal Brewing Ventures<\/a>\u00a0of Charlotte, NC, which encompasses Victory, Sixpoint Brewery of Brooklyn, Southern Tier of Lakewood, NY, and Bold Rock Hard Cider of Virginia.<\/p>\n

Southern Tier<\/a> is no stranger to these pages or to the\u00a012 Beers of Christmas<\/strong> with\u00a02XMAS<\/a>\u00a0in 2012 and Frosted Sugar Cookie<\/a> in 2021. Sixpoint contributed Global Warmer<\/a> in 2013. So it’s all in the family in more ways than one today.<\/p>\n

Golden Monkey is one of Victory\u2019s most popular beers and it has spawned a number of spinoffs and plenty of merchandising. It\u2019s one of my favorites, and the Merry Monkey doesn\u2019t fiddle greatly with the original, just adding some roasted malted barley to the pilsner malt, and some Cascade hops to the usual Tettnang.<\/p>\n

Kip said, \u201cThere\u2019s a malty entry, and then a hop bite that scrubs that away a bit. It\u2019s good to have something to nibble on, because after about 30 seconds you can feel those hops starting to work on your tongue.\u201d<\/p>\n

I detected some fruit in the nose, which suggested the real holiday additions: cranberry, orange peel, cinnamon and nutmeg.<\/p>\n\"Vic<\/a>\n

Lynn, she of the natural palate, took one whiff and said, \u201cWhat is that? It smells like cinnamon.\u201d Then she took a sip and said, \u201cThis tastes like a Christmas cookie.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the beer warmed up a bit, the cranberry appeared in the nose, then the cinnamon and finally the nutmeg, making Kip think it tasted a little like a pumpkin beer.<\/p>\n

And the 10% ABV becomes evident fairly quickly as well, suggesting the brewery put a good tag line onto its packaging: \u201cAnd to all a good night.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a good way to get the new year rolling. And in the end, Kip\u2019s one-word review said it all: delicious.<\/p>\n

Name: Merry Monkey
\nBrewer: Victory\/Artisanal Brewing Ventures, Downingtown, PA\/Charlotte, NC
\n\"victory<\/a>Style: Spiced Belgian Golden Ale
\nABV: 10%
\nAvailability: Winter seasonal, 34 states
\nFor More information: victorybeer.com<\/p>\n

[January 2, 2024]<\/em><\/p>\n

< 12 Beers of Christmas 8: Berkshire Brewing Holidale<\/a><\/a>
\n12 Beers of Christmas 10: Baxter Ice Storm of ’98<\/a> ><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few missing days here puts completing the 12 Beers of Christmas by the 12th day of Christmas in jeopardy…. Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":9631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[627,939,18],"tags":[749,1002722,752,1016563,813,1045824,948,1045825,3065,3657,1352,676069,106013,975741,975767],"class_list":["post-9619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tap-beer-of-the-week","category-beer-on-tap","category-lifestyle","tag-christmas","tag-12-beers-of-christmas","tag-kip-bedell","tag-artisanal-brewing-ventures","tag-southern-tier","tag-merry-monkey","tag-pennsylvania","tag-golden-monkey","tag-victory-brewing","tag-downington","tag-north-carolina","tag-christmas-beers","tag-charlotte","tag-12-days-of-christmas","tag-sixpoint"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2024\/01\/Vic-boys.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9619"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9651,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9619\/revisions\/9651"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}