Season 2, Episode 4 – This week, we’re on location at Monkish Brewing in Torrance, California with owner, president and brewer Henry Nguyen and Monkish “Evangelist,” Brian White.

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The second stop on our South Bay/L.A. beer tour, Monkish Brewing Co. has quickly become a brewery in Southern California that has set themselves away from the pack, brewing nothing but Belgian-style inspired beers. We start the show with two beers that have a history with one another, Crux and Oblate. The latter beer was the first to be brewed at Monkish, even though Crux was technically supposed to be the first beer made, but the result was Oblate. They are similar beers but differ in malts and adjuncts.

Monkish Brewing Co. – Sunset Beer

The next beer was a collaboration made with Sunset Beer Company, named Sunset Beer. In the early days of Monkish, Henry was brewing at night and delivering beer during the day. He established relationships with many of shops, and Sunset Beer Company was one of them. This “hipster” beer as Henry calls it, is a witbier made with wheat malt, orange zest, and Lotus seed, as well as Citra, Galaxy, and Mosaic hops. It’s fermented with their house yeast, White Labs WLP530 Abbey Ale Yeast, and bottle conditioned with Brett Trois and Brett Brux yeast. It’s dry, aromatic, hoppy, and absolutely delicious.

Fermentors at Monkish Brewing Co.

Next up is a beer that has made its way into Matt’s heart, Selah. This beer has only been made once, so far. It was inspired by Jolly Pumpkin‘s approach to beer, and was Monkish’s first beer made with brettanomyces. This is one of only two beers that Matt will drink that contain Sorachi Ace hops, and boy do the hops work well in this beer, giving it a big lemon nose. Henry wanted this beer to finish bone-dry, and used Wyeast 3711 French Saison Yeast, which is know to be a big, big attenuator, as well as Brett Trois and Brett Brux.

Foudres at Monkish Brewing Co.

The final beer is Shaolin Fist. This beer is very unique in that it is made with Sichuan peppercorns. Henry was unsure this beer would sell, since during fermentation the brewery smelled like a Panda Express restaurant. This is a very savory beer and is quite complex. Nagel jokes about the beer paring well with carne asada tacos, but in reality, it really would pair well!

Henry goes in-depth on a lot of the technical stuff behind Monkish beers, and it’s really quite interesting to hear his point of view on beer. If you’re ever in Torrance, pay a visit to Monkish, and head on over to Smog City, which is less than a quarter mile away.

Thanks, Monkish!

Big thanks to Henry and Brian for having us!

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Links to things from this week’s episode:
S2/E4 Show Outline
Sunset Beer Company

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