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The Blue Monkey finally brings great craft beers to South Jersey
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The Blue Monkey in Merchantville, NJ
It is not often that you come across a bar or restaurant in South Jersey that has a great selection of craft beers. When you do, they are often restricted to about a half dozen of the more popular ones. I have been looking for something that was comparable to Monk’s Café in selection for some time and I finally found it at The Blue Monkey.
The Blue Monkey (2 South Centre Street, Merchantville, NJ) is a fairly new location that has taken over the old Collins House. The upstairs is still run under that name, but a new look and new atmosphere has taken over the downstairs. 4 big screen televisions are centered over the bar and along with a significant menu change and a wide variety of craft beers have been added.
My first visit to the place was immediately after the change over and it quickly became a favorite haunt of mine. While I primarily drink tequila, they also managed to have a few nice selections on tap. Well in the past few months, things have changed dramatically and they now feature two dozen specialty beers on tap. If you like to pair your beer up with your meal, you are going to love this place.
The owner is extremely friendly and always ready to strike up a conversation. He was more than willing to inform me of all of the changes and provided me with a few samples of several of the beers to try. Being a huge fan of Chimay and other Belgian beers, I could not wait to get the first glass.
I started out with a Lindemans Framboise ($6). If you have never had it, it is an ideal pairing for dessert. You could smell the raspberry exploding in the air the moment the tap was opened. It was light and comparable to a champagne drink. It is not something you are going to drink all night, but I would highly recommend it with a summer salad or to wrap up the night with a chocolate dessert.
My next selection was the Van Diest Fruli Strawberry ($5). Once again, the essence of the fruit reached me long before the glass ever hit the bar. This is an absolutely delicious Belgian white that is blended with strawberries to create in incredibly refreshing beverage. Again, you are not going to drink this all night, but it is a great selection if you are stopping in for one or two and looking to quench your thirst. You could pair it up with food as you would the Lindemans.
Chimay Tripel ($8) was the next selection and I could not have been happier. The beer has a great aroma to it that gets the taste buds working overtime in anticipation. The moment it crosses the palate, you can taste the pronounced flavor of raisins and spice. This is something that will be fairly flexible with food, but I would recommend pairing it with something grilled to go with the spice of the beer.
My final selection was a bit of a disappointment. Flying Fish Exit 11 IPA ($5) is a local brewery that seems to be hit or miss. This one was a bit of a miss. According to the release from Flying Fish Brewery, “For our second release, we chose Exit 11-the crossroads of New Jersey. So we brewed a beer that celebrates a confluence of styles.” I am not sure what they were looking for, but this beer tastes like a glass of watered down orange iced tea. It is extremely thin and not to my liking at all. If I had more time, I would have stayed to get back on the winning track, but the beer is not the bar’s fault and they have plenty more to make up for that one bad apple.
It was quite refreshing to see so many wonderful beers on tap in South Jersey. While wine bars are abundant, there are very few establishments that will present you with the selection that you will find at The Blue Monkey. Ownership and staff are excellent and there to help you work your way through this wonderful selection that they have on tap. To see their daily beer selections, check out their website. Then make sure you stop in and pull up a stool. Cheers!
Feel free to email me at: jerrymcconway@simplythebestwriting.com
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