One of my favorite takeout places is Bleu Monkey Cafe on Marshall Street. Nothing compares to a chicken bento box, complete with a veggie spring roll, salad with sweet ginger dressing and four perfect pieces of a California roll.

That’s what I thought, at least, until I got my hands on a different monkey — Victory Brewing Company’s Golden Monkey beer. This bold tripel ale embodies some of the same eastern spices found in my treasured bento box, but in a delicious, liquid form.

Victory Brewing Company has labeled this beer as “a magical, mystical Monkey whose golden soul glows with the wisdom of the ages.” I don’t know much about mystical monkeys, but I would have to agree that this beer almost glows. As soon as I poured the beer, the namesake golden color cascaded into the cup and a fizzing, foaming, cream-colored head formed on the surface. Bubbles surged from the bottom of the glass and erupted to the surface, making the beer almost shimmer.

As soon as the brew touched my lips, I tasted a rush of bread-like, malt flavors. It is a Belgian-style tripel ale, which means it is brewed with triple the amount of malts than typical Belgian ales. The intensity of the malts fermented into this beer gives it a bitter taste that I mistook for hops at first. It seems contradicting that such a rich, profoundly flavored beer is also light-bodied, but Golden Monkey does not sit heavily on the tongue.

Moving past the malt base of the beer, exotic eastern flavors come into play. One can taste a hint of ginger as well as other unidentified fruity, sweet tastes. I found that the warmer the beer got, the more these flavors became apparent. You can taste the heat from the alcohol of this 9.5 percent ABV brew on your tongue, and a slight burning sensation stays in your throat for a while after each sip.

The mix of strong malts, fruity flavors and added eastern spices does not sound like a winning combination. Much the same way that all the components of a bento box need to be present, however, these seemingly mismatched ingredients come together in a beer that is truly mystifying.