Moonlight Brewing beers have been showing up on Los Angeles beer shelves this year and maybe, the two below will as well…
I would go for the orange label first, then purple.
Purple, Orange or Both
Sean Suggests for January 2024
Time for my first beer shopping list for 2024. It is doubly toasted and very serious and all California brewed.
Highland Park Brewery Toast Points Czech Style Lager – 5.9% – “brewed with our pals Moonlight Brewing. The crew at Moonlight are one of our favorite American lager producers & we couldn’t be more stoked to create a lager with them. This is also the first time we’ve done a decoction mash on our system in Chinatown. Decoction is a process that involves taking part of the mash, boiling it separately, then mixing it back into the main mash to raise its overall temp. It can darken a beer’s color, impart richer malt flavors, give it a smoother mouthfeel, & even result in more stable foam.”
Paperback Brewing Siri-ous Problems Hazy IPA – 6.8% – “anything but a problem to your taste buds, with an overload of juicy hop aroma snd flavor. Zamba, Citra, and Azzaca hops lend themselves to creating juicy tropical fruit notes, such as pineapple, mango, stone fruits, candy, and orange tangerine.”
21st Amendment Find Your Fortune – 7.5% – “our newest Imperial Toasted Golden Ale is embellished with a QR code directly on the can so drinkers nationwide can scan the code and open their own virtual fortune cookie! Who needs horoscopes when you have a beer like this?!
With toasted sesame, vanilla, and lactose, Find Your Fortune is a complex beer that offers a delightful blend of flavors and aromas. The toasted sesame adds a nutty and slightly savory note, balanced perfectly with a sweet aroma and flavor of vanilla, followed by a silky smooth, creamy finish.”
Obvious Choice
If you are going to collaborate with Moonlight Brewing, ya’ just gotta choose a style that will incorporate dark malts. And if you are going to collaborate with Societe Brewing, you better hop it up.
So, obviously…
Review – Two from Enegren Brewing
Let’s double up on Germanic beer with two from sorta/kinda local, Enegren Brewing.
American Reinheitsgebot 2022 Dark Lager – Brewed in collaboration with the much loved Moonlight Brewing Co. (which recently got a new part owner in Patrick Rue of Erosion Wines) this lager is rich and luxurious with a tiny touch of chocolate. Leaves pretty espresso rings of lacing on the glass. There is a slight bitterness here underneath but overall this is a simple dark lager, no fussiness at all.
Maibock – need to get this review in before June starts. This spring lager pours a lovely clear orange color. Sweet malt aroma on the nose. Honey is the dominant note here, Silky smooth texture. The ABV strength is there. Strangely, this reminds me of Bell’s Double Two Hearted a bit minus the hop kick.
Rue the Moonlight
Time for some inside the business of the beer talk, good news, I promise.
Patrick Rue, the founder and former owner of the Bruery and now in St. Helena with his Erosion Wine label along with his family, have acquired the 1/2 share of Moonlight held by Heineken through Lagunitas Brewing. Sounds like an NBA draft trade, right?
Moonlight founder, Brian Hunt, keeps his half of the brewery which has done a few more collaboration beers that we in SoCal have been lucky enough to get because his beer is stellar.
Hopefully, this will be a better strategic partnership.
Moonlight Over Enegren
“April 23rd, 2022 is the 506th Anniversary of the Reinheitsgebot and just so happens to be the same day as Frühlingsfest where we will be releasing this year’s American Reinheitsgebot American Dark Lager”
Enegren has joined with much lauded Moonlight Brewing of Santa Rosa for this new Czech Style dark lager that uses Zuper Saazer hops from HopHead Farms and the grain is from Admiral Maltings.
Beer Cage Match – Review # 1
I am loving the fact that City Beer Store of San Francisco ships anywhere in California. My most recent platypus purchase is a wide mix of beers that I thought, I should rate not in a 1v1 format but WWE style.
Here is review 1. By the end of the month, I will rank all six.
We start with Side Pull a Czech-style pale lager from Fair State and famed lager makers Bierstadt Lagerhaus from Colorado.
SP pours a super light yellow color. Did my best to get the best glassware for such traditional beer. Aroma is beautiful. Brings to mind walking around the old Weinhard plant in Portland. A sweet malt air. This is a really delicate beer to the point of whisper thin. Has a stern bite to it though that really lingers on the roof of the mouth. I hate the word crushable that is used on the label because this is just not something to throw back, this lager has a spine to it.
On the Agenda
Two things SoCal’ers don’t often see. Bock beers and Moonlight Brewing. So I would grab a bottle or sixer if you see it but you don’t have to keep it a secret. Light up the social media with some BockLove!
Secret Agenda
Moonlight Brewing
Moonlight Brewing (like it’s famous, but no less revered neighbor, Russian River) is a bit of mystery to me and a lot of people. They don’t have large distribution circles but they are doing what they want to do, the way they want to. And for that, I applaud them.
Here are some of the brews from their Abbey (“The Abbey de St. Humulus, founded in 2005, is home to the Moonlight Brewery. We believe that Moonlight is the first and perhaps only Abbey brewery in the US. The Moonlight beers are not of European Abbey brewery styles, as we are not a European Abbey, but instead are of the unique California Abbey style range. The mission of the Abbey is to promote good will through good beer. Abbey de St. Humulus is in no way affiliated with the Trappist Monasteries.”) that caught my eye….
Reality Czeck – a 4.8% lager.
Toast – their slightly burned lager.