Cold Moon Flanders
Cigar City Brewing

 

 

 

On draft at the Brewpub this weekend. Pours a murky brown orange color--incredibly ugly--with a small creamy white head on top. Smell is some caramel malt and a little bit of cherries, not much else here. Flavor follows similarly with cherries, some other fruits, a dirty finish, and little to no sour or tart character. Medium plus on the palate for the style, slightly creamy, with that lingering dirty weirdness left on the palate. This is drinkable, but not very good.

 

 

 

 

 

Sample #1 at the brewpub 1/29/14

Though a bit of a red tint can be found in the light, the color is really otherwise a straight medium brown. The light brown head rests at just taller than one finger and leaves quite a good amount of lace behind.
This beer's focus is certainly tart, but accompanied by lots of tingling sourness that imparts no harshness on the tongue, though it only nearly reaches full efficacy on the nose. Thus, it's slightly sour, a little sweet, and very tart, with heavy overtones of dark cherry and a hint of caramelized brown sugar in the malts making for an easygoing balance. The smoothness in the flavor makes me think it's lactobacillus being used here, to great effect.
Balance is certainly achieved in the mouthfeel as this medium-bodied brew almost leans full but finds its proper median between soft and heavy. It's crisp, smooth and close to fluffy, with several layers of texture on the tongue as the body continues to smooth out, even with a hint of drying acidity adding complexity.