Great American Challenge
Moon Dog Craft Brewery

 

Pours very dark brown with a fading head.
Nose shows funky brett, red wine, redcurrants and little else. Nice though.
Flavours are a little more geared towards a BSDA with some soft chocolate and roasted malt before the funk and booze rolls through.
Body feels watery.
A bit of a mishmash of flavours, can't quite get my head around this one.

Drank from my Duvel tulip

A - Pours a deep mahogany colour with an off white head that reduces quickly.

S - Strong aromas of funk, barrel, sherbert and dark fruits.

T - Up front some nice sweetned dark fruits with rasberries, followed by a vineous sourness like an Oud Bruin. The finish is long and a little sticky with a strong dusty booze flavour. The shiraz flavour is kinda lost in the mix

M - Medium body and Carbonation, very smooth

O - Really found this beer interesting. A little let down by the finish, and with a little refinement would be a real winner. If you see it buy it

Hazy brown colour with a small, loose tan head. Poor head retention. Okay.

Straight forward Belgian yeast aroma using the house Moon Dog belgian yeast that I don't like. Some red wine notes. Touches of oak. Interesting but out of kilter in a way as it doesn't all come together.

The flavours are slightly cleaner than the aroma but are still murky. It's sweet malt, earthy, funky yeast notes, some stewed fruit and wine. The oak adds tannins. Interesting.

Slightly tannic. Medium body with moderate carbonation. Fine.

Like so much that Moon Dog does there is so much potential here but it falls down on execution. This is a clear case where less would be more.

From Slowbeer. No BB.

Pours a murky dark brown. Half finger coarse off white head dies to a film.

Aromas of indeed Shiraz, hint of maybe cherry menthol. Little funk in Moon Dog style.

Taste is also true to their style. Belgian flavours to the fore, but add in the hint of sourness. Some light cherry notes in the mix, firm malt backbone. Sherry notes and raisins come through as it warms

Mouthfeel medium bodied, moderate carbonation with a slight tingle.

Overall an 'average' Moon Dog beer. And that's a good thing really. More hits than misses from the boys, and this is a very solid effort. Reminds me of a less sour Rodenbach in some ways.

330ml bottle purchased from Slowbeer. They call this a "Shiraz Barrel-Aged Funko-Trappist". I figure Belgian Strong Dark is as close as you're going to get when categorising Moon Dog beers.

Uncaps rather sullenly, pouring a deep reddish brown hue, with quite an opacity to it. Colour is very good indeed: the big deep dark character with the flashes of ruby I love in a big Belgian brew. Head is a fine film of pale beige. Some frothy bubbles around the edges. Looks thick and rich, with fine, powdery carbonation. Really good look.

Nose is rounded, but slightly spicy, and touched with a faint tartness. Some woody shiraz characters come through, lending a faint tannic berry note to the mix. Certainly some funk, and a mild sharp almost citric character: it reminds me of laundry powder. It's really very complex and pretty damn exciting.

Taste is a little more subdued, with a light and clear slightly husky malt forming the basis, mingled with some chocolate overtones. There are hints of the shiraz, giving a semi-sweet semi-tart berry note: it comes over a little like grape candy. Some flowing, rounded banana esters come through as well. Finish is dry and tannic, and it drops out rather quickly: perhaps a little disappointing, in fact.

Feel is smooth but light, spot on for the style. Such as this has a style.

It's not all that funky, so if you don't go in expecting something gueuze-level you'll have a pretty good time with this beer. Overall, I'm pretty impressed: this takes some disparate elements and plays with them in an interesting way to create a beer that works in its position left of centre. Moon Dog are notorious experimenters, and I'm pleased that this most recent experiment has paid off.