Moonlight Kettle Series: Cool As A Cuke
Muskoka Brewery

 

 

Took me a couple of tries to wrap my head around this one. Unremarkable to look at, clear straw gold, some early lace, then just a thin ring. Cucumber and watermelon on the nose, quite appetizing. Thin bodied, noticeable cucumber flavor, some sweet watermelon. Slightly happy bitterness, dryness. A little bit of a tough finish, but mostly good.

 

473 ml can- 4.7% alcohol

I wasn't certain what to expect here but wasn't disappointed.
Appearance: Golden hue- slightly orange
Smell: No cucumber clues here but a slightly sweet malt character
Taste: First hit is a bitterness-maybe the lemongrass tartness quickly followed by the strong cucumber taste.
Overall: I like it-makes a great hot weather beer-very refreshing.
I'd buy it again.

473ml can - 'if they can put a man on the moon, we can put cucumber in beer'. Way to abuse metaphors, jeez.

This beer pours a slightly hazy, medium golden yellow colour, with two fingers of puffy, sort of rocky, and mildly bubbly off-white head, which leaves some random snow rime lace around the glass as it quickly blows off.

It smells of well, believe it or not, cucumbers (in all their watery green veggie glory), rather reserved grainy and bready pale malt, a hint of earthy yeastiness, and some plain leafy, weedy, and grassy green hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy cereal malt, some weirdly condensed cucumber and watermelon rind, more unexpected yeasty notes, and some consistently underwhelming earthy, musty, and grassy hoppiness.

The carbonation is adequate in its palate-supporting frothiness, the body a decent middleweight, and sort of smooth, as an uncertain vegetal acridity takes a minor toll here. It finishes trending dry, the same bitterness ruling the lingering game.

Overall - yep, this is certainly the strongest (flavour-wise, not booze-wise) watery vegetable brew that I have ever encountered. The cucumber actually outshines the base malt, and that's saying something. Not an offering that I could see myself pounding back in a session (even if it's built exactly as such), but I gotta give props where they're due.

Straw and slightly hazy with little carbonation and 3 fingers of off white head.

Smells of cucumbers and watermelon.

Tastes of cucumbers and a dull bitter hop quality, floral almost make-up like quality like you might find in lip gloss or lipstick.

Light body with little carbonation.

Got at the Beer Store in Bracebridge, drinking on Lake Rousseau, May 21st, 2018. Decent and interesting brew.

Appearance - Pours a straw gold with a finger of bubbly white head.

Smell - cucumber, earthy, leafy, and floral hops, bready malts, grassy aromas, citrus, and earthy yeast.

Taste - Cucumber upfront followed by the earthy, leafy, and floral hops. The brew then is followed by the bready malts, citrus, and grassy aromas. The earthy yeast finishes the brew off.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Finishes crisp with the cucumber and hops lingering.

Overall - A refreshing and unique take on the American Pale Ale style by adding cucumber. The cucumber works in unison with the hops and malts to create a very sessionable brew!

Not really my thing

The color is an intense greenish-yellow, with a white foam, average.
In the smell: cucumber, a lot.
In the taste: cucumber, a lot. Some lime in the end, chives...
Let it go...

Appearance: Two fingers of head and ample carbonation in the cloudy brass body. Plenty of lace and and decent retention on the head end of things.

Smell: There really isn't much there, apart fromsome cucumber skin, which I suppose isn't surprising given it's supposed to be a cucumber beer. Warming doesn't bring anything more out either.

Taste: Starts with a mild straw malt that turns to a cucumber and then a bitter cucumber rind ending that is accented by herbal hops. I'll be honest, I was skeptical and how this would turn out, but the beer pretty much paralells eating a raw field cucumber.

Mouthfeel: Transistioning is good, but the aftertaste seems to focus on the rind part of the cuke. The carbonation is well done and the transistioning is decent.

Drinkability: It certain is refreshing and light bodied as I'd expect for this to be. That said, the bitter rind portion does stop it from being a guzzler. Still, with how easy it is on the system, it makes for a solid summer drinker for all but the most sweltering of summer days.

Final Thoughts: I kind wondered how this would turn out, having never heard of using cucumber in a beer. All in all, this was a good experience and if maybe they peeled a bit of the rind back, I think this would be excellent. Still one thumb up.

On tap at Woody's Roadside Tavern, Farmingdale, NJ.

Looks like your standard pale ale, with a fizzly, dissipating head. Grainy malt aroma, some leafy vegetation, but more indistinct, and not really cucumber-y. Now I'm not a major cucumber fan, but I have had some really good cucumber beers. This...was not one of them. The taste was vegetal and earthy, but again, nothing that really resembled cucumber. More just leafy greens and green pepper, and a somewhat stale dishwater flavor. This wasn't a terrible beer as far as drinkability goes, in fact the pint I got went down pretty easily with my pub grub. But it wasn't a very good beer either, and I wouldn't want to have it again.

 

 

An interesting idea I really wanted to like - pours straw yelloew with a frothy head that stabilizes to creamy and leaves good lacing - aroma has significant sulpher and cucumber - lots of cucumber. In the flavour a light lemon, clashes with the cucumber and the effect is sadly soapy!