Moonlight Kettle Series (2018): Berry Springer
Muskoka Brewery

 

Brought back for the 2019 Hopsonic mixed pack. Served cold into a pint glass. Cost was $3.50 CDN and to be enjoyed prior to January 6, 2020. This rendition listed at 6.2% ABV.

Appearance - Hazy, fleshy berry colored brew with a half finger of white head. Not much staying power or retention.

Smell - Berry medley of cranberry, raspberry and blueberry with some vanilla sweetness to close. Not much else, but aromatics are pretty solid.

Taste - Lots of fruitiness up front, raspberry and blueberry dominate with some strawberry mixed in and then vanilla. Hard to say it;s an IPA, the bitterness isn't there but due to the lactose and a smattering of bitterness - in these days it is. Fruitiness is nice and plesant, well balanced.

Mouthfeel - Creamy, medium carbonation and seems to be heavily bodied with a fading dryness from the fruit.

Overall - Berry Springer isn't necessarily a beer I'd pick up and enjoy again and again, but for what it is and what it seems to have been intended to be, the execution is pretty spot on. A worthy addition to this Hopsonic Pack.

473 mL can from the LCBO, included in Muskoka's Hopsonic mixed pack. Listed at 6.2%; best before Jan 6 2020 and served barely chilled. Another one of their many Moonlight Kettle graduates, a set that includes three more beers in this pack alone.

Pours a murky, turbid, purplish-red hue, generating nearly an inch of soapy, foamy, pale pink-tinged head that has solid retention. It recedes at a casual pace over the next ten minutes, gradually reduced to a lumpy, creamy quarter-inch cap and collar; an attractive band of lace has also been left in its wake - looks great. The aroma is mostly raspberry flesh, strawberry and milk sugar, with the vanilla also playing a prominent part. Indistinct hints of citrus and tropical fruit suggest some hopping, but I'm mostly just getting the berry milkshake vibe, which is fine by me.

It's a pleasing beer to sip, but the IPA aspects might be a bit downplayed here - the vanilla and lactose sweetness play important supporting roles, with the berries otherwise running the (lewd talk) show. Don't get me wrong - there's also some pithy grapefruit and blood orange notes coming through, as well as a grassy hop bitterness towards the back end. But in the meantime, it's milkshake and berries all the way through - particularly raspberry, but there's hints of blackberry and strawberry too - while the vanilla, hops and lactose linger on into the aftertaste, alongside a touch of berry seed astringency. Medium-full in body, with mild carbonation and a smooth, fulfilling texture that is highly appropriate for this sort of beer. I could drink another, but it's not an ideal session option.

Final Grade: 4.03, an A-. Muskoka's Berry Springer was a treat to try, and a brew that certainly lived up to its milkshake IPA designation. Still, I'm not sure I'd take it over their Black Raspberry Thunder, which was along the same sort of lines to begin with - though I'd say this one is the more hoppy of the two, whereas Thunder was substantially sweeter IMO. Muskoka generally has one sampler or another rotating through the LCBO, but this Hopsonic pack might be their best mixed pack in quite some time.