Working For Tips
Moonlight Brewing Company

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From:
Moonlight Brewing Company
 
California, United States
Style:
Gruit / Ancient Herbed Ale
Ranked #7
ABV:
5.5%
Score:
90
Ranked #8,753
Avg:
4.07 | pDev: 8.6%
Reviews:
27
Ratings:
45
Status:
Active
Rated:
Oct 22, 2023
Added:
May 06, 2008
Wants:
  7
Gots:
  1
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by westcoastbeerlvr:
Photo of westcoastbeerlvr
Rated by westcoastbeerlvr from California

4.25/5  rDev +4.4%

Nov 14, 2011
More User Ratings:
Photo of Offa
Reviewed by Offa from California

4.68/5  rDev +15%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
I had this most recently at Moonlight taproom in Santa Rosa. I had had it once before a long time ago, and this is the first time since then. Evidently, I had failed to review it before.

This is an excellent gruit using redwood tips instead of hops. Deep red-copper, it has a large, frothy off-white head, lasting and slowly shrinking to foamy ring, hints of lace. Aroma is herb, wood, and caramelised grains. Taste is a nice caramelly-woody character with hints of smoke and root beer. It has minimal bitterness - a faint zesty hint really- but while sweetness just dominates, it is light and not truly sweet, without being dry, either. It tastes like camping in the redwoods. It is very balanced. Feel is light and lively, very engaging. This is an excellent beer.
Oct 22, 2023
Photo of unlikelyspiderperson
Reviewed by unlikelyspiderperson from California

4.3/5  rDev +5.7%
look: 5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
An odd and surprisingly delightful beer. Deep amber with a lofty and tightly packed head that holds its own. The aroma has an earthy and spicy note that is very reminiscent of a redwood forest in the rain. There are also deep red fruity notes and some slightly woody/medicinal hints.
Taste follows with a rich and complex flavor that gives me the impression of barrel and vermouth and that same earthy spice of a rainy conifer forest. It tastes like an ancient time. Like a romanticised earthen hut in pre-Christian Europe.
Mouthfeel is full and soft and a little soapy.

A very unique and enjoyable beer
Sep 28, 2021
Photo of RaulMondesi
Reviewed by RaulMondesi from California

4/5  rDev -1.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Yeah. I like it. It’s wild. It’s like the burrow that says, “No more. No more. To hell with your fat self. You wanna go up and down the canyon? Use your own damn legs.” That’s what I feel when I drink this beer. Redemption.
Aug 25, 2021
Photo of BerkeleyBeerSleuth
Reviewed by BerkeleyBeerSleuth from California

4.14/5  rDev +1.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Dark red tinted brown body with a tan foamy head. Delicious roasted malts; nutty and caramel. Light flavor of redwood. Very good malty flavors, very much like a brown ale or a nut ale with a medium filling body. Some taste of dark fruits. Clean sweet finish. A great beer for the coming autumn months, and don't worry the redwood is very mild and not overpowering,
Aug 02, 2021
Photo of StonedTrippin
Reviewed by StonedTrippin from Colorado

4/5  rDev -1.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
i really liked this beer, its unique and subtle and well made, but in the end, i wanted a lot more of the special ingredient here. its an unhopped ale brewed with redwood tips, which i have never heard of in a beer, and so i wanted them to really lead the way. instead, they are folded into a nice earthy malt base, fuller feeling body, and lightly english yeasty ale thats hearty and fully satisfying to me, and of great quality, but not exactly brimming with redwood character, whatever that might be... i do get a soft woodiness, a pine note where hops might be, and a cool organic bitterness, but its not as botanical feeling, piney, fresh, or aromatic as say spruce often is in beers that use it, and i am left wanting more, as much as i like this clear copper colored beer as an autumn session brew. its still got plenty of flavor, biscuit, light maple, and a faint herbaceousness. definitely has an old school vibe about it, and fits the fall season really well. a nice pint of beer, but i would love to have experienced more redwood tip character in here, unless im just missing it and expecting it to be something other than it is, i want more! perhaps this wasnt as fresh as it could have been and that element had faded some, who knows...
Nov 09, 2017
 
Rated: 3.85 by CheapBeerBuzz from California

Nov 19, 2016
 
Rated: 4.28 by IceAce from California

May 08, 2016
 
Rated: 4.1 by vidisad from California

Aug 24, 2015
 
Rated: 4.47 by cletusdog from California

Aug 21, 2015
Photo of Luu777
Reviewed by Luu777 from California

4.42/5  rDev +8.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.25
On draft at City beer. Poured in a tall glass with about an inch of head. Malty redwood is a great description. If your looking for hops don't go here but if you love malt this is a keeper!
Jul 28, 2015
 
Rated: 3.59 by Bp123 from California

Jul 24, 2015
 
Rated: 3.94 by Resuin from Massachusetts

Jul 20, 2015
 
Rated: 4.5 by redfox405 from Virginia

Jul 10, 2015
 
Rated: 4 by AnHeroicHippo from Canada (QC)

Aug 07, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by Texasfan549 from Texas

Jul 25, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by jacewg from District of Columbia

Jul 15, 2014
Photo of scottfrie
Reviewed by scottfrie from California

3.92/5  rDev -3.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
On-tap in Mendocino. Pint glass.

A: Pours a root-beer caramel brown with a clinging tan head that faded into a lasting fuzzy film. Great streaky lacework was left down the glass.
S: Woody, roasted and malty smelling. Slight herbal forest notes as well.
T: Mild chocolate, woody malts, slightly sweet caramel, no bitterness at all. Grainy aftertaste with more wood and earthy flavors.
M: Creamy mouthfeel with soft carbonation. Medium body with a good amount of chew to it. Solid and easy to drink.
O: Definitely woodsy, with a mild leafy taste. Very smooth and quaffable.
Sep 25, 2013
 
Rated: 4.25 by mc4z from California

Jul 14, 2013
Photo of elNopalero
Reviewed by elNopalero from Michigan

4.8/5  rDev +17.9%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 5
Instead of hops this is made using redwood tips, like a gruit. It’s a ruddy amber in color with great foam. The aroma of redwood tips is there, present and upfront. With that I find notes of cherries and sweet vermouth, like a well-made Manhattan. It’s lightly carbonated, giving it a fuller, rounder body. It’s not hoppy but mellow, with that sweet wine finish. Needless to say, I loved every sip.
Feb 21, 2013
Working For Tips from Moonlight Brewing Company
Beer rating: 90 out of 100 with 45 ratings