Obedience Training
Moonlight Brewing Company

In regards to Moonlight beer in Orange County, who else but Beachwood BBQ? On to the beer:

I love a creamy head, especially one that stays up all the way through the pint, and covers the glass in lace at the end. No nitro? Even more impressive. The color of the beer is dark brown, yet almost heading into black territory. The nose is fantastic as well. It's so nutty, has some roast, toffeeish, hints of mocha, I'm getting into something good here.

For your standard brown ale, its got quite an intense flavor. More importantly is that it's a great one. The flavors of nuts, wood, roasted cappuchino, and semi-sweet cocoa may seem "standard", but the way the flavors are melded make it great. Despite being "intense" in flavor, the beer is rather soft in the mouth and very easy to drink.

With little doubt one of the best brown ales I've ever tasted. I think it goes without saying that, if you see it, get a pint right away!

 

On-tap at Beachwood BBQ

Dark brown in color with an off-white head. Intensely roasty and nutty. A touch of burnt nuts, especially almonds. Some coffee and maybe a little bit of smoke. Maybe a little bit of earthy hops. The flavor is a bit harsh and bitter for my tastes. Roasted malt, toffee, and molasses with a fair amount of nuttiness. A hint of dark chocolate, maybe some burnt flavors to it as well. Just okay.

This is another solid, well-made beer from Moonlight, which I had on tap at Flavor in downtown Santa Rosa, as usual for me.

Very dark brown, it has a nice big, frothy dark tan head slowly shrinking to a lasting rocky top, nice lace.

Aroma is nice nutty, toasty barley, light winey prune.

Taste is nice toasty-nutty, winey maltiness with faint prune, balanced with a woody, herbal bitterness that then somewhat dominates the finish (perhaps a tad too much).

 

On-tap at Beachwood I,

A: Pours brown with a light off-white head, fair retention.

S: Somewhat smoky at first with a lot of molasses and toffee.

T: Very good, reminds me a lot of Nautical Nut Brown. Classic brown malt type flavour, semi-sweet, light backing bitterness. Tasty, well made.

M: Medium-bodied, crisp, a tad cloying at times, but fairly well balanced.

O: I was quite impressed by this Moonlight offering. A classic, back to basics brown ale.

On tap at burger. in Santa Cruz. Pours deep ruby brown with a creamy ecru head. Aroma is bready with a bit of caramel sweetness. Flavor is... well you can definitely tell this is a Moonlight beer. I don’t know the details of this recipe but it seems obvious that it’s another hopless beer spiced with some sort of branch or plant. Flavor is a mixed bag, sometimes it’s a perfectly nice brown ale with chocolate and caramel notes and a dry finish. But on some sips it’s twigs and ashtray. I love you Moonlight but there’s a limit to how many successful beers you can make using forest detritus as an ingredient.