Moonlight Homegrown/Greenbud Ale

Brewed by Moonlight Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Fulton, California USA

Draught at Toronado, San Francisco. Hazy golden. Aroma of peach and sulphur. Sweet and medium bodied with rounded mouthfeel. salty and dense with lots of aromatic hops and peach candy. Above medium bitterness.

(draft, Barclay’s, 9/05) Clear golden body with off-white head. Aroma is medium sweet, caramel, floral, some pine. Taste is medium sweet, pine, herbal, some grapefruit. Light-medium body. (6/3/7/3/14)

(draft, 11/04, Lupulin Slam) Clear golden body with off-white head. Aroma is medium sweet, grapefruit, some mint, pine. Taste is medium sweet, grapefruit, herbal, pine, some mint, not especially bitter. Medium body, light carbonation. (7/3/7/4/14)

Tasted at the 2004 Bistro Hop Fest. Light gold color. Small sized white foamy head. Aroma is floral hops and earthy. A medium bodied IPA. Malts are fruity and sweet. Hops are grapefruity and floral with a touch of earthiness. The bitterness is all at the finish, and it fairly strong there. Nice beer. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is very bitter.

Tasted on tap at the 2007 Bistro Wet Hop IPA Festival. This IPA pours a light gold color. Medium sized white foamy head. Aroma is floral and vegetative. A medium bodied IPA. Malts are fruity and sweet. The hops are earthy and floral. Nice balance. Medium to high bitterness IPA. Crisp flavors, this of kind of grows on you. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean and slightly bitter (7-4-8-4-15)

Draft. Somewhat hazy amber beer with a very nice white head. Pine and tar flavors with a slight mustiness. Nice tingling bitterness. Malt backing, but hop flavor dominates. Pine and tar aroma. It gets a bit fruitier as it warms in both flavor and aroma.

fresh hop nose, of course, gold-amber color, creamy head. Grapefruit sweet-bitterness. Biting hop bitter, dry. This went really well while picking hops at Brians brewery for his next homegrown ale.

I sampled both the Cascade & Chinook versions of this (they were two separate beers on draught) at Toronado in San Francisco, California. They were about the same, so here’s the overall rating: Copper coloured body with a perfect sized dense tan head. Aroma of nothing but hops - a good way to tell the difference between Chinook & Cascade is to have these side by side. Medium-bodied; Sharp pungent hoppiness in the mouth, coupled with a good malt backbone and more hoppiness to finish it out. Overall, a great sampling from these wet hopped beers - I really enjoyed the mouthful and the aroma of these. Nothing missing in my mind! I sampled both of these on draught from Toronado in SF on 27-October-2007.

Draft @ Toad in the Hole Pours a clear, bright yellow-orange color; off-white head with good retention and assertive lacing; attractive pour. Nice amounts of earthiness and basic tea-like malts in the aroma; lightly dry and crisp. Medium mouthfeel: lively earthy and mineral and citrus acidity; nice biscuity and tea maltiness at the core (wanted more notes; having too pleasant a conversation at the bar!); nicely crisp, dry, very drinkable and toasty; slightly green, stalky notes over a nicely crisp, juicy IPA; very solid beer. Medium finish: toasty, biscuity, nicely dry; cereal at the end.

Very little head tops the golden body of this brew. Wow, waht an amazing aroma. It’s bitter and hoppy, but in a spicy, herbal way. Nice mint notes with some pine. The flavor is bitter and hoppy with nice pine notes and a little mint, as well as, a little sweet citrus. Definately green tasting. Light to medium bodied, oily and dry.