Moonlight Reality Czeck

Brewed by Moonlight Brewing Company
Style: Bohemian Pilsener
Fulton, California USA

Draught at Toronado, San Francisco. Clear golden, small head. Aroma of hay and bread. medium sweet with clean mouthfeel. Bready malt and dough under a blabket of hay-like hops. Salty finish. Very good flavours, but to make it really good the malt character should be softer.

Served on tap at the Toronado. It has a clear golden colored body with a thin white head. The aroma is pretty good with a crisp hop presence leading a good malt backbone. This is one of those beers where I can actually picture the hops and barley when I smell it. The flavor has good bitterness; actually a bit more than I expected for a light pilsener. Behind the bitterness is that same strong malt backbone that was in the aroma. Hop flavor is not very strong at all. The body is not quite as light as I would have expected, but still fairly light. This would make an excellent summer drinker.

On tap at Hamiltons. Pours with a golden body topped by a medium thick, white head with a good amount of lacing. It’s bitter and grassy from the hops with a slight malty sweetness underneath. Light bodied, crisp and dry.

On tap at Flavor (restaurant in Santa Rosa). Beautiful clear golden with a white head. Grassy, herbal hops and fresh grain in the nose. Flavor has notes of flavoful pils malt, crisp lemon, noble hop grassiness and hay. Satiating bitterness along with a pleasant malt sweetness underneath. Dry finish. Medium bodied with a creamy, smooth texture and lively carbonation. Nice lacing left on the glass, great head retention. Really, really good stuff.

On tap, multiple locations. Transparent pour of pale gold with a tall head of foamy white. Clean herbal hop aroma that sits atop a solid pale malt bready base with firm bitterness. Wonderful, rich melanoidin characters from the pils malt give it a light, green raisin character. Clean, yeast-wise. Light bodied, crisply carbonated mouthfeel with a soft, velvety texture. Rich pils malt flavors overwhelm the palate immediately, high in maltiness but low in sugar. The hops arrive mid-palate, providing a clean herbal and lightly spicy noble hop flavor. A moderate hop bitterness lingers in the finish, drying up the palate nicely, quenching thirst. Incredible malt complexity overall considering the simplicity; this has such a wonderful pils malt flavor that isn’t matched by many other beers. The softness on the palate really seems to accentuate the melanoidin qualities as well as the freshness of the hop flavors - there aren’t any harsh minerally qualities providing any unwanted astringency. Wonderful Bo Pils. When this is on, it’s pretty tough to beat.

On tap at Toronado in San Francisco, ordered by our less-adventuresome beer buddy. Bright clear straw yellow with a robust white head demonstrating excellent retention. Very clean, fresh aroma of leafy/stemmy hops and grain. Crisp clean palate generously hopped and properly bittered. An excellent representation of the style.

On tap at CIty Beer Store in S.F. Thanks to Craig for the sample of this. Smell was somehow of a spiced cream corn, and not corn in the way that cheap beers smell or taste of corn. Light clearish yellow color with a unique taste to match the smell. Has a nice almost spiced maybe subtle bitter bite to it, and was quite nice. An interesting beer worth trying if you can get a shot at it.

Tap. Pours with a nice yellow color and a decent head. Probably one of the best US pilseners I have tasted. great nose of hops and grains. Very nice flavors of grains, malts and some hops. Maybe a bit bigger bodied than most European pilseners, but very clean tasting.