Moonlight Santas Tipple Ale

Brewed by Moonlight Brewing Company
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Fulton, California USA

Cask. Blackish beer with a nice beige head. Caramal malt and some roastiness in the aroma. Caramel malt, roasty, and then a nice bitter hop (pine/citrus) flavor. Nicely balanced. Easy to drink. Rich, velvety mounthfeel.

Draft @ Toad in the Hole. Pours a dark, cola-brown color; very light cocoa-colored head with lacing that coats the glass like paint; nice pour. Nicely dry, roasted aroma: cocoa, bitter chocolate, and heavily roasted malts; very bitter, but not necessarily from a hop note; heavily bittered roast. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: lively bitterness, minerals, roasted malts and bitter dark chocolate; tastes almost bittersweet, like it could perpetually stand to breathe a little; tight carbonation, sharp bitterness; the juicy mineral and citrus hoppiness becomes more prominent as it warms, outshining the bitter chocolate core. Lasting, bitter mineral hops, bitter chocolate; perfectly dry, as always.

On tap at toronado. Black with a fizzy white head. Faint roasty aroma. Burnt roasty taste with a good bitter bite. Good.

Rating #1 Tap hand pulled (7 5 8 4 17). Deep brown with a lush rich roasted malt falvor with a long aftertaste. Some vinous qualities. Rating #2 Tap @ Toronado on 11/22/06 (6 3 8 4 16). Dark brown color with a tan head. An airy and delicious malt flavor, mildly sweet with hints of coffee and candy. Very smooth with a great aftertaste.

On tap at Toronado. This black ale poured with almost no head. The flavor is of roasted malt and treacle, with a lasting bitter finish. Overall, a very pleasant and rich brew.

Hmm... this doesn’t strike me as a Belgian Strong but as a type of Death & Taxes, Pliny The Elder ’Dark Murky’ style brew. The color is a very dark brown with a caramel colored slim foam. A roasty cascade aroma is contained in the glass along with hints of sweetness and suggestions of dark molasses. Lots of malt flavors - more dark malt and something almost worty, semi-dry, very bitter. Tastes sweet but it’s too clean to have much residual sugar. Some tannic green tea and wet coffee i nthe finish. Sits in the stomach like a rock. A nice dark, muddy and slightly dusty brew. I like this idea.

Draught at The Trappist. Black with a tan head. Piney hops and roasty aroma. Great dark chocolate flavor with a strong piney and citrucy hop flavor as well. THey said this was an English style winter warmer and I have to agree that there was nothing Belgian about it. This walks a fine line of dark malt and hop flavor combinations, but the chocolate flavors go quite well with the hops.

Burnst cocoa and roast notes early on. Not very Belgian. Very little spice some pepper and molasses. grat over pancakes mostlikely. Some black tea and acidic notes towards the end. Piney hop bitterness does not work with the specific malt, some Biscuit and special B, I would guess.