Northwoods Half Moon Gold Ale

Brewed by Northwoods Brew Pub
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Eau Claire, Wisconsin USA

Lightly hazed, pearish, pale appearance, slim fizziness above, wastes away instantly. Slick, sick, fades aroma...something’s off in the bottling line here, as this is the fourth beer yet from this company that a plastic-y smell, no real hops, no actual malt, just really wrong. Taste: actually quite horrible. A mess. Flat, cardboardy, unattractive...well, an accident...or, so I hope. The whole thing feels infected. This should never have left the plant.

Ah, my first of a series of incredibly unimpressive samples from this brewpub. Light gold. Nose has some sweet malts, but it’s a bit like sniffing rotting garbage (though sweet rotting garbage, but I doubt that’s a significant improvement to anyone’s nose). Very hoppy with a selection of occasional grainy and/or toasty malts. Empty and thin.

Light golden color. Minimal aroma and head. Unfortunately this is one of those light brews that one can taste the glass cleaner more than the beer.

Gold color with no head... or aroma... Just a pinch of grains for flavor. So we’re basically talking about water here.

Extremely Light Gold Coloring. Malt, Hops Aroma...Carbonated.. Very Watery...Just the Slightest Hint of Flavor...Otherwise..Water.

Sample at the brewpub. Very clear pisslike yellow, wisps of foam, diacetyl fights with some decent grassiness in the nose while the light, bland body underwhelms with late cereal malt, decent crispness atop watery body and tolerable carbonation level. Sadly, one of the better beers here...

Bottled. If you want to try these beers, please do go to the brewpub, but don't take their packaged beers home. This is another bottle that somehow got contaminated: I got a musty smell of wet salted peanut shells when I opened it, and it permeated the taste. Color was very pale, yet murky at the same time. Very stale taste. Either their bottling operation has problems, or they're storing their packaged beers way too long.

Blond/hazy color. Slight sweetness. Very good balance.