Moonlight Black to Reality Black Pilsner
I like it, tastes a lot like their Death and Taxes.
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Energen is a great brewery and makes very solid brews.
Timbo Pils now has a whole week dedicated to different versions and collabs. They won a gold at GABF for pilsners. Fantastic beer with a nice little bite.
I’ve been enjoying the Monkish Hellish and My Gravity especially with the heat in LA/OC. Going to be perfect golf beers this weekend in 110+ degree Palm Springs.
3 Likes
Ocean View Brew Works (Albany, CA)
(Not Your) Common Beer, 5% ABV
Glad to see other breweries working the California Common style. Malty with a nice hit of bitterness; IMO, it has a little more “heft” than Anchor Steam. Great with our dinner of grilled sausage and vegetables.
2 Likes
Imperial Maple Sunday by Lone Pine Brewing Company (Portland, ME) - Imperial Brown Ale
Brown ale which isn’t too far off from a flavor profile of a porter - chocolate, toffee and coffee flavors with roasted malts build a strong backbone whereas the maple syrup brings in a nice, but not overly, sweet component. Medium bitter finish with some very light alcohol warming in the end.
2 Likes
Funny I’ve had it dozens of times but maybe never read the can. Is “San Francisco style Black Lager” a thing or just their marketing? Either way I really like this one.
Did you perchance find D&T at Trader Joe’s?
I’ve seen it at Grocery Outlet.
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Haven’t seen it at Trader Joe’s. I’ve found it locally at Mollie Stone’s and as @brisket44 mentioned Grocery Outlet.
Maybe a little bit of both? I found some notes about it and its origin from the brewer, Brian Hunt, here:
https://flagshipfebruary.com/2021/02/07/brian-hunt-on-death-taxes/
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A true Berliner Weisse experience: a bottle of 2017 Firestone Walker Bretta Weisse (part of their Barrelworks series) with my wife’s homemade woodruff syrup.
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That sounds tasty. Do you also like to make Maiwine?
Yes! She loves Maiwine, and has made it for us a couple of times. I’m less convinced. 
I did like what the woodruff syrup did to the beer–it tempered the beer’s sourness and gave it almost a frothy texture.
How did she make the syrup? Steep the sweet woodruff in simple syrup?
Re: Maiwine… IME, it’s easy to overflavor the wine, either by putting in too big a sprig or leaving it in too long. One small sprig in the 750ml bottle for 30 minutes to an hour is about right for me. 
Honkman knows I’ll side with you, here. But I too don’t taste anything from the myriad that say “this is great!” I was on a few forums where I was intent to find even a decent brew. Most were so-so at best.
Set and setting.
I have this habit of liking fresh draft beer (flowing through clean lines) much better than I do canned/bottled. But if I go somewhere with a minimal/skewed taplist of known duds, I’ll gladly order and actually enjoy a can or bottle of so-so Big American Brew. This will sound like sacrilege, but a very cold canned PBR or Bud is a good thing, IMO.
Japas Río de Janeiro Maru
Japas Cervejaria is a Brazilian brewery started by Japanese-Brazilian women. This is a double hazy IPA with kumquat, quite boozy and rich, fruity. Very nice.
Moonlight 9 5/16 °P
Czech-style Dark Lager
From the brewery’s description:
An incredibly soft and easy drinking deep amber lager with a rustic brown bread malt character, complimented by just a touch of spicy, herbaceous noble hop aroma
Definitely soft in mouthfeel and easy to drink with a little toasty flavor, quite nice. I’m not sure what the name means but it’s a bunch of numbers which makes it a bit hard to order 
1 Like
I don’t know exactly how she made it, beyond first drying out the woodruff leaves in a low oven. I tend to stay out of the kitchen when she’s in there. 
Ah, we’re more primitive. We stuff a green sprig into the wine bottle or carafe.
- by far the worst beer I have tasted so far anywhere . Or as a visitor from German once said as he tried it for the first time - who is voluntarily drinking horse piss
