Beer – #718 – Moa – Festive IPA keg
Into a new year and it’s back to an old beer. Sometimes it’s like that, this was the best of the on tap beers for my mood, and I enjoyed it last time I had it over a year ago, when it was in bottles.
“At 70 IBU, your mouth will be left comfortably numb”
This is from the FYO station and I have a 1 litre bottle, of a beer that is 6.4% ABV, 70 IBU, and 5.05 standard drinks, around 192 calories a serve size.
Brewed by Moa Brewing Company, in that style that is India Pale Ale (IPA) an they’re in Blenheim, New Zealand.
Festive me a beer
Resinous and pine-like hop characters dominate this American style IPA.
Hopped using Citra, Amarillo, Simcoe, Columbus and US Cascade, and dry hopped with Citra and Amarillo, tangelo, lime and pine aromas feature.
At 70 IBU, your mouth will be left comfortably numb, making it the perfect beer for the festive season.
What could possibly go wrong? It’s been a really warm days and I’m cooking on the BBQ later, and I hope that this is the beer that makes the whole complete.
It is very lively in the bottle, the lid flying back like a trebuchet allowing a really pungent aroma of grassy piney resinous hops out.
It is a surprisingly bright orange and the head is tinged orange too, very firm and full it is too.
Aroma is citrus, lemons, limes, sweetness, and a slight earthiness. This is less peppery and less aggressive than the bottle version was (it was a year ago) so some of that might 
just be change in palate or how I’m drinking, but this seems to be a much more rounded and accessible beer than I recall. I think possibly for the better.
One of the most noticeable things is that the dry finish has been removed, mostly, but there is a lovely resinous linger in this, which is pleasant and pleasing.
What I do notice though is that this is a beer with some distinct and noticeable character, and the various hop profiles are noticeable, each slightly different timing in the mouth, quite entertaining.
So there I was expecting quite and earthy raw beer and I find that I have quite a sweet mellow rounded beer with a couple of endless and peaks but generally a bit good and enjoyable. Not outstanding in any particular bit, but it does come together.
The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as an 8 a of its things from the thing. I think I made this this the same last time, 8 is ‘very good’ on the arbitrary scale. This is very good, no mistaking a craftsman at work really.
The double dip review
- Am I enjoying it? I am, there seems to be a lot of orange citrus in the profile, despite me thinking lemons, this is unusual. It’s also lost the dryness, and peppery bits. It has calmed down.
- Would I have another? I’m glad I have more in the bottle, but I don’t know that I’d be beating a path back to the taps just yet.
- Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? Surprisingly yes, this is a nice easy going polite beer that should be enjoyed by a beer drinker who likes something that isn’t too tart, bitter, or dry. I’d be happy to share this in the sun and tell outrageous untruths about something or other.
Musical taste wavered towards something old and so ‘ The Cure ‘ and the magnificent ‘ Seventeen Seconds ‘ on Spotify. I remember buying this on vinyl the first time it was released, it was that or cassette, it was 1980. The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex, in 1976.
INDIA PALE ALE & IPA
India Pale Ale gets its name and unique style from British brewers who were making beer for export to India. This style has an intense hop flavor which was used to preserve the beer for the long voyage. India Pale Ale has a golden to copper color with a medium maltiness and body. The aroma is moderate to very strong. IPAs work especially well at cutting the heat of chili, vindaloo or Sichuan cuisine.
A life just as ordinary 