Beer – #1,102 – Moondog – Jumping the Shark 2021

Moondog Jumping The Shark – Cherry, Chocolate & Coconut. Rum Barrel Aged & Amphora Conditioned Imperial Stout – I’ve had the 2013 version and the 2017 versions of the Jumping The Shark, and they were both exceptional. I’m playing some Beatles vinyl, and looking back to the 2017 version I was playing some Beatles Vinyl. Every four years – for me that’s Leaping years the Shark.

all the ridiculousness you’d expect

The bottle is 375ml with an ABV of 12.6%- which makes this 3.7 standard drinks in NZ and about 378 calories a service size.

Moon Dog Craft Brewery make the Moon Dog Jumping the Shark 2021 in  Abbotsford, Victoria, 🇦🇺 Australia and it is in the style that is and Stout – Imperial Flavored / Pastry  

Cherry, Chocolate & Coconut. Rum Barrel Aged & Amphora Conditioned Imperial Stout

One of our most ridiculous, most anticipated, (mostly) annual releases is back! This Imperial Stout has all the ridiculousness you’d expect from a Jumping The Shark Release and then some. We’ve brewed a huge 12.6% Imperial Stout, popped it in some delicious rum barrels for a nice long beauty sleep and finished it with the cherry on top, amphora conditioned cherry, coconut and chocolate!

Brewers Notes

So, What could possibly go wrong?

Opening is strange experience with aromas. There’s chocolate and cherry, it’s like a Cherry Ripe.

The pour is am muddy brown but settles to more black in the glass as it does sullenly without a head

In the glass there is the same Chocolate and Cherry combination and you could fancy coconut or vanilla.

The taste starts with a slightly boozy note, unsurprisingly, and then washes to quite a lovely soft cherry and chocolate – this really is like a Cherry Ripe chocolate bar with less coconut.

I’m pretty sure that the brewer didn’t start with this as an end point, I guess you just can’t account for consumer comment and takes.

That boozy tang, that’s gone, and there’s not really a lot to remind you that this is a super strong beer that needs sipping not supping. It really gathers richness and layers about it as it gently warms and brings a warmth that is both from the taste and the admiration that you get.

Of course I could be waxing lyrical because of the insane price I paid for this. Since it is only once every 4 years that I indulge though I can live with that.

The Question I have, as I am sure you might is: Is it such a unique and wildly improbable beer that it worth the premium, or is this a beer, as I’m drinking, that can’t be, or hasn’t been, achieved already. I don’t think that this ‘Jump the Shark’ in any sense of pointless excess

I’m pretty sure that this really is loaded with more cherries that I can recall having in a beer that is an out and out cherry beer, but as an addition. I have not one idea about Amphora, part from they are ancient brewing technology, pretty sure they’re reusable though.

It’s worth saying again that the really nice way that this has settled and warmed into quite a delicious easy to understand and delicious beer makes is remarkable, and I’m likely to talk about it in conversation later in the week, probably alongside the Emporium ApfelStrudel Stout which really did make me enthusiastic about beer again.

The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 9 of its things from the thing. I don’t think this ‘jumps the shark’ for a beer in the way that you could dream up, you’ll have to look at previous version to see the quite madhouse concoctions where I couldn’t help by go full 10/10

The double dip review

• Where did I get it? The Fridge and Flagon in Mt.Eden
• Am I enjoying it? I am as a Cherry Coconut Chocolate Stout – I’m not as a beer that I thought wa going to be next level bonkers
• Would I have another? Yes if you were buying
• Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? Yes, I’m pretty sue we’re have opinions on both this and the Get Back Documentary.

Music for this:  I’m playing an original vinyl version of the Beatles- The Beatles. on super floppy vinyl. It’s dusty musty well played and is still brilliant.

Stout – Imperial Flavored / Pastry

The “Flavored Imperial Stout”, or “Flavored Double Stout” is an intensely-flavored, big, very dark reddish-brown to black colored ale with a wide range of flavor balances and with a clear flavoring element. Roasty-burnt malt with deep dark or dried fruit flavors, and a warming, bittersweet finish. American versions have more bitterness, roasted character, and finishing hops, while the English varieties, or “Russian Imperial Stout” (RIS), reflect a more complex specialty malt character and a more forward ester profile. It also feature an harmonious marriage of the additive and beer, but still recognizable as a beer. The additive character should be evident but in balance with the beer. (For example: fruits, spices, herbs, vegetables, coffee, honey, chocolate, maple sirup, chilies, nuts, vanilla, liquor – BUT not including Smoked malt, barrel-aging or a Sour element resulting from the brewing process). In the case of over-the-top, highly sweet, adjunct-heavy stouts reminiscent of a liquid version of cake or pastry, the name “Dessert Stout” or “Pastry Stout” if often used.