Today I visited the Moon Dog Brewery. It is a wonderful little venue that is set in an industrial area in Richmond. They have a good sized bar area with the brewery at the rear of the bar. They pride themselves on trying some different things in their brewing and are doing a fantastic job of it.
The beers that I sampled were:
1. Love Tap Lager, 5% abv, this light straw coloured beer has a lovely mild hop taste and a clean, crisp bitter finish. It is the type of beer that should appeal to most beer drinkers. Very easy drinking!
2. Old Mate, Pale Ale, 5% abv, this ale has a light golden colour, a malty aroma and a great well balanced malt and hop taste with a mild finish.
3. Mac Daddy, Dark Ale, 5% abv, this dark brown coloured ale has a wonderful strong coffee malt aroma and a malty taste that gives hints of chocolate and coffee followed by a lovely light bitter finish.
4. The Rangapocalypse, Red Rye IPA, 6.1% abv, this ale has a dark amber colour and a malty aroma. It gives a wonderful full palate taste of caramel malt and follows with a great dry finish.
5. Breakfast of Champions, Bloody Mary Red Ale, 7.6% abv, this is an amber coloured ale that has an unusual spicy malt aroma and taste that gives hints of chilli on its long lasting finish. Really enjoyable.
6. A Phine Mess, Double & a Bit IPA, 10.1% abv, this ale has a cloudy amber colour and a lovely sweet floral aroma. It gives an initial sweet malt palate and then explodes with complex hop bitter tastes that provide a fantastic long finish. Yum! I would like to say I could drink this all day, but at 10.1% abv l would probably fall over.
7. Da Polka Vista, Forest Fruit Wild Ale, 6.8% abv, this unusual ale is pink in colour and has an aroma of sweet raspberry lollies. It gives a wonderful slightly sour berry taste that yells DRINK ME!! Very different but fantastic!
8. Beer Can, 4.2% abv, this ale gives off sweet floral and citrus aromas. It has a wonderful hoppy taste and a great crisp bitter finish.
All in all I really enjoyed all of the beers on offer at Moon Dog Brewery and thought that it would be a great venue for an afternoon session. They are trying some different and interesting things with their brewing and are achieving some excellent results. Definitely worth checking out if you have the chance!!