Peter Piper's Pickled Pepper Purple Peated Pale Ale

Never ones to shy away from a challenge, the lads from Moon Dog are back again and writing big cheques.

This time, they've teamed up with Yeastie Boys - themselves not known for introversion - and come out with something that starts with 'ambitious' and takes it up a couple notches for good measure. Beer with peat, and (capsicum) peppers, and god knows what else in it.

It's a pretty fruity nose that builds around a middle core of peat. Xerrex this ain't but it's definitely present. Big sticky head looks good though the body itself is a dark bruised shade of brown amber. Kind of purple, I guess?

The first mouthful is obtrusively carbonated which is a shame, as it fights against the peat and the wider complexity of the beer. Having said that it isn't really as berserk as expected - more like a really nice peat ale than what the label might suggest, and probably far more sessionable than you'd think. The carbonation is the only real downer.. I can see why they'd do it to combat the natural oiliness of peat, but in practice it's a bit overwhelming.

So yes, session peat beer with chillies. Wait, it's 9%? 8.0

Moon Dog Billy Ray Citrus

Woo, first impression is pretty sour aroma wise off the back of a light clear pour.

Sure enough there's Bavarian wheat yeast & lactobacillus doing the hard yards here, supported by some  citrus peel dry conditioning. I had wondered if it'd be a Japanese Sorachi Ace base off the nose, but it's the American all-rounder Simcoe.

My wife was part of the esteemed tasting panel for this one and immediately pronounced it to taste of, well, sausages - oddly enough after brief bemusement I can sort of see where she's coming from.

It's weird beer this (in a good way of course) .. not really as expected. I feel it smells like the beer it should be, but the taste is maybe only halfway there. Kind of doesn't quite know what it's doing - citrus peel is there yes but also wit / bready notes that hide the citric uniqueness this aims for. Can't say it's very tasty, refreshing or illuminating.. but it is interesting.

I'm not too down on this despite the score - love to try these experiments - just this one's not their best. 4.5

Moon Dog Macguava

Smells like a sour out of the bottle, nice fruity notes, just what the doctor ordered.

Side note - I took the opportunity to weigh my shared pour on a handy nearby scale, 328g each in identical glasses - now that's pouring. Fluffy head too, good stuff. Fair bit of sediment here - doesn't worry me, but may put off some.

Taste wise this is good stuff - more or less as intended, witbier + guava, but this time it's an inspired combination and actually combines beautifully to take the sometimes challengingly sweet edge off the wit combo and mask it with some lovely exuberant juicy notes.

Top work! Far better than Melon Gibson, anti-semitist or not. I'm glad - don't want to slate these guys again cos their philosophy and their beers kick ass. 7.5

The Monk Sweet Potato Porter

Nothing if not an idiot, I was pretty keen to try my first sweet potato porter.

Hmm.. individual small bubbles in the head soon turn flat, not a great looking start, slight grey character to the brown edged body. Turns up far too cold off the taps to generate any flavour, mouthfeel pretty fizzy as well, bit artificial. Not the right sort of glass, and bloody big for a middie too.. so not great presentation overall.

The spices (allspice, nutmeg etc) don't turn up until the beer has warmed considerably and when they arrive, give a little sort of pepsi-like kick to things which isn't entirely astray. Apart from that .. it's just a bit hard going really, vague porter notes drowned out by vegetable tastes - obviously that's the point, but it just hasn't melded particularly well in this instance. A shame, because I like the idea.

Overall - I wanted this to be great, I really did. Good invention, middling execution, kind of disappointing presentation. 4.0

Uncommon Brewers Siamese Twin Ale

Okie doke, the next in the can series from Uncommon Brewers.

This one sticks to the tried and true ingredients of coriander, kaffir lime, and lemongrass. Tried and true for thai curries that is .. unsure how these piquant building blocks of Thai flavour will perform here, especially when coupled with the belgian yeast which I have to say was an odd choice in the circumstances.

Pours darker than expected, certainly an unusual aroma alright, though it was sort of expected given the recipe. Alcohol present, along with orange crystallised fruit notes.

The main taste elements I got here were grape-like notes, followed by the belgian yeast and a sweet malt finish, not a lot of sign of the spicier / herbal elements that were promised outside of that peppery coriander witbier backing number. The beer overall is quite sweet and sticky, and I found that a bit trying progressing through the can.

Certainly not a session beer, but not that great of a one-off experience either. I'd like to try a peeled back version at possibly a bit lower abv and using a different yeast bill to provide an environment in which the thai additions could really shine. As is, it's more like a spicy funky dubbel than anything else. Unique? 5.5

Moon Dog Melon Gibson

Well this was a bit of a surprise.

Fresh from the berserk triumph that was their brown ale I came into this one fully expecting a crazed approach to melon beer. Instead .. well the aroma is reasonably tame wheat beer territory, with just a hint of melon on the end. OK, said I, it's a hidden watermelon dagger they be wielding, surely the taste will be Cucurbitaceariffic.

This too however is pretty damn tame, pretty much a relatively plain seeming wheat beer through and through. There are vague hints of melon around the edges, yes - but I feel like I would have preferred them to make a less drinkable beer that was some sort of a statement, rather than this halfway there effort. As it is, this is neither progressive gimmick nor taste sensation, and I can't much see the point. 4.0