Moon Dog Rescue All-Stars, Kiwi-Hopped XPA & Crème de la crème de la crème brûlée

Style
Juicy Pale & XPA & Dessert Imperial Stout
ABV
5.0% & 5.0% & 13.6%

This trio of new releases from Moon Dog, dropped at Crafty Towers ahead of the Queen's Birthday long weekend (in parts of the country), could almost be viewed as a snapshot of the craft beer industry today. There's a beer for a good cause, an exclusive for one of the country's major retail chains, and something a little silly and envelope-pushing.

The good cause comes in the shape of their Rescue All-Stars series: the cans feature one of eight rescue pets from Second Chance Animal Rescue. It's a "Juicy Pale Ale" that pours clean and golden, in which Centennial, Kohatu and Simcoe hops serve up a vibrant Juicy Fruit-meets-mandarin character throughout with a little malt sweetness enhancing said juiciness.

The beer for the Endeavour Group is Kiwi-Hopped XPA, another bright golden pour that extracts unexpected flavours from Moutere and Nelson Sauvin hops. The former is said to give brewers "grapefruit, light tropical fruit and passionfruit" to play with; the latter "extreme fruitiness, passionfruit, and fresh crushed gooseberries" – often likened to white wine. So quite how they ended with a beer awash with cream and berries I dunno – biotransformation, maybe? Either way, it’s more berry pavlova-esque than Moon Dog's pavlova beers, yet with the clean finish of an XPA, and I'm not complaining.

Which leaves the silly beer, complete with silly name: Crème de la crème de la crème brûlée. While that might conjure images of some pale brown liquid, the dessertiness has been applied to an imperial stout base – and a big one at that. Yet despite pouring the darkest of opaque browns, it's still pretty much a caramel / toffee malt – or perhaps Caramilk - fest. Sweet and sticky as, this is a veritable calorific overload that almost tips into Pedro Ximenez territory yet could also be a rich vanilla yoghurt swirled with maple syrup. Whatever, it’s one to share. And then brush your teeth afterwards. Maybe twice.

James Smith

Published June 14, 2022

Name
Moon Dog
Address

17 Duke Street
Abbotsford
VIC 3067

Open Hours

Moon Dog OG in Abbotsford now solely used for functions

Tours

Upon request

HCH 2025 promo 2 MREC
Podcast B2

More from Moon Dog

The 2022 Indies Champs Best In Show Hazy IPA
Hazy IPA
7.0%
Moon Dog Ginger Beer
Ginger Beer
4.0%
Moon Dog Almighty Cannolo & Keep It Strange, Santo
Cannoli Pastry Sour & Juicy Pale Ale
7.5%
Moon Dog Orange zZap! & 6 Months On A Leaky Oak
Orange Sherbet Ale & Barrel-Aged Strong Belgian
5.8% & 8.4%
Moon Dog The Artist FKA Black Lung XII
Barrel-Aged Smokey Stout
13.0%
Moon Dog Dip-Hop-Opotamus Cold IPA
Single Hop Cold IPA
6.5%
Moon Dog & Lervig Mooseroo
Kveik Hazy IPA
7.5%
Moon Dog Rosé Sour Power
Sour Ale
4.0%
Moon Dog Hazy IPA
Hazy IPA
6.2%
Moon Dog Stacks On, Mosaicy Breaky Heart & Timothy Tamothy Slamothy
Imperial Fruit Cream Sour, Single Hop IPA & Sweet Stout
7.5% & 7.0% & 6.5%
Moon Dog Bjorn To Boogie & Stop, Hammock Time!
Watermelon Wheat & Hazy XPA
5.3% & 4.5%
Moon Dog Sharon Stone Fruit Sour Ale
Fruit Sour Ale
4.5%
Moon Dog Fresh Quince Of Bel-Air & Lemon Haze
Philly Sour ft Quince & Lemon XPA
6.0% & 5.0%
Moon Dog Jumping The Shark 2013 / 2021
Cognac Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout with Truffles
15.6%
Moon Dog Goin' Steady & Alcoholic Ginger Beer
Mid-Strength XPA & Ginger Beer
3.5% & 4.0%
Moon Dog Magic EyePA II & Yuzu Greatest Hits
West Coast IPA & Rice Lager with Yuzu
7.0% & 5.0%
Moon Dog Black Lung XI
Barrel-Aged Smokey Stout
12.0%
Moon Dog Piney Minogue & Splice of Heaven Mango
Pineapple Sour Ale & Ice Cream IPA
4.5% & 6.2%
Moon Dog The Baron of Barrels
Barrel-Aged Golden Stronmng Ale
11.3%
Moon Dog Conga Lines
Imperial Sour Ale
7.5%