New Glarus Moon Man No Coast Pale Ale

Brewed By: New Glarus Brewing Company in New Glarus, Wisconsin

Purchased: 12oz bottle bought at Woodman's in Kenosha, WI; 2013

Style/ABV: American Pale Ale, 5.0% 

Reported IBUs: ?

Hooray for excess. About New Glarus:

New Glarus is the rare, gorgeous "Midwest" brewery, founded in 1993 by Deborah Carey, the first woman to found and operate a brewery in the United States. She raised the capital for the start-up as a gift to her husband, Dan Carey, who is New Glarus' brewmaster and co-owner. Dan Carey has a long history working in the brewing industry, including an apprenticeship at a brewery near Munich, Germany and a job as the Production Supervisor for Anheuser-Busch. The brewery began as an abandoned warehouse using old brewpub equipment. In 1997, Dan Carey purchased coper kettles from a brewery in Germany. In May 2006, New Glarus opened their new (current) facility on a hilltop in the village of New Glarus. The facility looks like a Bavarian village, and is gorgeous. The expansion has allowed the brewery to continue to increase their production, and expand their operations. For more information, check out their brewery page or Wikipedia. 

The Moon Man No Coast Pale Ale is a sessionable "American Pale Ale" brewed with five hops, featuring a smooth malty backside. 

After all the crazy German-style Lagers, it feels good to be back at home reviewing an American Pale Ale. This beer pours into a super hazy, golden/orange body, and kicks up a finger of hop-fueled head. The head has just a twang of off-white color, and is leaving impressive lacing and all that good stuff. In bright light, this beer has a dank, hazy, juicy body...it's radiant, and there are nice streams of carbonation rising up. It's a good looking beer.

New Glarus Moon Man No Coast Pale Ale

Oh man, oh man...that aroma. Wow. I'm getting big citrus on the nose, with vibrant tangerine, grapefruit, and some big, resinous orange. I'm also pulling out some pineapple, resin, and lots of hints of grass. There's a touch of bready malt and biscuit on the nose as well. It smells like an amped up APA.

The taste isn't quite as amazing as the aroma, but this is a well made American Pale Ale. I'm getting a ton of refreshing and grassy grapefruit, orange, grass, light strawberry, apricot, lightly resinous citrus, watery tangerine, and some mild hop spice. The beer is balanced with some light bread/biscuit, and the water has a slight edge that might be mineral? 

This is fucking good...somewhere between above average and world class. It's so crushable at 5.0%, I could drink a 6-pack of this in one night. The body is light-bodied with good carbonation, and the head is creamy and nice. The hops are potent but the beer isn't super bitter. There's some subtle malt balance but it is present. Palate depth is really good, and complexity isn't far behind. You get big, slightly spicy, citrus splash up front. I'm talking about grapefruit and citrus and some tropical fruit. That rolls into more hop spice and some resinous fruits in the middle. The back end cleans up with lingering hops, some biscuit/bread, and some welcomed dryness. Dayuuumn. 

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

This is a Strong Above-Average beer, and one of the better Midwest American Pale Ales. This is super cheap, super drinkable, and will pair well with American bar food, wings, pizza, Mexican food, and pretty much whatever you throw at it. Highly functional, super flavorful, I would put this near the same level as Daisy Cutter and Zombie Dust. Wisconsin, you're doing it right.

Random Thought: Seriously, taking a break from Pale Ales and Stouts is like...weird. I love Lagers, but I feel like drinking this beer is returning balance to my sheltered, American universe.