The other day, G-LO received his weekly booze mail shipment. In the box was a bottle of Sour Monkey and a bottle of Moonglow courtesy of our friends at Victory Brewing Company. Having been brought up right, he shared his mail and I found myself in possession of the Moonglow. This is a Weizenbock which means there will be more alcohol (this one comes in at 8.7% ABV), a strong malt characteristic and a lot of baking spices. It’s the kind of beer you’d brew if after the Fall apple harvest, you decided to not bake a pie and brewed a beer instead.

Here’s what Victory has to say about their Moonglow Weizenbock…

This richly flavored dark amber wheat beer merges harvest fruit flavors, spicy aromas and a citric appeal for the perfect autumnal elixir.

And here are my impressions of this beer…

• Appearance: Cloudy, copper haze with minimal foam but good lacing.
• Aroma: I let this one sit on the counter for about thirty minutes to bring it up to a more hospitable temperature. I picked up a lot of malt and dough with a good bit of spice (cloves, allspice).
• Taste: Medium mouthfeel with lots of carbonation. The taste was quite similar to the aroma, a bit sweeter than I had expected and ventured toward the spiciness of a pumpkin beer (hold the pumpkin).
• ABV: 8.7%

The Verdict

I am not a big fan of Fall seasonals. I find that they are more of a time and place beer. You might have one to bring in the season (that first crisp day) or while sitting around a fire, but they don’t tend to be the kind of beer that would inspire you to have more than one in a session. This was true of the Moonglow. It was a fine, well-crafted and well-balanced beer, but having had so much of the Victory lineup, there are other beers in their roster that I would rather have.

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Many thanks to Victory Brewing Company for sending us this very generous sample!