It was awesome indeed to visit the Moon Under Water brewpub on my recent jaunt over the strait for Victoria Beer Week.
The Moon is being held in increasingly high regard for its stellar takes on traditional German styles such as pilsner, dunkel, hefeweizen and weizenbock, thanks in no small part to a brewhouse equipped to handle tricky and laborious — but hugely worthwhile, flavourwise — procedures such as decoctions and step mashes.
It doesn’t mean the Moon is set on a straight-laced German path, though. Last autumn’s Pumpkin Pearzen alone showed off brewmaster Clay Potter’s versatility. Then there’s the not-so-small matter of the brewery’s rapidly expanding sour program. Oh, and this Hip As Funk beer right here, essentially a generously hopped, tart, brett saison.
Its release on International Women’s Day, March 8, was given a little more fanfare than Moon usually gives its beer, due to the stunning label by Vancouver graphic designer Bjauna Sorensen, aided by Moon co-owner Chelsea Walker. It’s designed to portray women in a more positive light than they usually are on beer labels, which, even in the craft sector, trend toward featuring busty and/or scantily clad models.
And there’s the beer inside, which is even more stunning. Hip as Funk pours a clear golden-peach with a fluffy bright white head that laces elegantly.
From the foam rises a fruit basket of bright, juicy, acidic citrus-tropical aromas — lime, lemon, tangerine, red grapefruit, canteloupe, guava — above a subtly earthy, spicy-zesty brett funk.
This array of fruit carries into the flavours in a sumptuous tropical-citrus juiciness, featuring grapefruit, lime, tangerine and a perfume of unripe peach. A citrus zestiness leaves the tongue a-tingle before a pithy bitterness swells then gracefully fades, leaving a lightly spicy earthy finish. The aftertaste reveals lightly bitter musty fruit rind aftertaste.
Food pairing: Fish tacos
650ml, at select private liquor stores
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