Given that our beer market has long been dominated by large corporates producing generic, preservative enhanced lagers, it’s easy to understand why the craft beer industry initially shunned the lager style in favour of more interesting beers with generous aroma and malt profiles.
Interesting is one word to describe Moondog I guess, but falls embarrassingly short if you look at their impressive range of releases over the past few years. ‘Fun’ is a word that comes to mind when I think of the guys running around their Abbottsford brewery and Love Tap Double Lager most definitely encapsulates their philosophy of making adventurous and innovative beer.
Yes, Love Tap is their most approachable and widely available beer which means it’s not barrel aged or sour or smokey or … well, you get the picture. It’s a lager with a sexy hop character designed to get some volume through their brewery and pay the bills while they play around with their next mind-blowing recipe.
So, let’s pour this sucker. Unlike most lager styles which require a tall, straight glass, I’d suggest pouring this into something suitable for aromatic ales like the Spiegelau IPA glass pictured, or if you don’t have one of those, perhaps a bulbous red wine glass. Love Tap pours a slightly cloudy amber colour with a light fluffy head. Give it a swirl and really get your nose in there to appreciate the tropical fruit, citrus, slightly funky aroma. Take a generous sip and the wonderful yet subtle malt profile gives you a slight caramel hit but not too much.
Imperial pilsner? Double lager? Who cares what category it may slot in to, it’s a brilliant beer to be drunk as fresh as possible at any time of the year.