Kraftbrau Winter Moon Ale

Formerly brewed at Kraftbrau Brewery
Style: Altbier
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Serve in Kölsch/Altbier

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On tap at the brewery. Deep lacquered brown in color with quickly cascading lace. Honey, caramelized pecans and toasted almonds comprise the aroma, while the flavor is less than gratifying. Piney, straight forward caramel. Some chocolate, tingling copper and pepper. Medium bodied, and in-and-out when it comes to the palate. Mildly spiced finish. Next?

This draft brew from the brewery poured a medium sized head of white colored frothy medium sized bubbles that left behind a transparent dark copper brown body with no visible carbonation and an excellent lacing. The aroma was filled with aromatic caramel malty notes but was yet on the mild side. The mouth feel was initially sweet and mild but semi-flat with a hoppy finish. The flavor was an interesting mix of malt and nuts but they did not seem to play well together and I found them distracting.

On tap at Kraftbrau. Medium sized ivory head that mostly diminished, excellent lacing, fine-small sized bubbles, uncarbonated, transparent, and a reddish brown hue. Malty, caramel and sweet aroma. Flavor was sweet, malty, caramel and hoppy.

Definite rusty brown. Quite odd smell really, musty, leather, dirt, grass, all things earthy. Tastes the same really, bitter, earthy, dirt. Quite dry. Not my favorite Kraftbrau really but quite unique.

Being ill and broke before Ratebeer was bad enough...I’m finally ready to give another beer a shot (dontcha love credit cards?). Pours a slightly hazy amber/copper with a ridiculous yet standard light tan head (meaning the first pour was 8 inches of foam, and the beer took 20 minutes total to pour). Not sure what’s up with the carbonation in their beers but it can be irritating. But I digress...toasty, perfumey/peppery hops aroma with plenty of yeast. Flavor was likewise toasty with plenty of bittering hops lending pepper and perfume flavors. Biscuity and yeasty as well. Light sweetness. Not too different from their other beers even though it is an ale.

A very drinkable ale. Smokey, malty beer with excellent grain presence. I enjoyed this beer. Thanks Urbn and PsychProf.

Thank you PsychProf. I sense a bit of wheat and taste a lot of spice in this winter ale. Perhaps a bit of smoke, too. I will stick with the lagers from this btewery, however.

On tap at Kraftbrau. Dark, cloudy, and honey-colored, with a sweet nose. Scant foam - looked like a yin/yang symbol floating on top of the ale (because I was with my sweetie? :) This ale has a sharp, sharp, initial tingle, and is pretty hoppy (yea!) and is so fresh! Not quite as hoppy as the "Summer Alt" and a bit more consistently bitter, but still, quite a good beer. Recommended.

UPDATED: APR 8, 2004 Not the only ale Kraftbrau makes, but I do agree with P-tor44 that it"s a good one. An Amber Ale, at least according to the label, and one with a lot of malt action (some of it quite buttery, again, as 44 mentions). Hops bite through the finish, but this is a winter amber in the style of Siletz"s Winter Warmer (which I thought was a dry stout / stout / amber cross). Good. Now I get it...after looking up the beer on the website, I see it"s an Alt and I can see that. Yum.

I believe this is the only Ale this brewery makes. Excellent. Buttery taste with some fruit notes. slightly spicy. a bit over carbonated i must add