Beer Moon Dog Black Lung III

It's not just Hollywood that has sequel fever. It's even infiltrating the Aussie craft beer world. You've got Red Duck banging out Ra #2, #3, #4 and so on (a hopless Imperial Egyptian Bread Beer for the uninitiated) and here's Moon Dog with Black Lung III. At its heart (it's black, molten heart) it's a "smokey stout", in other words a stout with a little peated malt added for a touch of smokiness. The reason subsequent batches are being released as sequels with "II" and "III" suffixes is because the beer (or at least part of the batch) has spent time in a different kind of barrel.

The first one (still one of our favourite Moon Dog beers) spent time inside Bourbon barrels; the second - the intensely smokey, woody one - made wild whoopee with the inside of former whisky barrels. This time around it's rum (from Hoochery Distillery) and the results are closer to the balance between beer and barrel of the first affair. The effects of the barrel are prominent without being overpowering and some rumminess (which we're pretty sure has a different meaning to what we intend, something to do with Benny Hill or 1950s pier end postcards from Southend, Essex) comes through as the beer warms. The oak adds a drying quality to the beer too, which holds up nicely to an evening's sipping, with or without pipe and slippers.