Beer Moon Dog Cold Drip War

The GABS 2014 beers keep on coming, with the latest cab off the ranks the entry from Melbourne's Moon Dog. The Stalin-endorsed beer is tagged as a coffee and chicory porter, but has a wee bit more besides, with a touch of rye malt in the grist. The coffee (from their friends and neighbours at Coffee Supreme) was added during conditioning with the chicory making an appearance in the boil. As for the inspiration, it turns out that during the late 70s there was a coffee crisis in East Germany so a replacement was concocted called Mischkaffee that used root chicory, sugar beet and rye in an attempt to ease drinkers through the shortage. And as for the beer, it's a dark brown affair (with a ruby tinge for those who like to look at light sources through booze) that has soft espresso and dark chocolate flavours as well as some spicy earthiness going on in the mouth. There are distinct liquorice / sarsaparilla aromas that nudge the whiff of coffee into second spot in the war of the noses, suggesting old Joe liked a root.