Moon Dog’s Black Lung has been busting out of barrels since 2011, with the smoky stout spending its time ageing with a different kind of vessel each year. You can read more about the beer’s story here with past barrels including bourbon, whisky, Cognac, and red wine; this time around, tequila got the guernsey.
The barrels were sourced from Tequila Tromba, which is about as Australian as a tequila company can get, having been founded by two Australians and a Canadian. Both the Reposado and Añejo from Tromba spend time in ex-bourbon barrels and don't often make it anywhere near Australia, with this iteration of Black Lung in the planning phase well before VIII was released last year.
Moon Dog's innovation brewer Adrian McNulty told us they were the barrels he's been most nervous about using in his time overseeing the beer, unsure how the peaty monster would react to four months soaking inside them. The tequila certainly leaves its mark and, while the spirit does hit heavily, it also seems to give this Black Lung a lighter palate weight compared to earlier years. There’s still plenty of peated character in there too with vanilla, roast and chocolate flavours completing the picture.
Will Ziebell
Published July 19, 2019 2019-07-19 00:00:00
