If memory serves, I first ran into this beer last summer at a Binny's. I hemmed and hawed about buying a 4-pack because my basket already had several of them in it and carrying it around much longer with even more weight was going to require eating a can of spinach to quickly build my arm's muscles (pronounced with a hard C). My logic was something akin to "I'll be back in town ere long so I'll grab some next time."
Well, the best laid plans and whatnot happened and I didn't get to a Chicago area liquor store again for a few months or more. But there was a happy ending as by November this limited edition summer brew was marked down considerably yet still decidedly within its freshness threshold. I think I got a 4-pack for $6.
Moor's Brewing, a black-owned Chicago brewery teamed up with the venerable Revolution Brewing for this one. Moor's was founded in 2021 by Jamal Johnson and Damon Patton. It seems they either brew their beer at 18th Street in Indiana, another black-owned brewery, or at a newish brewpub in Chicago. At roughly the same time this brew was released, Moor's won the Samuel Adams’ 2025 Brewing & Business Experienceship award which I think means they get to have the Sam Adams folks as business mentors for a stretch so things are looking good for them.
Moorvolution is a Polish-style pilsner and I am not sure if that's really a style unto itself that is recognized elsewhere in the world or if it's just an ad copy-ready term from the BJCP for any old pils brewed with Polish hops. The can features "The African King Caspar", a painting that dates back to the 16th-century just as most cans of Moor's regular beers do. As their website says, "Our beer pays homage to the rich untold history of our African ancestry". This beer is a homage to the Lipka Tatars, Muslims who emigrated to Poland in the 15th century. ?? Maybe. I am extrapolating from Wikipedia here.
The brew features Lubelski hops which are apparently also known as Lublin which is the name I've always heard them referred to as. A Noble type hop but I am unsure what the Polish spin on it is.
The can looks bad-ass, if you ask me, with King Caspar's, um, regal and slightly imposing visage set against the Chicago flag. He's got a Frederick Douglass-like charisma. The beer also looks like a bad-ass pilsner with it's lovely yellow color and clarity. I got a nice head of pure white foam that lasted a long time while beneath were bubbles aplenty. The aroma was redolent of summer with straw/grass joining a delicate cracker scent along with a faint bit of honey.
A light-medium body was accompanied by a firm fizziness that made for ebullience on the tongue with some astringency but nothing outrageous. A nice cracker taste was complemented by something honey-floral but not particularly sweet. Finally the hops added their Nobleness with some grassy-spicy flavors. The malt taste fled quickly on the finish to be replaced by the Noble hoppiness which gave a firm dryness to the denouement along with a nice dose of bitterness.
This was a very fine brew. The cracker flavor accompanied by a bit o' honey was delicious and the green hop flavors were delectable. Since there was a bit of something floral here and there were floral flavors to be had in a genuine Polish pilsner from Browar Błonie, I am going to assume that "traditional", i.e. - Nobley, Polish hops have a floral component to them that are absent from other similar varieties from, say, Germany and The Czech Republic. And, to be clear, I love love love the floral flavors I've tasted in these two recent Polish(-style) pilsners. Much more to my liking than tropical fruit.
Junk food pairing: pair Moorvolution's light, crisp maltiness with a light, crisp potato chip such as Jays Bacon Cheddar.
No comments:
Post a Comment