It is no secret to anyone who knows us that we absolutely love Verdant. We both hang on their new drops and then cram them in like grain into a French goose. So, when our friends in the deep south took one of their best IPAs and ratchetted things up to DIPA levels, we had no choice but to fatten our livers on a few cans. The question is though, can you have too much of a good thing?
Brewery
Verdant
Name
40 Watt Moon
Style
DIPA
Hops
Citra
Strata
ABV
8%
Jack
Every other review that I have read of 40 Watt Moon has mentioned how beautiful the can design is, and it is, I mean, just look at it! I'm not going to talk about that though. I'm going to talk about nostalgia. Writers much better and wiser (and possibly less inebriated) than me have spent reams and reams exploring the bitter sweet nature of nostalgia (Kundera would be a fine place to start). There are few other sensations so beautiful and melancholy. I'm not going to go into all that, but this absolutely wonderful DIPA evoked in me serious feelings of nostalgia for a memory that I had almost forgotten (I will do some real reviewing in a bit, bear with me!).
The first sip of this slightly musty, dank, wine-scented brew took me back to my uncle's winery in South Australia. I know this is a fairly unrelatable memory, but I swear my cousins and I used to play in the rafters of the barrel shed, balancing on thin wooden planks that seemed perilously high above casks of aging Aussie wine. This beer captured the smell of that room, it's dusty and musty with a slight hint of grape. To drink this beer was to relive, for 440mls worth, the joy of being a child again. It was pure enjoyment in a can.
This is probably such a subjective review as to render it totally useless, so I will rattle off some other thoughts quickly. Aside from the musty dank flavour, which is perhaps slightly more muted in 40 Watt Moon than other Verdant DIPAs, there is a note of passionfruit which is fleeting before the bitterness kicks in. This is a middle of the tongue sort of bitterness, not a massive side of the tongue burner, just a pleasant heat. Please buy this beer, drink it and enjoy it, and yeah, the can is bloody stunning too.
Score - 4.75
Dan
Ok, first things first I'm going to be a real stickler and say I don't quite get why people (including Messr Booker) are harping on about this can design. Yes, I guess it's pretty cool if venn diagrams are your bag but considering this can was bought in a mixed pack with 'Don't Fear the Ferryman' the design was never going to be the standout!!
However the nectar contained within the can is absolute dynamite!!
On cracking it open, I was pummelled by that Verdanty dank cheesy whiff we all know and love. I would say the smell is 2 thirds of the way to FCSE but then dissipates just short of the fondue submersion associated with that worldie. The pour indicated this was going to be thicc and chewy (my nickname in primary school before shedding the puppy fat) and I gawped with growing excitement as it oozed out of the can, eventually settling in the glass with a thin film of froth.
On the mush this was a flavour sensation - there was candied lemon (assuming that's a thing), grapefruit, mandarin, resinous spruce tips and just the faintest hint of blueberry. There was also a touch of boozy warmth on the back end with a trace of crystallised ginger that served as a warning - whilst this is indeed delicious, don't chug it in one or you might find yourself roaming the neighborhood in search of a calzone kebab at 1am, not that I'm speaking from experience or anything!!
In summary, if you like that Verdant savoury edge that is seeming to be more and more divisive amongst the craft community of late, you will love this. It's complex, it's juicy, it's dank, it's surprisingly crisp - in my opinion it's another fantastic DIPA from the Cornish collective.
Dan - 4.5
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