Moondog Black Lung - XIII Launch

Black Lung is a beer I drunk often, in fact it a beer I have written three different posts on HIVE about. But you see Black Lung isn't a single beer, it's actually a brand new beer released each year from Melbourne Brewery Moondog.

So in fact I've written a post about Black Lung 9 Black Lung 10 and Black Lung 11 so obviously when Black Lung 13 (or XIII becuase we are fancy) was released this week I knew I would write about it again.

Now it's 13 because there have been 13 of them and I had drunk all of them except 6 and 12 (I don't drink beers which a divisible by 6 for religious reasons, obviously). Truth is I have no idea why I missed 6, or for that matter 12, which would have been last year.

So when they said to celebrate the release of 13 they would be offering a flight of Black Lungs 10 through to the brand new 13, along with a nip of the rum in which this year's beer was barrel aged in all at the original brewery of Moondog it just made sense.

The fact that last weekend was the coldest weekend in Melbourne for over 5 years and I got hailed on twice mean it was a perfect time for some imperial peated stouts weighting in at over 10%.

So what did I find from the four beers.

Well weirdly they followed the general vibe of the year they were released

Black Lung X in 2020 - I mean 2020 was going okay early, I was taking a sabbatical from work, I'd been on holidays for 3 months, I was relaxed I was happy, but there were moody and harsh things on the horizon, COVID hits in March and the world goes all wacky. It wasn't easy, or comfortable, but it was very exciting. Just like this beer, the most smokey of the lot, and big a and boozy and pretty darn good.

Black Lung XI in 2021 - Remember 2021, we thought COVID was over? and then they would lock us down again, and then open up, and you weren't quite sure what was going on, and you tried to get holidays in but you didn't want to go too far and it was all just a little blah? Well that is this beer, somehow there is a 12% imperial stout aged in Whiskey Barrels that taste, well just a bit underwehleming.

Black Lung XII in 2022 - This was my missing Black Lung, and I'm not happy about missing it at all becuase it's probably the best one. it's like this amazing sweet, christmas pudding type beer. And 2022 was a pretty good year as well, I meant things actually got back to normal, we made it back overseas, we had a couple of proper holidays, everyone got to celebrate their birthdays.

Black Lung XIII in 2023, so what does 2023 entail? If my beer represents the year theory holds then I think it's going to be okay, On first sip I was a little sceptical, but as I eased into it it's really starting to grow on me, a little like this year.

So there we go, another year, another Black Lung

The empty glasses - and how dare they claim there would be coconut in 2021 - flase promises