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Moon Dog, Rogue have beard covered

Long-time beer drinker and The Sip editor Ross Lewis looks at brews from around the country.

Catch up with other beers on The Sip Archive

Moon Dog have become well known for their experimentation.

Almost no ingredient is off limits to the Melbourne brewers.

So when they combine their talents with another beer maker with similarly wide tastes it is always going to result in a very interesting drink.

Moon Dog and American favourites Rogue have put their minds together to develop The Beard Downunder. Mind you, they had some friends to help. That was a dead giveaway gauging from the label.

But let’s back up a bit.

Initially, The Beard Downunder grew out of discussions between Moon Dog and Rogue’s champion brewer John “the Beard” Maier from Oregon. Maier has been known to make beers with yeast harvested from his facial locks.

It later involved the input of 30 patrons during a “Masterclass of Madness” that also involved throwing in hops that came from Rogue Farms.

The result is a smoked barley wine aged in whiskey and run oak barrels.

On release the Masterclass guests were invited to be the first to try the beer.

“We've always loved Rogue's approach to brewing,” says Moon Dog’s Josh Uljans.

“They make fantastic beers and were one of the inspirations for us to set up Moon Dog.

“It was an awesome experience brewing with John! We’re stoked with how the beer has turned out. The barrels have added heaps of fantastic rummy, whisky flavours.”

The Beard Downunder has been released to the public and will weaving its taste around the country.