Review: Vessel Moscow Mule Sour Ginger Beer

Thanks to Ty over at Nonsuch/Vessel for dropping this off the other day! I was at Nonsuch a week ago and got to get a sample of Vessel Beer's newest edition (Moscow Mule) to their lineup, days before it was canned and released. Vessel's Moscow Mule is a Sour Ginger Beer that is meant to replicate a classic Moscow Mule cocktail as a beer. I've honestly never had a Moscow Mule before but it definitely had a cocktail vibe to it.

Vessel's Moscow Mule is a fusion of a lemon/lime kettle sour with a spicy ginger beer. 5.8% ABV

Appearance: Pours a honey/amber body with no clarity. Very minimal amount of white head on top that diminishes to a small amount of bubbles.

Aroma: Very ginger forward with a good amount of spiciness to it. Lots of lime and lemon, a bit of a graininess coming from malt to give it a bit of a cereal vibe. Moderate amount of sourness to it but mostly masked by the ginger.

Taste: This is an interesting one, it tastes full on what I expect a Moscow Mule to taste like.. but as a beer, which is exactly what it is. There's a good amount of ginger popping out which gives it a spiciness that lingers on the tongue for a brief moment. There's a good amount of lime and lemon citrusiness, and a bit of a cereal presence from the barley. There's a bit of a sourness popping up but again, the ginger masks it a good deal.

Overall Thoughts: Not overly sour for a kettle sour so I like that. There's a lot of ginger popping out in this beer as well as lime/lemon. Ever since the first time I tried this over a week ago I've felt that this beer has a very autumn vibe to it, definitely something that pairs well with the quickly changing seasons.. So definitely much more appreciative than the pumpkin spice trend we see around this time of year, every year. Not many breweries are making beers with ginger now days so it's nice to see.

https://www.vessel.beer/releases