Flock of Moons and the Crew dipped into the darkness for new collaboration

We made a beer again. It’s good. And by good we mean evil. Which is good. Well, the charity part is good.

A few weeks back, myself and Franz Solo headed over to Flock of Moons to help brew up our first collaboration beer with the Bricklight District brewery.

Today (Friday) at 5 p.m., we will officially tap Dark Side of the Moons, a black IPA inspired by classics in the sub-genre like Firestone Walker’s Wookey Jack. Checking in at 7.7-percent ABV and 88 IBU, our latest co-creation overs up a lovely mix of classic hops, roasted malts, and even a touch of dark chocolate.

Flock of Moons’ Jeff Tomlinson, left, gets his proper metal face going for our team photo.

All credit goes to Flock of Moons co-owner/brewer Jeff Tomlinson for the name, and to Crew members Brandon and Lex for suggesting black IPA as the style. Franz Solo wrote the initial recipe, which Jeff tweaked as needed. Me? I just got to do a lot of the initial manual labor, which once again taught me that I am out of shape, and that brewing is great exercise (slept like a rock that night).

It was also Jeff’s idea to tie our beer into the Collective Good campaign to help with fire/flood relief down in Ruidoso. The good folks at Downshift Brewing, who started the campaign, were all too happy to have us hop (pun intended) on board. A portion of the proceeds of every pint sold will go to help the communities down south.

I could blather on, but I will let the pictures of the day tell the rest of the story.

That’s a lot of grain for a 7-barrel brewery. We did not overflow the mash tun (again), we promise.

Stoutmeister got to pour in most of that grain. His back did not give out, amazingly enough.

Twas a thick wort. Also, never wear your glasses while mashing in, lest you want the grain dust and the steam to create a nice layer of mud on the lenses.

It’s a good workout stirring this stuff. Also, it smelled so wonderful throughout the brewery.

Brew deck selfies. Reminds us of 2020, in a way.

Transfer time. Hmm, that seems a little light in color.

The longer you stare into the abyss, the longer it stares back into you, or something like that.

Someone had to drop off his kid at school, so he got to show up late and just have fun adding the hops. All the hops.

All shenanigans aside, it was great to be able to have another collaboration brew day. We always enjoy working with the breweries and learning even more about the amazing process that produces all the quality beers in this big little town of ours.

Thanks again to Jeff and Flock of Moons for the opportunity. We look forward to tapping this beautiful beast of a beer today. Join us, won’t you?

Keep supporting local!

— Stoutmeister