White Christmas Spiced Winter Lager Brewed by Moylan’s Brewery - Novato, CA

 
Beer Review from Beer Advocate:
Appearance - pours with a nice finger of eggnog white foam. Beer is golden orange with hints of amber. Fairly clear. Minor head retention, hints of lacing. Bottle artwork is typical for this brewery. Kind of busy, kind of nineties, lots of informative text. The information I like most is their reminder to keep this beer refrigerated because it is a live ale. Hmmm, this one is actually a lager so the reminder is probably even more important. Also, label says this beer is brewed with orange zest (curaçao), mace, cinnamon, coriander, and white pepper. Fun blurb about the beer as well. Better more info than not.

Aroma - clean smell of lager yeast and hints of holiday spices. As you get into the beer, a nuttiness appears in the flavor that then becomes unmistakable in the aroma as well. It's nice.

Taste - this lager almost comes off like a nutty ale. Nice round flavor of classic pilsner(?) malts blended with nuttiness. Was surprised to find it tastes a lot like peanut butter. It's pleasant and subtle, though. Some spicy fruitiness is there, but it's not as pronounced as the malt and the nuttiness.

Mouthfeel - mouthfeel is good. Surprisingly medium when I feared it could be thin and astringent.

Overall - of the Christmas lagers I've had, this is among the best. For fans of the genre, holiday beers, or even just lagers I'd say give this a try. I can see this being a hit at any holiday dinner. Cheers!
    
Moylan's Brewery  History 
In 1995 Moylan's Brewing Co. opened at Rowland Plaza, bringing Novato into the ranks of other world class brew towns like Portland Oregon and Seattle Washington by claiming the rights to it’s own Microbrewery thanks to bay area native Brendan Moylan. The 44 year old co-owner of Marin Brewing Company in Larkspur, Brendan brings more than 28 years of brewing experience to Novato, which began with his first home brewing kit one year after college.

“One January I went out and bought the Christmas gift I really wanted: a beer brewing kit, and one thing led to another” Moylan said. “I got a degree in accounting and decided I didn’t want to go there and started working for a beer importing company, then one day I walked into Buffalo Bill’s brewpub in Hayward and my eyes got big and I knew it was what I wanted to do.”

After taking extension classes on brewing techniques at UC Davis, Moylan became a founding partner in Marin Brewing Company, which opened in April of 1989.
Moylan moved his family from San Francisco to Novato in 1989 because he wanted to raise his two children in the city’s small town atmosphere. In 1991 Moylan decided to expand on his brewing ideas. “My adopted home town was the natural choice for a brewery” he said.

Moylan’s Brewery & Restaurant, Novato’s only brewpub, was $3.5 million project that has established a strong following among North Marin’s beer connoisseurs. Moylan’s features a 57 foot long bar, a dart room with a fireplace and a reading library featuring brewing books and magazines from Brendan’s personal collection. By constructing the brewpub in an empty lot from his own vision, Moylan was able to increase efficiency and productivity, while still leaving room for expansion as the establishment’s popularity grows. According to Moylan, the location at Rowland Plaza provides good freeway visibility and helps attract a greater number of customers from the nearby theatre and corporate offices. When Moylan co-founded Marin Brewing Company back in 1989 there were only about a 100 brewpubs across the country. Today, there are more than 2000.