Judge’s Review: 94 Rating – Luna Nueva by Cheluna Brewing Company

International Pale Lager | Year-Round | USA

By David Sapsis

Judges Rating: 94.00
Aroma: 23.00
Appearance: 6.00
Flavor: 38.00
Mouthfeel: 8.00
Overall Impression: 19.00

Luna Nueva from Cheluna Brewing Company of Aurora, Colorado is being evaluated as BJCP category 2A — International Pale Lager. The beer is presented in a tall and slender pilsner glass showcasing a bright gold color, outstanding clarity, and white cap of foam with medium mixed bubbles and medium level stand — the head lasts about a minute before collapsing with remnant lace on the sides of the glass. Notable outgassing is observed with nice fine lines of bubbles tracing up through the beer column. Serving temp is rather chilly at 42°F. 
The aroma comes off dry and relatively subtle with apparent malt cereal notes and relatively assertive hop note, given the absolute mild and soft profile. Faint citrus and lime with notes of rose and some minty-herbal elements adding a very nice complexity. Again, the nose is soft and mild — almost muted, but what is there is quite compelling with a light malt character and a very nice herbal hop note. I detect no malt-derived or ferment sulfur, just a nice clean light beer character as expected in a well executed International Lager. 
The flavor starts with a clean cereal/malt front that transitions to a medium level of bitterness (mid-teens or so) with flavors of light bready malt, corn, and hints of light toast along with a small dab of fleshy-peachy sweetness (I don’t think this is a ferment ester but rather more the malt and residual sugar expressing itself). The latter half of the profile brings more spicy-herbal hop notes to the fore with a bit of mineral dryness making for a short, dry and super clean aftertaste.  Body is light and while the beer is overall quite dry in the balance, the late finish balances a tad of residual malt character with lingering bitterness and that lovely herbal-spicy hop note. The beer seems a little big and full flavored (and bitter) for a typical International Lager, but in a good way. Unfortunately the outgassing observed at initial pour was short lived, and the beer after 5 minutes of evaluation comes off needing more gas. I hear there is a second sample, and I will make sure to pour it to retain as much gas as possible in a post-review double check.   
Overall, Luna Nueva is as pretty as a new moon, and is an extremely tasty light lager with great cereal, malt and hop expression in a tight package. The nose is reserved but mixes malt and hops in a delicate dance, and while the flavor profile comes off a little big, that may be partly exaggerated by the lack of conditioning. Spritzy fizziness is a hallmark for the style and it’s really the only thing this beer needs to border on world-class. It’s a really outstanding effort and I can’t wait to sample the second bottle in a less formalized setting and just enjoy it for what it is — good yellow beer that goes down easy, reminding you of why light lagers are such popular styles the world over.