Blue Moon Short Straw

We had picked up a Blue Moon variety pack a while back, and this one was still sitting in my keezer.  I'm a little wary about trying it, since it has hibiscus, which tends to bother me.  But I'll give it a try, and if I can't handle the hibiscus, well, my husband will just have to finish it.  I have a bottle of their Rounder, too, but if this one bothers me, I might just skip the Rounder all together.  Having food sensitivities is not fun.

Vittles:
Saison
5.8% abv
17 IBUs

Score:
Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 19/25
Taste: 30/40
Mouthfeel: 7/10
Style: 3/5
Drinkability: 6/10
Overall: 73/100

Impression:
Though it poured with a decent head, the foam fell quickly and left virtually no lacing on the glass.  The aroma smells like every other Blue Moon beer I've had so far -- weakly wheaty with a very faint fruitiness (citrus) and a bare breath of yeast presence.  It's certainly not bringing the "wow" factor, and the flavors really don't bring anything new to the table, either.  I can sort of convince myself that I taste the citrus and something floral before the flavors turn a little tart.  The best way I can describe this beer is weak -- the aroma and flavors didn't bother to show up for work; I feel, moreso with this beer than any other Blue Moon varieties I've tried, that I'm drinking flavored water, not beer.  The mouthfeel is a little better than I was expecting, but it really doesn't add anything.  Overall, if this were your first saison ever, you'd have a pretty poor idea of what saisons are actually like.  And, unfortunately, the hibiscus did start to bother me, so I wasn't able to finish this one.  On to greener pastures...

Cheers!

Blue Moon Belgian White

I can't even count how many times I've had Blue Moon Belgian White in the past, but I've never taken the time to review it.  With most beers, the more I think about the aromas and flavors, the more I enjoy the beer.  This, however, is not one of those beers.  I find I like Blue Moon beers better if I don't pay too much attention to them:

Vittles:
Witbier
5.4% abv
9 IBU

Score:
Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 19/25
Taste: 30/40
Mouthfeel: 7/10
Style: 4/5
Drinkability: 8/10
Overall: 76/100

Impression:
I've had this beer several times in the past, both on tap and from a bottle.  I have never been overly impressed with it, but it is passably decent, especially when the other tap selections are all light varieties of BMC (as frequently occurs near me, sadly).  The head pours nicely, but it falls almost immediately and leaves no lacing at all as it goes.  The aroma is very subdued, and I can pick up on faint whisps of wheat, yeast, citrus, and spice.  Of the three, the coriander imparts the strongest scent, followed by citrus (orange).  The flavor is much the same, though the wheat backbone becomes more prominent on your breath after you swallow.  The lackluster flavors, combined with a fairly light mouthfeel, make this beer fairly drinkable and refreshing, albeit boring and dull.  But hey, it's better than the tap water around here, which often tastes like pond scum in the warmer weather.

Cheers!

Blue Moon Agave Nectar Ale

Earlier this month, I picked up a variety pack of Blue Moon beers.  I like regular Blue Moon, and I've tried one or two of their varietals in the past and found them to be decent.  The first beer I pulled out of the box was the Agave Nectar ale:

Vittles:
American Wheat or Rye Beer
5.6% abv
14 IBU

Score:
Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 17/25
Taste: 33/40
Mouthfeel: 7/10
Style: 4/5
Drinkability: 8/10
Overall: 76/100

Impression:
It poured decently, but the head fell insanely quickly and left no lacing whatsoever.  The aroma is very flat -- all I really smell is flour.  When I sniff the beer, I feel like I've got my nose in the flour canister in my kitchen.  Every now and then, I catch a little caramel or a hint of earthiness, but it's mostly just flour.  The taste improves on the nose a bit, but not a whole lot -- the caramel and the earthiness both come out to play more, and there's a floral quality that I didn't pick up on in the aroma.  The flour taste still dominates, but not as much as it did in the nose.  I only really taste the agave after I swallow; the "tequila" taste only seems to register in the aftertaste for me.

About halfway through this beer, I poured out a shot of 100% agave tequila so I could compare the two, since I'm not overly familiar with agave flavors -- I'm partial to bourbon and Scotch, preferably on the rocks or in a rusty nail with Drambouie (SO good!).  I left off the lime and salt, partly because I'm out of fresh limes, and partly so I could just focus on the agave flavors and, ya know, learn.  Having these two side by side (and palate cleansing in between) helped me better identify which floral and slightly fruity flavors were from the agave.  I was already familiar with the earthy-brown-sugar/burnt resin aspect of the agave, and I did pick up on those qualities in this beer as well.

All in all, this was a good learning experience beer.  And it was decently tasty to boot, once you either accepted or got past the over-the-top all-purpose flour aroma/taste.  And it gave me a chance to have some tequila.  For educational purposes, of course.  And it generated what's quite possibly my longest blog post yet.  So I guess I really can't complain too much, right?

Cheers!

Blue Moon Blackberry Tart Ale

I've had a couple Blue Moon varieties in the past, but I haven't yet had a chance to taste their Blackberry Tart Ale:

Vittles:

Fruit Beer

5.8% abv

9 IBU

Score:

Appearance: 9/10

Aroma: 17/25

Taste: 30/40

Mouthfeel: 7/10

Style: 4/5

Drinkability: 7/10

Overall: 74/100

Impression:

I can't say I'm overly impressed.  It tastes like their basic Belgian White with blackberry flavoring added in, to be honest.  Granted, this version is clear and the Belgian White is cloudy, but aside from that, the base aroma and flavor profiles are very similar, with blackberry being the only real distinguishing point.

The beer poured with a decent head, but the head settled out in seconds and left no lacing on the glass.  The nose held mostly wheat, bread, and fruit/berries.  The flavor is much the same, but more tart than I expected, despite the name of the beer.  It kind of tastes artificial or chemically or something -- not quite a natural fruit flavor.  With a light body and a slightly bitter-dry finish, t's not as refreshing as I would have thought, either.  It's certainly not the best Blue Moon variety I've had, but it's not the worst, either.

Cheers!

Blue Moon Grand Cru

As I said before, I'm partial to Belgian styles, so when I saw that Blue Moon had put out a grand cru, I was interested in trying it, especially since I like their regular label quite a bit.  Grand cru is more of an umbrella term than a specific style, but the grand crus that I've come across so far have all fallen into the high-abv Belgian wheat category, including the two batches of cru that I brewed myself.

The Blue Moon Grand Cru came in a larger bottle, so my husband and I each got a nice tall glass out of it, and there was a significant amount of yeast sediment in the bottom of the bottle, so my guess is this beer would've been a good one to tuck away in the cellar for a couple years.

If you've ever had the regular Blue Moon Belgian wheat ale before, this is basically the same brew, but more intense.  It's a beautiful golden-orange color with a half-inch, well-retained head.  There's a fairly high level of carbonation that keeps the head going, but such a high level of carbonation seems more fit for a soda than for a beer, so it detracted from my enjoyment a bit.  When it did eventually settle, it left little to no lacing on the glass.  8/10 for appearance

The aroma is very pleasing but subdued.  Most of what you smell is a solid wheat base, with notes of orange and a slight hint of coriander (if I didn't know what coriander smelled like from making cru in the past, I wouldn't have been able to pick it out, since it is a very faint hint).  There's also a very mild hint of banana from the yeast.  23/30 for aroma

The taste is less than I expected it to be, to be honest.  Based on the packaging, appearance, and aroma, I expected this to have a richer, fuller, more complex taste than it actually has.  The upfront taste is more bitter and dry, and there's little aftertaste.  The wheat body of the beer does come through nicely, as does the orange, but it is very difficult to detect the coriander or any of the yeast characteristics, partly due to the high levels of carbonation stinging the tongue.  In my opinion, the beer tasted a little young, like the flavors hadn't had a chance to mellow and blend well.  I think Blue Moon should have sat on it a bit longer before shipping it out for sale, or there should have been some flavor text on the label saying, "For best taste, allow bottle to age 6-12 months before enjoying."  Something like that, anyway, cause it had not had enough maturation time.  30/40 for taste

As I said above, it was over-carbonated from the bottle, giving it a sharp, dry mouthfeel that detracted from the beer and prevented the yeast profile from coming through.  On the plus side, there was a nice alcohol-warmth left behind with the aftertaste, and I'd expect that from an 8.2% abv beer.  6/10 for mouthfeel

If someone were to buy this beer for me, I'd absolutely drink it again, but for the money it cost and the mildly disappointing taste and mouthfeel, it simply isn't worth it.  I'd much rather enjoy the regular Blue Moon, which is just a better beer for the price than the BMGC.  7/10 for drinkability.

At 74/100, I wouldn't say that this is a "must try" beer, not by a long shot.  It's an enjoyable beer, but it doesn't merit the fancier bottle or the heftier price tag.  There are plenty of other grand crus that pack more flavor and more complexity for about the same price.

Cheers!