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!

Goose Island Honker's Ale

I've always like English-style bitters, but since I started this project, it doesn't look like I've had any.  Lucky for me, the Goose Island variety box I picked up recently includes their Honker's Ale, which is a standard bitter:

Vittles:
Standard/Ordinary Bitter
4.3% abv
30 IBU

Score:
Appearance:10/10
Aroma: 22/25
Taste: 37/40
Mouthfeel: 8/10
Style: 5/5
Drinkability: 8/10
Overall: 90/100

Impression:
I like bitters because, despite the name, I usually find them to be a good balance between malt and hops.  This beer's no exception.  In fact, this is probably one of the better bitters I've had in the past few years.  The head persisted fairly well and left mild lacing as it fell.  The aroma is on the malty side, with hints of wheat, caramel, and biscuit.  The hops aromas are delicate and mild, mainly fruity, earthy, and herbal.  I taste more toffee than caramel, but otherwise the malt backbone nicely complements the mild hops flavors.  There's more bitterness on the tail end, and it lingers into the aftertaste a bit.  This would make a good session beer because it's not too heavy or obtrusive of a flavor.

Cheers!

16 Mile Old Court Ale

Since I was in Delaware for my vacation, I figured I should try something from a Delaware brewery.  Last time I was down there, I went to Dogfish Head, so this time I decided to give 16 Mile a try.  I found a 6er of their Old Court Ale for a good price, so I gave it a shot:

Vittles:

American Pale Ale

6.1% abv

Score:

Appearance: 9/10

Aroma: 21/25

Taste: 35/40

Mouthfeel: 8/10

Style: 4/5

Drinkability: 8/10

Overall: 85/100

Impression:

I was actually a little surprised by this beer.  The aroma was pretty close to what I expected to smell -- toffee, caramel, a little breadiness, a hint of biscuit, something grassy, and a fair noseful of hoppy goodness.  But it punched me in the tongue more than I was expecting after such a relatively light aroma.  It was a welcome surprise.  It tastes like an APA should taste, for the most part, and it leaves a sticky, resinous bitterness that lingers in the aftertaste for quite a while.  The one down side was that I tasted something metallic that I couldn't quite pin down.  This seems like the kind of beer that would pair well with a good cut of steak or some slow-smoked bbq ribs.

Cheers!

Dogfish Head Raison d'Etre

I've had DFH Raison d'Etre before, and I remember liking it quite a bit, so when I found a 6er of it for considerably cheaper than I can usually get it for, I bought it.  After all, what's the point of being on vacation if you can't splurge a bit here and there?  It wasn't quite as fresh this time around (last time I had it, I was at DFH in Rehoboth, DE), but it was still damn tasty:

Vittles:

Belgian Dark Strong Ale

8% abv

25 IBU

Score:

Appearance: 8/10

Aroma: 21/25

Taste: 37/40

Mouthfeel: 8/10

Style: 4/5

Drinkability: 8/10

Overall: 86/100

Impression:
I love the rich color this beer has.  The aroma is complex, with hints of brown sugar, molasses, dark fruits (raisins and figs mainly, plums are more understated), and rich malty deliciousness.  The flavors largely follow the nose, but it also has a vinous quality, and the yeast characteristics are a little more apparent.  There's some spiciness to it, and it has a medium-full body with a fair amount of effervescence to keep it lively.  It ends on a slightly dry note, and the aftertaste is malty-sweet.  I think I'm going to stow a bottle away for a while and see how well it ages.

Cheers!

Hoegaarden Wit

I can't believe I've never actually had more than a sip of Hoegaarden Wit before.  It must've just slipped under the radar somehow.  Anyway, I finally had a chance to rectify that, but unfortunately, there were no clean glasses to pour into:

Vittles:

Witbier

4.9% abv

Score:

Appearance: 8/10

Aroma: 22/25

Taste: 36/40

Mouthfeel: 8/10

Style: 5/5

Drinkability: 8/10

Overall: 87/100

Impression:

This is what I look for in witbiers.  The aroma is a little earthy-sweet, like honey or vanilla, plenty of wheat, citrus, coriander, and a little herbal.  The flavors are about the same, though the sweet and herbal flavors are more pronounced for me.  I love the wheat backbone and the slight spiciness.  Very crisp, clean, and refreshing.  I really don't see why people feel the need to slap a lemon wedge on a beer like this -- it's delicious just the way it is.

Cheers!

Heavy Seas Loose Cannon

The fourth beer in my Heavy Seas sampler box was the Loose Cannon IPA.  They still aren't my favorite style, yet I seem to try more kinds of IPAs than anything else:

Vittles:
American IPA
7.25% abv
45 IBU

Score:
Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 19/25
Taste: 33/40
Mouthfeel: 7/10
Style: 4/5
Drinkability: 7/10
Overall: 77/100

Impression:
There wasn't much of a head, but I wasn't at home, and the glass I poured into probably had head-killing soap residue on it.  I wasn't overly impressed by the aroma -- citrusy-grapefruit hops with a bready-caramel background.  It seemed on the weak side for an American IPA.  The flavors were a bit more pronounced than the nose was, but not by a whole lot.  The grapefruit flavors were joined by some resinous pine with a little stickiness, and a sweeter caramel came out on the tongue than I expected.  As the beer warmed, I tasted something akin to brown sugar, too.  The finish is mostly clean with a hint of spiciness, and the aftertaste lingers, but not as long as I'd expect for the style.  Overall, it was a decent IPA, but I got the feeling that the hop characteristics had already faded appreciably, even though I had it several months before the best by date (Nov. 2013).  On a side note, I'm not really one to talk about the importance of "fresh" hops -- this is the first IPA where I've really felt the aromas and flavors imparted by the hops were significantly weaker than I expected them to be.

Cheers!