Blue Moon Harvest Pumpkin Ale

Brewed By: Miller Brewing Company (MillerCoors) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin   

Purchased: 12oz bottle from a 6-pack bought at Jewel-Osco in Chicago, IL; 2014 

Style/ABV: Pumpkin Ale (Spice/Herb/Vegetable), 5.7%

Reported IBUs: 16

Blue Moon. Huuwhhhuuuuttt? Yeah, I know, right. I really wanted to give this one a fair shake because it's not a terrible beer. I also have nostalgia tied to this one. Back when I was 18, dumb, and a freshman in college, snagging beer was a bit more challenging than it is today. That's the amazing thing about having an ID and being of the legal drinking age. Oh, and having a beard helps. Anyway, on a chilly Autumn evening, my friend and I departed from the dorms on a quest for beer. We met up with a third party, a friend of my friend's, climbed into his jeep, and headed to Dominicks. Being the classy mofos that we were back then, we loaded up on fancy beer. Said fancy beer included the Harvest Pumpkin. I'm not gonna lie. I enjoyed the Harvest Pumpkin way back when, when I was 18 and dumb. I can't emphasize the dumb part enough. This was one of those gateway beers for me...and again, it's not a terrible beer. But yeah, MillerCoors and Blue Moon:

Blue Moon was first brewed in 1995 at one of MillerCoor's R&D arms; in a sandlot, in Denver, Colorado, by Keith Villa. Keith Villa is an OG player these days. He's off judging beer, and talking about his PhD in brewing from the University of Brussels. There's a PhD for everything these days. Seriously though, it's Blue Moon. Read the Wiki. 

The Harvest Pumpkin Ale supposedly dates back to 1995. Blue Moon also states that this was the first nationally available pumpkin ale. I dunno. This one is brewed with Munich and Caramel malts, Hallertau hops, and Pumpkin, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Clove, and Allspice. 

Blue Moon Harvest Pumpkin Ale

The appearance is very much typical of the style, with a dark caramel-orange body in the realm of an Oktoberfest or Brown Ale. This produces a finger of short-lived, orange/brown-tinged head. In bright light, the beer takes on an orange color, and this beer is very clearly transparent. There's good carbonation at work here, and faint head retention. It's not a bad looking beer, all things considered.

I like the aroma on this one a lot. It's simple, overly sweet, and straightforward...very much like the standard Blue Moon Belgian White. Even with my lingering head cold, I'm getting overt pumpkin, pumpkin cookies, ginger, gingersnap cookies, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, sweet potato pie, pumpkin pie, and crackling pie crust. Really, this beer packs a ton of flavor on the nose. It has a club soda vibe on the aroma at times...so it's missing some malt depth you would otherwise find in stronger pumpkin beers, but this is way less soda-like than Shipyard's fuck-tastic and truly awful Pumpkinhead.

The taste delivers a solid continuation of the aroma, with big pumpkin pie sweetness, clove, ginger spice, pie crust, and even some malt depth. I'm getting some nice bread, pie crust, and cakey Munich malt kick in here. You get a little gingersnap, a little nutmeg, sweat potato pie, and some ginger soda. This does veer very close to club soda and ginger soda, but the malts pull things back and round this out into a real beer. It's like making a sandcastle. You want some moisture, but too much and the whole palace comes crashing down.

This is ridiculously drinkable at 5.7%, with a light to medium-light body, tons of carbonation, and a clean and attenuated finish. The finish here is impressive and clean. Really impressive compared to swill like Shock Top. Palate depth is straightforward but good, and complexity is average if not above average. I shit you not, there's good stuff going on here. From the sweet pie notes and pumpkin pastries up front, to the ginger and gingersnap spice in the middle, to the ginger soda finish that is grounded with bready Munich malts. This is a good pumpkin beer. Say it with me, even if you hate to.

Rating: Above-Average (3.5/5.0 Untappd)

This is a Light Above-Average. I'm not just drinking the nostalgia Kool-Aid. This is a legit beer, and definitely one of the better Blue Moon variations. This may be the best Blue Moon variant after the original. In a lot of ways, this beer functions well as a Marzen or Oktoberfest...I suggest pairing this beer with football, cooling weather, and tailgating. Really, this is fantastic at around $8 a 6-pack. You don't even have to go to Binny's or whatever to snag it. Seasoned beer drinkers owe it to themselves to revisit this one every once in a while.

Random Thought: I'm so ready for football....

Sierra Nevada's Beer Camp 2014: Tater Ridge Scottish Ale (brewed with Asheville Brewers Alliance in Asheville, North Carolina)

Brewed By: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, California 
Purchased: Single 12oz bottle from the 2014 Beer Camp bought at Jewel-Osco in Chicago, IL; 2014 (PKG 06/04/14)
Style/ABV: Stottish Ale, 7.0%

Reported IBUs: 35

What is Beer Camp? It is Sierra Nevada's celebration of craft beer and the numerous breweries across America that make that craft beer. For 2014, Sierra Nevada collaborated with 12 different breweries to make 12 different beers. They also have a Beer Camp Across America Beer Festival, which will stop at seven different cities and feature many different breweries and beers.

About Sierra Nevada:

Sierra Nevada are one of the big players in craft brewing, and one of the first craft breweries to arrive on the craft beer scene. If you check out their history page, you will see that founder Ken Grossman began his quest to build a brewery in 1976. In 1980, Ken Grossman and co-founder Paul Camusi brewed their first batch of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. According to Wikipedia, Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale is the second best selling craft beer behind Boston Lager. Sierra Nevada is the sixth largest brewing company in the United States as well, cranking out over 750,000 barrels in 2010. For more info, check out their website.

The Tater Ridge Scottish Ale is a collaboration between Sierra Nevada and the Scottish folk from the Asheville Brewers Alliance. My bottle reads: "We're fortunate to call the passionate and talented folks in the Asheville Brewers Alliance our North Carolina neighbors. Tater Ridge is our nod to the area's Scottish Highland history, and we hope this ale accented by sweet potatoes will be the first of many collaborations to come."

There and Back English-Style Bitter

This one pours out a dark reddish-browh with two fingers of tan/caramel-tinted head. This is nearly opaque; you can't really see the carbonation. There is good head retention and lacing.

The aroma here is really deep, with big caramel, bready notes, spicy notes, brown sugar, and sweet fruits that start to emerge as this warms up. It doesn't smelly like your prototypical Scotch Ale, so immediately judging this by the aroma is a bit difficult to do.

The taste, however, is much more in line with what I was expecting with a Scottish Ale. There are twangy peated malts playing off big bready and caramel notes, with Twizzlers fruits. This is fruity and sweet, with some bready spice in the back. It's very elegant and nice.

This is full-bodied, but I don't get any of the 7.0%. This is all about those gentle caramel malts and that nice, fruity body. FYI: I don't get any potato in this. Palate depth is good; good complexity. Up front: bready malts, caramel sugars, Twizzlers sweetness; that rolls into deep malts, light peat, more fruity and bready notes; the back end has a twang of hops and finishes with lingerings sugars. Nice.

Rating: Above-Average (4.5/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this beer. Maybe even higher...hmm. I'll have to revisit this in a few days. This is easily one of my favorites from the Beer Camp 2014. This is really tightly executed, and also happens to be an interesting take on the Scottish Ale style. I'd buy this in a 6-pack in the late Fall or early Winter months to pair with football and hearty stews and desserts. This is the Autumn beer that I want...not another tired adjunct squash or pumpkin beer.

Random Thought: This is seriously some great beer. It makes up for the sort-of-boring Yvan and Chico. 

Stone Crime

Brewed By: Stone Brewing Co. in Escondido, California

Purchased: 16.9oz/500ml bottle bought at Evolution Wine & Spirits in Chicago, IL; 2013

Style/ABV: American Strong Ale/Chile Beer, 9.6% 
Reported IBUs: 102

Tonight's beer has been getting absolutely shit-panned on Ratebeer and BeerAdvocate for being too hot. I'm a huge fan of spicy foods, so it was with more than morbid curiosity that I found myself purchasing the Crime. Will it live up to the hype/hate? About Stone:

Stone Brewing are one of the more prominent breweries in the American craft brewing scene. They were founded in 1996 in San Marcos, California, and moved to Escondido, California where they recently expanded their operations. Stone was founded by Steve Wagner and Greg Koch. Koch has a reputation among the craft beer community for voicing his opinion, not putting up with shit, and standing behind his beer. Also...farking woot and fizzy yellow beer is for bitches. 

When people say, "I like spicy food," they probably don't mean that they are pepper masochists. I'm a pepper masochist. I enjoy trying hot sauces that push the Scoville limit. I'm a fan of ghost peppers and other unholy chilies. Bring on the heat, baby.

I was surprised when I started to do my homework about this beer. According to THIS blog post and THIS blog post, Stone's Crime is brewed with jalapeños and black nagas. The black naga is nuthin' to fuck with. These are peppers in the same class as the Bhut Jolokia and the Trinidad Scorpion. These are not gentle peppers. These are not jalapeños. 

I'm guessing this beer is legitimately hot.

The Crime's base beer is the Lukcy Basartd Ale (a blend of Arrogant Bastard, Double Bastard, and OAKED Arrogant Bastard). The Crime is then aged in American Oak; specifically, Kentucky Bourbon Barrels. The Crime uses "mid-level-heat" red and green jalapeños, "ultra-hot" black nagas, Caribbean red hots, and Moruga scorpions and fatalis. Can you say "owe, my fundie hole." This insane beer was bottled on October 2013, and clocks in at 9.6% and 102 IBUs.

Stone Crime

What a fucking disaster this was...the cork was cemented into the bottle, and I broke it in half trying to remove it. I ended up having to manually remove the cork with a wine opener, which agitated the beer and consequently lead to some gushing. The beer itself pours into a cloudy, dark red body, and kicks up two or three fingers of red-tinted head. This is a dirty beer, with obscene amounts of sediment floating around in the reddish/orange body (per bright light). Surprisingly a layer of orange-tinted head is hanging around, and there's plenty of lacing. 

On the aroma...aggressive peppers that have been cut open, seeds exposed, on your chopping board. Lordy Jesus, the peppers on this beer's aroma are intense. This is...Julius Peppers in his prime. I'm getting aggressive habanero, jalapeno, green pepper, dry heat, salt, some fruity pepper notes, and something more spicy and more sinister than habanero lurking beneath. If you camp out on the aroma for a little bit, you DO pick up some oak, oak/vanilla sweetness, and a little bit of the base beer. I'm getting some mild hops and citrus resin on the aroma beneath the waves of aggressive pepper.

I guess...cheers? I dunno why I'm nervous. Bottoms up, bitches. Wow...this is fucking spicy. My first sip was INTENSE. As it goes with spicy foods. It takes a bit for your palate to adjust to the extreme heat. My first sip was overwhelmed with heat, but I will say this has great duration on the back end. Aside from the salty-spicy heat, I'm getting the base beer in the mix, which includes layers of oak, wood, and some nice hop resin. As the peppers unfold, you pick up jalapeno, green pepper, habanero, and burn. The burn is pretty intense...I'm surprised this beer has as much burn as I'm getting. 

I'm not a huge fan of this. I thought I was going to enjoy this a lot more, but it's one-dimensional, like biting into a hot pepper. The base beer is drowning in peppers, and the subtle oak and Lucky Bastard notes aren't enough to keep things interesting. Unfortunately, this isn't a condiment or pepper or sauce. This is a beer. It's also really hot...I'm surprised, because as noted above, I like to chase hot peppers. It's just not very drinkable. Palate depth is really good, but complexity is low. The mouthfeel is medium-full. I dunno...up front, mid-palate, and back palate all ride into pepper land. You get some subtle oak and Lucky Bastard mid-palate, and some nuanced pepper notes on the back end. I'm just totally over this.

Rating: Sewage (WTF did I just drink?) (1.0/5.0 Untappd)

Ah, the elusive Light  Sewage (WTF did I just drink?). It happens. I guess I expected more beer here and less pepper juice. While the spice levels in this beer are manageable for seasoned veterans, the beer itself lacks any logical direction. It's just...beer drowning in hot peppers. If that's your bag then godspeed, but in my opinion this is a salty, burning mess. All the subtlety happens somewhere in the mid and back palate, as you pick up some mild base beer and peppery notes...by then the intense burn is kicking in, and you ride salty heat to intense burn. I could see this beer working well in a sauce, so maybe cook with it? 16.9oz is way too much for one person, I recommend tackling this in 4oz or 6oz servings. This is an entertaining novelty, and I'm glad I checked it out. As far as beer goes, I would not buy this again, especially at the high price this sells for.

Random Thought: And here is what I don't get. Stone releases an impressively spicy beer like this, but their hot sauces are weak as hell. WTF is up with that?