Blue Moon Winter Sample Pack 2014: Blue Moon Mountain Abbey Ale

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

Purchased: 12oz bottle from the Blue Moon Winter Sampler 2014 bought at Jewel-Osco in Chicago, IL; 2014 

Style/ABV: Abbey Ale, 5.6%

Reported IBUs: 16

DAE Macro sampler packs?

Over the past few years of penning horrible blog reviews, I have never actually reviewed one of America's classic beers: Blue Moon Belgian White. I did review their god-awful Grand Cru once upon a time, but how about some of their more seminal releases? I couldn't pass up on the Winter Sampler Pack for 2014. This thing cost about $15, and comes with five unique beers. Well, five really, because who hasn't had the Belgian White? About MillerCoors aka Blue Moon:

Blue Moon was first brewed in 1995 at one of MillerCoors' 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. 

This is where things probably start to get weird....Blue Moon doing an Abbey Ale? Eh? The Mountain Abbey Ale is brewed with pale, "winter white wheat," and chocolate malts; this uses Mittelfruh hops, and features some dark Belgian candi sugar because DAE Belgium. 

This beer pours into a pretty nice reddish-brown body, kicking up a finger of brown-tinged head. The beer is carbonated well, but appears filtered...and yeah. Calling this an abbey ale is about as nebulous as calling this a Belgian Ale....so I'm not sure what to expect, but let's see.

The aroma is pretty mild and smells like a Brown Ale...I'm getting some toasted and nutty notes. When I swirl the beer, I'm starting to get some of the candi sugar, with some plums and dark fruit sweetness. This also has a saccharine sweet caramel presence, which seems characteristic of all these Blue Moon beers.

This is like a Belgian Ale light...really, it drinks much like a malty Bock or even a Brown Ale with some hints of sugar. This mostly dials up caramel sweetness, with some light toasty notes and some nuttiness. The kiss of candi sugar suggests some dark fruits and sort of legitimizes this, but this mostly tastes like a solid Brown Ale.

This is pretty solid as far as Brown Ales go. The candi sugar does add a nice dimension to the sweetness, and the toasty and nutty notes all work well together. It's not particularly complex or interesting, but it has reasonable depth. It seems very average, if not a bit outside the typical abbey ale guidelines. Up front is a nice dose of caramel, faint hops, and toast; the mids roll into more toast, some nuttiness, and hints of sugar; the back end drops candi sugar and some dark fruits. Overall it's pretty decent and hard to hate. 

Rating: Average (2.5/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Light Average on this. This almost falls into below-average territory because honestly, this isn't a very inspiring Belgian Ale and I really have to work hard to dig out the nuanced and rewarding flavors. Having said that, this is probably an average or average+ Brown Ale thing. It would certainly pair well with the cooler weather, minus that weak ass ABV. I'd treat this like the many Winter brown ales that inevitably sit on shelves come November. 

Random Thought: My Garmin watch won't turn on and my life is in ruin. 

Blue Moon Winter Sample Pack 2014: Blue Moon Gingerbread Spiced Ale

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

Purchased: 12oz bottle from the Blue Moon Winter Sampler 2014 bought at Jewel-Osco in Chicago, IL; 2014 

Style/ABV: Spice/Herb/Vegetable Beer, 5.9%

Reported IBUs: 16

DAE Macro sampler packs?

Over the past few years of penning horrible blog reviews, I have never actually reviewed one of America's classic beers: Blue Moon Belgian White. I did review their god-awful Grand Cru once upon a time, but how about some of their more seminal releases? I couldn't pass up on the Winter Sampler Pack for 2014. This thing cost about $15, and comes with five unique beers. Well, five really, because who hasn't had the Belgian White? About MillerCoors aka Blue Moon:

Blue Moon was first brewed in 1995 at one of MillerCoors' 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 Gingerbread Spiced Ale is a Winter seasonal brewed with Pale, Munich, Caramel, and Wheat malts; Hallertau hops; and some ginger, molasses, cinnamon, allspice,and nutmeg.  

The beer pours into a filtered, dark red body, that is nicely carbonated, and kicks up a finger of caramel-tinged head. This is a fine looking beer. Wooo.

Blue Moon Gingerbread Spiced Ale

It's hard to believe we just wrapped up with the onslaught of Halloween/Pumpkin beers, because this beer would fit right at home with all of those. This smells like any generic spiced beer: I'm getting big nutmeg, allspice, clove, and cinnamon. The cinnamon in this beer veers into the land of Big Red, which is either good or bad...I can't decide. Beneath all the spice is a layer of suggestive caramel malt base.

Wow...this basically tastes exactly like the aroma. This is super sweet, and basically unloads a bunch of nutmeg, allspice, and cinnamon (with some faint Big Red) on this caramel-sweet malt backdrop. This is lacking in complexity, and pretty much just goes cookie sweet with the malts. But the cookie sweet malts work with this style of beer, and they do deliver a pretty effective gingerbread cookie into your mouth. 

I can sort of see the appeal to this beer. The cookie/caramel sweetness on the backdrop is pretty superficial, and despite being relatively moderately-full with good depth, this lacks complexity and nuance. But this is a "gingerbread spiced ale," and to that end it pretty much delivers what it promises. Up front: caramel, gingerbread, cookie-like malts, ginger spice and nutmeg; the mids roll into cinnamon, more nutmeg, clove, ginger, spice; the back end drops more cookie sweetness and spice, and finishes cloying and spicy. 

Rating: Average (3.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Light Average on this. I'm trying really hard to hate this beer, but it pretty much nails the gingerbread cookie thing. It's not very complex, and it's not very big, but this would work for me as a beer to pair with a Holiday meal (Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner), or with some pie. Honestly...not a bad effort from Blue Moon.

Random Thought: Serious question: what's the difference between Winter and Pumpkin spiced beers? 

Blue Moon Winter Sample Pack 2014: Blue Moon Belgian White

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

Purchased: 12oz bottle from the Blue Moon Winter Sampler 2014 bought at Jewel-Osco in Chicago, IL; 2014 

Style/ABV: Belgian White, 5.4%

Reported IBUs: 9

DAE Macro sampler packs?

Over the past few years of penning horrible blog reviews, I have never actually reviewed one of America's classic beers: Blue Moon Belgian White. I did review their god-awful Grand Cru once upon a time, but how about some of their more seminal releases? I couldn't pass up on the Winter Sampler Pack for 2014. This thing cost about $15, and comes with five unique beers. Well, five really, because who hasn't had the Belgian White? About MillerCoors aka Blue Moon:

Blue Moon was first brewed in 1995 at one of MillerCoors' 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. 

Blue Moon's Belgian White is the classic beer that you can find at terrible chain restaurants like Applebee's and Chili's. You might also find it at TGIFridays. This beer is literally a classic American craft staple, regardless of what people on forums like "BeersAdventures" and "RapesBeers" might say. Blue Moon is brewed with orange peel, oats/wheat malts, and the usual shit you'd find in a Belgian White. This beer is Keith Villa's pride, and Keith Villa is MillerCoors' Stepford Wife. 

Blue Moon Belgian White

For a MillerCoors' product, this beer is vibrant and orange, and hazy and unfiltered. It actually looks like a legit wheat beer, or at least until the head dies off and you are left with orange juice. Then again, this is a Witbier, not a Hefe.

The aroma is all sorts of conflicting. You get wheat, orange, and honey -- but the aroma is very thick. It smells pretty sweet, and takes a turn towards cereal, with some Fruity Pebbles, and fake spice. It's kind of how I imagine an extract batch of a Witbier would smell.

Witbiers aren't really my bag in general, and Blue Moon tends to highlight a lot of the things about the style that I don't love. For 5.4%, Blue Moon is fairly dense and heavy. It's also fairly sweet. This beer dials up the saccharine juices, and reminds me of apple juice. It tastes like something made from extract, or something that could be further fermented out. In the taste is juicy orange, Fruity Pebbles, some bubble gum, artificial clove that is cloying, and lots of wheat. The saccharine edge isn't overly enjoyable, and the fake spice goes over-the-top in ways that rival Hoegaarden. 

Despite some of the flaws that Blue Moon has, it has a full body that is pretty substantial at 5.4%. The complexity is bottom-of-the-barrel, but the saccharine orange and Fruity Pebbles sweetness is obnoxious enough to stand up to the heartburn inducing foods you might find at such chain restaurants like Chili's, Applebee's, etc. This is a fully utilitarian beer, something beyond the monotonous Pale Lagers likely to be on tap wherever you go, but not nearly as interesting as many other beers. I mean, I'd take a Sapporo over a Blue Moon Belgian White 9/10 times. This is truly a MillerCoors product...the saccharine sweetness reminds me of Miller Genuine Draft, and the relatively uneventful transition from orange/wheat, to a spicy/salty middle, to the bubblegum/wheat back end isn't impressive. And yes, Blue Moon is definitely slightly salty in its attempt to do spice. Salty like semen. Yum.

Rating: Average (2.5/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Light Average on this. Blue Moon isn't offensive enough to hit that below-average stride, and this beer actually does sort of pull off the style. It's a bit cloying on the sweetness, but the slight brine/semen/salt note that is probably supposed to be coriander spice actually adds an interesting dimension...oh shit, I'm fishing here. Or phishing. Ha, the jokes on you! Seriously though, I would never go out of my way to buy a 6-pack of Blue Moon, but this is a serviceable beer on tap. I've had this beer while out to many a shitty chain restaurant with family and friends. This is a great beer to shove an orange in, and call it a fucking day. This is my Chili's beer. 

Random Thought: The Blue Moon Grand Cru was hilariously bad. Maybe that's why I don't see it on shelves anymore.