Monday, February 11, 2008

Blue Moon Rising Moon

'Celebrate the end of winter with Blue Moon Spring Ale. The smooth, balanced ale is brewed with three varieties of specialty malts and an infusion of fresh Kieffer lime leaves and lime peel to bring out the freshness of spring'

I will be the first one to say I am not a fan of Blue Moon's flagship beer, so I was a bit skeptical when a friend grabbed this out of the cooler at the grocery store and told me to buy this stuff. Then it said it had lime leaves and lime peels and I almost put it back, but what the hell. Sometimes you have to try things you would never try if not pushed by someone else. It was on sale too, which I admit helped the decision.

Thankfully the lime in Rising Moon isn't the overwhelming flavoring I was expecting. The bottle makes it seem like this is going to be chock full of citrus but it is only hinted at, which I appreciated. The ale itself is definitely nice to look at- very amber in color with a nice off white head that lasts. This stuff tasted of wheat, which I liked so I drank a few of them. After about three of these beers the novelty of the flavoring really wears thin and the odd flavoring starts seeping more into the aftertaste which becomes a bit too much. Definitely a novelty beer, but something I could tolerate and enjoy in small doses. Recommended.

6 comments:

the said...

The Full Moon is pretty good too. Like you I don't care for the Blue Moon standard bearer but their seasonals seem to work.

You have been linked!

Matt said...

Thanks for the link man! I will check out Full Moon in the next week or so, I love suggestions like that.

CorrND said...

Wow, you sure churn out the reviews -- nice work! I haven't been here in a couple days and you've got 5 new reviews.

I like that you seem so fond of your "Big Ass" Weizen glass (I've got one of those from Rock Bottom) but you didn't actually use it on this wheat beer! Dishwasher day?

Matt said...

Yeah the amount of reviews has deinitely put a strain on my dishwasher! Two more reviews tonight! They will slow down when the whether turns around and I start leaving the house.

You like Rock Bottom? There is one at my parents house and I must have been burned by the choices I made because the three or so beers I have had from there were not great by any means. I'll give it another go sometime soon. Maybe I am spoiled because there is a Goose Island restaurant within walking distance of my apartment.

CorrND said...

I don't think Rock Bottom is great in general, but I also think that all Rock Bottom locations aren't created equal. I think the standard selections are in the 3 out of 5 range of beer reviews. They're fine, especially when I can get them on special for $2/pint.

But I think there's some room for an intrepid brewer to do some interesting things with the monthly specials. Our downtown Indy brewer (there's another NW side location) puts out some pretty interesting beers on those specials. He also has quarterly brewers dinners ($35 for four courses and four beers) and has a rotating cask conditioned beer tap that's really great.

Do you know if your location does similar things? I know it's a tough sell for Rock Bottom to draw you away from a local Goose Island pub!

Stephen said...

hey did you try the harvest moon at all? i considered it but kept buying o'fallon, post-road and dogfish head's pumpkin ales instead.