Article Contributed on: 1/31/2008 5:57:14 PM
So I haven't been blogging much about beer lately. That's because I was out of town and when I came back my suitcase was full of wine and Scotch. I did pick up some beer last week. Here's the first: Blue Moon's Full Moon Winter Ale.
I've always enjoyed Blue Moon. What I've never enjoyed is the fact that Coors makes an effort to distance itself from the Blue Moon brand. It's always bothered me that a giant brewery brews a pretty decent beer to compete with the micros, but then hides the fact under some made up company name.
The real reason that I'm bitter about this is that I was in California last year talking to a fellow beer geek and he mentioned that he really liked Blue Moon. When I told him that Coors brewed it, he got angry and said he was going to stop drinking it. Naturally, I felt bad for the guy.
I hadn't tried Full Moon Winter Ale and it sounded pretty tasty, so I bought a sixer of it last week.
The interesting thing about this beer is that it is brewed with dark Belgium sugar. Have you ever gone out to eat and ate a pack of that "Sugar In The Raw" that comes in the brown package? Well if you have, and you can remember what your mouth tastes like after the sweet sugar taste is gone, you'll have an idea of what the aftertaste of Full Moon Winter Ale is like.
Full Moon has a light and somewhat creamy mouthfeel. It's pretty sweet up front. It's not a heavy beer by any means and will probably disappoint you if you're looking for a big, malty seasonal. There's not much hop action here, either.
Having that said, it's an incredibly easy drinking (and inexpensive) beer. This is a good choice to bring to a party when you don't know what kind of people will be there. That way you can save the good beer for yourself.
Rating: 3/5
Price: about $7 per six pack
Available: Widespread