Beer Review: Boulevard Brewing Company Lunar Ale

A friend selected Boulevard Brewing’s Lunar Ale one night when he and his lovely wife (and young’uns) were at our house for a cook out, so I decided to review it for this blog. Thanks Chad!

According to the Boulevard Brewing Web site, this is an unfiltered brown ale. Here is more information:

Brewed using a unique aromatic yeast, this refreshing variety is best described as a cloudy brown ale with a complex, malty aroma and flavor, and a crisp, dry finish.

SENSORY DESCRIPTION: Very versatile beer. Light sweetness complements light foods and malty/smoky flavor can stand up to some spicier dishes. Flavor hooks: fruit, cloves, roasted malt

PAIRINGS: Lightly caramelized flavors from grilling chicken or seafood, roasted chicken or pork, stews, sausages, salads, and desserts including walnuts or almonds.

Let’s get on to the tasting…

The Pour
This poured with a two-finger head consisting of small, tight bubbles that gave the head a somewhat fluffy or pillowy texture. The color seems to be that of a too weak coffee. The beer is somewhat cloudy from the yeast and appears quite carbonated.

The Nose
Wheat is the strongest scent I picked up. It’s almost the only note, as a matter of fact. There are some spice notes. It really smells like a typical wheat beer.

The Taste
The head is rich and creamy. This is medium-light bodied, not heavily carbonated and pretty smooth. This is kind of a one-note beer. You get a wheat beer flavor profile with slight teases of hop bitterness here and there. 

Overall
Before cracking this open, I had no idea it was a wheat beer. Then after taking my tasting notes, I see on their Web site that it’s a brown ale, though it does have wheat in it. There’s really nothing exceptional about this beer to make me say, “Go try this today!” but there’s nothing wrong with it either. Overall, a drinkable wheaty beer.

Recommended: I’m not really going either way on this. Try it and see if you like it, but I won’t push this as a really good selection.

Price: Unknown

ABV: 5.1%

Beer Review: New Belgium Brewing’s Mothership Wit Organic Wheat Beer

Part 2 of a (now) 4 Part Series

Part I: Fat Tire Amber Ale
Part II: Mothership Wit Organic Wheat Beer
Part III: 1554 Enlightened Black Ale
Part IV: Mighty Arrow Pale Ale

Cheers,
The Beer Snob

The second part of this series was supposed to be New Belgium Brewing’s 1554, but I seem to have misplaced my tasting notes, and I really needed to post a review tonight (I have a backlog of tasting notes) so I decided to go ahead and post my review of New Belgium’s Mothership Wit instead.

According to the bottle, this brew:

…elevates the zesty wit or white beers of Belgium with wheat, malt, coriander and orange peel spicing – all of which are organically grown. The alluring taste is the result of a gravitational balance of citrus and sour flavors held in suspension by a bright burst of carbonation.

On to the review…

The Pour
This poured into a pilsner glass to a three finger thick head. The head was pillowy and fluffy with a decent amount of lacing as it dissipates. The beer itself is a lemony yellow straw color. It’s definitely cloudy but some clarity can still be observed. It looks like it has a mild level of carbonation.

The Nose
There are nice wheat and spice notes present in the nose right away. You can smell the coriander and slight citrus notes from the orange peel. It’s a nice bready nose with the spice and citrus giving it a nice freshness.

The Taste
This is full bodied and wheaty, with the spice and orange peel definitely present. The spice comes out more as the beer warms. This is a good thick witbier. It’s smoother than I expected it to be, with a creamy smooth mouthfeel. I noticed a sour lemony note on the finish. The beer is thick and coats your palate with good flavor.

Overall
This is a good solid example of a witbier. It’s a good choice if you want to branch out from something like Blue Moon to a more authentic and fully flavored witbier.

Recommended: Yes, it’s a good solid witbier.

Price: $2.99 for a 22-oz. bottle

ABV: 4.8%

Beer Review: Blue Moon Honey Moon Summer Ale

I picked this up to review because I just love Blue Moon more and more every time I try it. I wanted to like this beer, I really did…..but I just didn’t love it. Let me tell you about the brew. According to the bottle, this is an ale brewed with honey and orange peel. It also says it has the “fresh flavor of orange peel and real honey with pale malt and malted white wheat”. This beer was the winner of the Specialty Honey Lager or Ale at the Great American Beer Festival: 2006.  Here’s what I thought…

The Pour
This poured with a nice medium thickness head. It seemed quite pillowy and creamy. The beer looks quite carbonated, with plenty of bubbles rising quickly to the surface for a long period of time. The color matches the color of the honey in the beer. A rich golden honey color.

The Nose
Smells promising…something like a regular Blue Moon but with a touch of honey. Nice wheat and spice in the aroma.

The Taste
The first thing I noticed is that this is quite a carbonated brew. In fact, this may be the  beer’s downfall. The honey is noticeable and definitely present in the finish, but I didn’t notice any orange flavor, or really much of anything else. I think the overcarbonation just hid the flavor profiles. There should have been so much more to this beer, but there just wasn’t. The carbonation hid everything.

Overall
Overall, I thought this tasted more like Coors brewed it than the regular Blue Moon does. I was surprised when I first learned Coors brews Blue Moon because I think it’s a darn fine beer. This, however, is just an ordinary beer, brewed by a big beer brewery/factory with the tastes of the lowest common denominator in mind. No adventure or risk-taking in the brewing of this beer.

Recommended: Don’t waste your money on this
Price: $7.49 for a 6-pack
ABV: Unknown