The Spring Beer Tourney: # 8 Blue Moon Spring vs # 9 Shiner Dortmunder

      Blue Moon made a pretty good Spring Beer last year, but this sounds terrible, Spring Blonde Wheat Ale.  Shiner Dortmunder could be good although I can't figure out exactly what it is.  Blue moon is light gold with some caramel, citrus and biscuit.  Dortmunder is gold with dull caramel and citrus.  Moon is fizzy and crisp with almost no flavor, at least there's no bad flavor.  Dort is sour caramel and barnyard, like an awful farmhouse ale.  I can't believe how lame these are, no flavor vs bad flavors.  these are dogs, get them the fuck out of here I can't stand the thought of having to drink either one of these again.  Since I used replacements in the other region, I'm doing the same here.  Next, the scabs.

Blue Moon Winter Abbey Ale

      Ah, Blue Moon, how boring are your bottles.  Whenever they put out a new beer, they just alter the color scheme of the label, how creative.  To be fair they do change the tiny picture under the moon,so they're better than Brooklyn.  Anyway, Abbey Ale pours out a very light brown with a spice, hop and strong sweet caramel nose.  The flavors are rich with mocha, caramel and spice.  The hop tingles in the mouth and balances the other flavors perfectly.  The body is firm and it's tough to find a flaw here.  I better keep drinking.  Hmmm, better go get a case to see if it's really good.  Amazingly as I destroy this beer it continues to impress.  Go purchase many of these beers for your Winter enjoyment.  Stellar.  I'm warming to the bottle, I find the colors soothing.

Harvest moon Pumpkin Ale

      First off, Blue Moon's bottles are all the same, they suck.  But, does their Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale suck? It Pours a light amber and has a caramel, spice and fruity nose.  No pumpkin.  Well I can't taste any pumpkin either.  There's a bit of the pumpkin spice, but otherwise it's got the normal caramels of other beers.  Really a decent medium ale with a bit of spice in it.  Not any pumpkin?  You suck.  It's got a poor aftertaste as well.  It's an alright beer, but a total failure as a pumpkin beer.  Screw you guys, avoid this beer.

Three Winter Brews

I know it's Spring, but there are still a number of Winter beers still on the shelves and many places discount them. Here are three I saw just the other day. We have Stoudt's Winter Ale, Blue Moon Full Moon, and Bell's Winter White for your drinking pleasure. First up is Stoudt's. The Winter Ale pours out a dark amber and has classic caramel on the nose, with little hop. There's a lot of hop up front and on the back end. Kind of a shock, I found little on the nose. It's got nice flavors of baking spice, caramel and a hint of cinnamon. I like this beer more as I drink it. Seems to balance out well, but the hops do hide some of the flavor here.

Next, we have Full Moon, a Winter Ale that pours out a dark copper to light brown. The nose is sweet caramel with a hint of mocha. It tastes a lot like it smells, sugar daddy with a hint of mocha. I really like sugar daddy's. there's some hop in here to cut the sweetness a little. It is a medium bodied beer, I would have expected a little more heft. Wow, this is a nice beer.

Last, is Bell's Winter White. Bell's pours out a cloudy straw color with that distinct white head. The nose has nice citrus and coriander, along with a lot of yeast. The taste has some coriander, some caramels and the yeasty taste. I find the aftertaste poor at best. It's got a nice creaminess, but not much body. I'm not a white beer fan, but this isn't even a good white beer. Boy I really like the Full Moon. You should go get a couple for cold Spring nights. The Stoudt's is also a pretty decent, but flawed beer. And finally, Bell's has created a flaw, not decent.

STOUDT'S

BLUE MOON

BELL'S

Round 2: #2 Anchor Bock vs #5 Rising Moon

The first contest of the second round pits Anchor Bock, the 2nd seed, against Blue Moon, Rising Moon, the 5th seed. Anchor is a spring bock while Rising Moon is a keifer lime leaf beer. The palate cleanser is pretzel rods. The descriptions will be far briefer in this round as you can always go back and look it up. Rising Moon is a pleasant beer to drink. The tart lime is nice but subtle enough that it marries well with the crisp hop. The best part of pretzel sticks is the salt. Beer loves salt. Anchor Bock is nice and rich with a mocha flavor and hops that sort of zing in and out.Munch, munch. Lets go sip for sip.

The Bock is a good beer with body and rich flavors. However, it's got a bit of an "off" yeast flavor and the hop is strangely intermittent. I'm not sure I'm crazy about the aftertaste either, but it's got such big yummy flavors. The Rising Moon is a nice balanced beer, that clearly would be a ten with a lot of foods, but it's beer v beer. The Anchor is starting to sway me. The Bock seems better than I remember and the Moon seems a bit duller. Rising Moon is just sooo nice and I'm sure it's gonna make another guy happy some day. No, it's not about you, it's about me. Anchor Bock, you minx, you've made me stray. Actually, as the glasses get down to the end, I find Rising Moon still has a place in my heart. Then Anchor Bock takes her top off, Rising who. Anchor Bock pushes Rising Moon aside to go on to the Flavorful Four.

Blue Moon

Anchor

4 Smuttynose hanami Ale vs #5 Blue Moon Rising Moon

Wow, we're down to the last contest of the first round. It's been an excellent tournament so far and I'm looking forward to the second round. But first we have two more competitors. In the red corner, a cherry ale fighting out of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Smuttynose, Hanami Ale. In the green corner, a wheat ale with kieffer lime leaf and lime peel, fighting out of Golden, Colorado, Blue Moon, Rising Moon Spring Ale. Wait, WTF, isn't that where Coors is from, hmmmm. Anyway, the referee for this bout will be ruffles cheddar and sour cream chips. He's surely had a lot of experience dealing with many types of beers.

And the bell rings. Hanami pours out a cloudy copper to red color. While our challenger pours out a slightly cloudy dark golden amber. Hanami seems a bit week on the nose in the early stages with some yeast and faint sour cherry. Rising Moon fails to counter with it,s weak key lime pie nose. Wow, Hanami starts to deliver blows with it's cherry pie flavor, it's mild hop bitters and lingering fruit finish, which goes on for days. The ref stops the fight while he is being eaten. Rising Moon counters the onslaught with it's key lime pie flavor and a crisp hop bitterness, that really balances the sweet out nicely. This beer is crisp and creamy at the same time, interesting. Once again, huge pieces of the ref are heartily consumed. It's time for these competitors to get down and dirty, trading sip for sip.

You would think the Hanami could take down his opponent with his big flavors, but instead the flavor, balance and hop bite of Rising Moon is starting to impose it's will. This is incredible, Hanami has been a spring favorite for years. But Rising Moon could be an anytime beer and would pair great with many foods and our referee, CRUNCH. This has been a great match-up but Rising Moon's excellent balance is really starting to tell. Hanami is stumbling. Oh, a big shot of crisp refreshing beer and Hanami is down. Down goes Hanami. Wow, an amazing contest between two worthy competitors, I would gladly drink again. Looks like Rising Moon will be appearing in my belly every Spring, and moves on to the second round to face Anchor Bock.

Smuttynose

Blue Moon