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

Southampton "Publick House" Double White

Not content just to check out some white beer, I went for double white. Specifically, Southampton bottling's ( bottling instead of brewery sounds like a red flag to me. ) " Publick House" Double White, from La Crosse, Wisconsin. This is a wheat beer with coriander, orange and lemon peel in the Belgian white style. This pours a pale cloudy yellow, but a bit clearer than the Allagash, hopefully a good sign. A lot of citrus on the nose, with some spice and a hint of caramel. Up front you get some citrus, a tiny bit of spice and yeast. Almost no hop initially then it overwhelms and dominates the finish. I guess it might be o.k. to have one of these, but I don't think I"d want more than that. Also, I fail to imagine any food this beer would pair with. I'm struggling to find a place in my heart for this beer, and I turned to the darkside when I read the back of the label. " Take one taste and you'll agree, Phil ( The Brewer) got it "white"". Wow, that's clever. Actually, it's not, it's fucking stupid and I hate you and your double white horse piss. I want to fly to Wisconsin and kick Phil in the nads.

I'm sorry you all had to hear that. A couple more things . First, the Wisconsonites review of this beer. Hey dehr, we love dis here bier, Cause it's nice and white dehr just like all us, don't ya know. Second, I will return to investigate these white beers further another time , but I think it's time to cleanse the palate. So I'm going back to black. Here's to some Bigger flavors and some Longer finishes.

Allagash White

Allagash White is from the Allagash brewing company of Portland Maine. It's a Belgian style wheat beer brewed with mysterious "spices" . You know, they should maybe list some of these spices. What if your allergic to to or just really hate, say coriander. It would be nice to get some heads up. The white pours out a very cloudy pale yellow that in the right light looks white-ish. Lots of hop up front than cardamom spice, followed by a little more hop bite, than orange and yeast on a lengthy finish. This stuff has an impressively complex flavor profile, and I do like the medium body and extensive mouth. While I admire the complexity and range of flavors that doesn't make something inherently good. The more I drink it, the more I lose some of the other flavors and am getting a strong bitter yeast flavor that I don't like. Oh, and it's 8 bucks for a 4-pack.

Now it's time for a rant. This stuff illustrates a major problem I have with wine and beer snobs. You will often hear a pricey wine as having hints of cherry, vanilla, blackberry jam, mineral, tar, leather, aluminum, spice, naked mole rat, and blogger. Sure that's really complex, but that doesn't mean it's any fucking good. I've had several wines that fancy wine mag's said were great, that I thought sucked. And bonus, you get to pay more for the crap. Here ends the rant, for now.

Back to the subject at hand. I see how some people could really like this beer, but I suspect more people pretend to like it, because it's expensive and complex. Next, I'm going to try a different white beer and see if it can measure up to the black ( see Sam Adam's Black Lager). One more thing, since this beer's from Maine I need to in some way make fun of the state and the people who live in it. But all I can think of is lobsters, because that's all there is.

Sam Adam's Coastal Wheat

This is the 1st of three beers we're going to look at from the Sam Adam's Brewmaster's Collection. The collection consists of wheat, red and black beers and with start with the lightest. Coastal wheat advertises itself as a wheat ale brewed with lemon. Coastal pours out a slightly hazy gold, and the nose is a very clean strong lemon. First sip has a harsh taste, maybe a hop\ yeast problem, which smooths out quickly ( via the lemon ) leaving a pleasant lingering finish. This stuff is quite alright but I'm not sold on these contrived Spring wheat beers. It doesn't say spring to me, try again. If this is the best beer in this collection I'll be very sad. However, if it's the worse, a day of drinking may be salvaged. Since Sam Adam's is from Boston, here's how I would review this if I was from there. This beah is wicked mediocha, and Derek Jeatah's a fahkin queeah.

Dundee Wheat Beer

Next up is Dundee Wheat beer. This stuff usually comes in the Dundee craft pack. A 12 pack with 6 different beers, and a steal at 10 bucks. It pours a cloudy straw color, and has a honey and yeast nose. It seems like this should go down smooth, but there is a certain level of harshness to it. Oh, and what is this, a funky aftertaste? Yes it is. Not a fan so far. Alright, some German wheat beers are really made to put a little citrus into them. Let's dump some lemon in it. Strange, I can't taste the lemon at all, but the beer tastes less bad. Sorta removes the unpleasant aftertaste. Not a ringing endorsement. I guess I'll choke the rest of this down to extract the precious alcohol. Serve this crap very cold with lemon, or better yet not at all. Oh yeah, I have more of these in my fridge I,ll trade them for a box of nothing.