Over the years I have known Blue Moon for only the blue moon that most people know. However, as with any of the other breweries they have more than one style of beer. With that said, Blue Moon has an extensive collection of beer, which a lot of people may not know about. The next beer that I’m going to review is part of the Expressionist Collection by Blue Moon. This beer is their ” Short Straw Farmhouse Red Ale.”
After having tried a lot of Blue Moon beers I have come to notice that they tend to use a variety of different spices in their beers, and this beer is no different. This beer is brewed with a combination of multiple malts, multiple hops and a variety of spices. The malts in this beer are Caramel Malt, Pale Malt, European Abbey Malt, European Acidulated Malt, Chocolate Malt and Malted White Wheat. That is a lot of malts for one beer so don’t be surprised if this beer has a very maltey profile. The hops in this beer are of the Spalt Select and Czech Saaz variety. Now like I said there is a variety of spices in this beer as well which includes white pepper, hibiscus and corriander.
When you open this beer and pour it into your favorite glass you will immediately notice the aroma of the malts in this beer, which isn’t a surprise. But hidden in the aroma is the aroma of the other spices and the hibiscus. The aroma of the hops really aren’t noticeable at all in this beer which is pretty normal for beers from Blue Moon.
When you take your first sip you will definitely notice the taste of the malts on your palette. The one type of malt that really stuck out to me were the Caramel and Chocolate Malts which really give the beer the Red Ale distinction. The other malts really combined to compliment those two but weren’t very distinct. The beer starts of with the malts and ends with the spiciness of the pepper and corriander. This beer is a very smooth beer. You will get a minimal amount of bitterness from the hops but not enough to be anything overpowering, but its a red ale so you wouldn’t expect that anyway.
When looking to pair this beer with a meal, try pairing it with a meat that has a bit of spiciness to it.
I hope you all enjoy this beer as much as I did.
Cheers!
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