Blue Moon: Short Straw Farmhouse Red Ale

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!

 

Blue Moon: Harvest Pumpkin Ale

Since Summer is just about over, I have started getting into the fall beers a little bit early. There are many out there but I have tried the ones that just about everyone can find in a store near them. The first one that I have tried is the “harvest Pumpkin Ale” by Blue Moon. As with all of the beers brewed by Blue Moon, Im sure you will all enjoy this one.

To start off with this beer is brewed with a variety of malts, hops, and spices.  The malts that are is this beer are the Munich and Caramel malts while the Hallertau hops are added in the brewing process. To add a unique flavor to this beer, pumpkin, allspice, cinnamon, clove and nutmeg are added as well.

All of these ingrediants combine to give this beer a very pleasent taste. This beer pours to a dark amber color and has a slight head but nothing to spectacular. With a lot of fall beers you tend to get pumpkin flavor in the beer. The same goes for this one as the name would suggest however its just the right amount. The pumpkin taste is not to powerful at all and combines nicely with all of the other ingredients.

If you are looking to pair this with a meal you are in luck. This beer will pair very well with many things. You can pair this with alot of dishes that have beef as the main ingredient.  This will also pair well with many of your favorite seasonal soups. If you would like you can also use this beer as a cooking to or in a marinade to give your dishes a nice added touch of seasonal flavor. As with all of the beers on here Im sure the majority of you will enjoy it.  Cheers.