Coors Tricked Me This Halloween
Written: Nov 03 '04 (Updated Nov 08 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: It's drinkable, nice bottle
Cons: pumpkin ale? More like an ale that's been Punk'd
The Bottom Line: Pumpkin? What Pumpkin?
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| martytdx's Full Review: Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale |
Recently, I decided to make another beer run, but I wanted to do a different type of beer run. Usually, I go looking for a single bottle or two of REALLY good beer. Occassionally, I need to buy mass beers for a party. Other times, I head out on a mixed six-pack run of beers I haven't tried - this is perhaps one of my favorite times, despite the shaking of the head I endure from the wife.
But this trip was for something special. It was near the end of October, and I was going to indulge in a six-pack of pumpkin beers, to get a feel of the different brands out there. I was excited, and headed out to my normal place.
Um, problem. No pumpkin beers. None. They had a few, but they sold out a week ago. Okay, disappointing, but I'll go to my backup. Oops. Wrong again - they had none, either - sold out. Things were looking desperate.
On to the mega beer-and-wine warehouse. They usually have a decent selection of beer, but not for the size of the store. Still, I held out hope that they might have some pumpkin beers left. Desperate, I walked in and started looking. And looking. And looking - it appeared I might have struck out for the season when I spied them. A whole section of October beers.
Unfortunately, they were mostly Oktoberfest beers, but there were two pumpkin varieties there and I grabbed both - Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale and Post Road Pumpkin Ale. According to the guy working the aisle, I had waited too long in my quest, and the Smuttynose and Dogfish Head were both long sold out. Okay, so I'm digging at the bottom, but at least I'll get to enjoy a couple instead of six.
I shouldn't have bothered.
[• blue moon BY ANY OTHER NAME •]
Blue Moon is a 'micro' brand made by Coors, those purveyors of iced swill (aka Coors Light) and wonderful uber-beer Zima. Blue Moon is Coors' attempt to branch out and make some different beers from their normal, led by their Belgian White. There is no information on the brews, really.
[• trick or treat? UM, TRICK. •]
So, I dover into the Blue Moon first, ready to have a good pumpkin beer to start my night. I grabbed a nice pint glass and poured. The beer had a nice, thick slightly tan head and a beautifully clear orange color. So far, so good.
But the nose left quite a bit to be desired - in fact, there was no hint of pumpkin or anything else spicy for that matter. I got hints of malts and a little alcohol, but little else. Hmm.
I took my first sip - and I realized that I was going to be VERY disappointed. If this is a pumpkin beer, I'm Pete Coors. If anything, it was a subtle ale with a maltiness that actually wasn't too bad, but there wasn't any hint of pumpkin, spice or fruitiness at all. Nothing. Other than the color, you might have been handing me Bob's Ale for all I knew.
There was a bit of alcohol in the beer, to fit with the 5.7% ABV. The mouthfeel was fairly average - just about what one would expect to see with a macrobeer. It was there, but there wasn't anything to it, and the flavors were subtle and average as well.
[• once in a BLUE MOON •]
As a beer, it wasn't bad if you were looking for bland every beer. But Coors/Blue Moon has gone on the wrong path to consider this a Pumpkin Ale. There isn't any hint of anything that I would expect in a Pumpkin Ale.
Next year, I'll have to venture out earlier in search of the pumpkin beers, so that I don't end up with sham ales like this.
[• beer SPECIFICS •]
• Awards: None
• ABV: 5.7%
• IBU: n/a
• Shelf-Life: n/a
• Serving Temperature: 50 degrees F (slightly chilled)
• Calories (per 12 oz.): unknown
• Carbs: unknown
[• more INFORMATION •]
none available from Coors
[• we three PUMPKIN BEERS •]
• Post Road Pumpkin Ale
• Dogfish Head Punkin' Ale
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
martytdx
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Member: Marty
Location: New Jersey
Reviews written: 478
Trusted by: 177 members
About Me:
Doing what I can to try new places, restaurants, books and beers.
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