Blue Moon (for Barack)

My drink of choice while following this year's election results was unquestionably Blue Moon. Though annoyingly macro in its origins (the "brewery" recently finally got its own website, and is no longer simply a small subsection of Coors' site), Blue Moon has been the most commercially available Belgian white beer everywhere I have lived in the last five years, and as a result has become another mainstay in my fridge (I know, I know, Blue Moon and Wild Blue are the only "staples" I've mentioned thus far, judge away, but they're more like guilty pleasures that I indulge in far too often). Thus, when it came time to plant myself in front of the television last night and watch Obama's crushing defeat of McCain, a sixer of Blue Moon naturally came with me.

Blue Moon is interesting for two very specific reasons. First, it is made by Coor's, and yet, oddly, I'd say it falls far more in the realm of delicious than, say, piss-esque (see: Coors Light). Also, it is definitely a member of the relatively small family of brews that is wildly altered by almost any change in the method of consumption. For starters, like most quality beers there is a notable difference between bottle and draft, but this difference becomes drastic with Blue Moon due to two factors: garnish and pouring method. As a Belgian white it clearly has plenty of wheat and sediment going into its production, and an inexperienced pour (or, even worse, drinking straight from the bottle) may result in a seriously diminished taste or texture experience.

Secondly, Blue Moon with an orange wedge or peel added is, quite simply, a remarkably different beast. Not to say it is mindblowingly amazing (though it is quite good), the impression is made far more simply by the variance in taste - add an orange to a pint of Blue Moon and you essentially be drinking an entirely different drink as far as taste is concerned. More than any other beer, in my early days of trying every new brew I could get my hands on Blue Moon taught me to experiment with glass and garnish.

Again, I must reiterate that Blue Moon is generally average when taken as a straightforward Belgian white brew. It is in its potential variety that it gets its strength, and why it is easy to get through a sixpack rather quickly with a small collection of glasses and an orange while watching an elderly gentleman and a rather attractive yet dimwitted hockey mom lose a national election they were inexplicably a part of to begin with.

Blue Moon
Overall Rating: 7/10