REVIEW 48: BLUE MOON BELGIAN WHITE

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  USA

BREWERY:  Blue Moon Brewing Company*

STYLE:  Witbier

ABV:  5.4%

PURCHASE:  60-oz. pitcher, $10.00

SERVING:  Said pitcher, poured into chilled pint glass, sans orange. Not overly heady from the tap itself, but a standard pour from the pitcher into the glass initially produced a crown of two and a half to three inches. Faster pour for serving #2 actually got less, but the beer had warmed a bit by then. A slow pour on the third try got the desirable one-incher. 

APPEARANCE:  Bright, effervescent, golden-orange, like a sunrise--except this was a bit cloudy at the same time. A paradox? Translucent with what I call "light-bulb-white" head. No lacing at all. Seriously, none.

BOUQUET:  Orange zest, wheat, and coriander--always an inviting aroma. Unless the orange is moldy. This almost comes off like juice at first sniff.

PALATE:  Relatively light body. Carbonation is deceptive: Soft at first, but it can become sharp and biting if you let it. Citrusy throughout each sip, and somewhat wheaty. Juice-like finish. Aftertaste is largely devoid of discernible, resonating flavors, with the exception of faint notes of orange zest and oats, should you allow said aftertaste to linger. Yup. Oats, something I must admit I never picked up on with this beer until recently. 

MUSINGS AND METAPHORS:  This year marks the 20th anniversary of Blue Moon, as it was introduced in 1995 under the name "Bellyslide Belgian White." Controversy persists to this day as to whether it qualifies as a "craft beer." It has certainly been marketed as such, particularly when it exploded in popularity in the mid-2000s.

I say it isn't. It's a macrolager masquerading as one. That's not to put it down entirely; it's a crowd pleaser, as well as a stepping stone for someone taking baby steps into the world of real craft beer. But the hype is undeserved, especially these days. This has devolved over the years; perhaps the MillerCoors takeover did it in, as InBev did with Rolling Rock. This used to be a solid alternative to actual Belgian witbiers. Now it's an underwhelming imitator of them. Bleh.




GRADE:  C

*The Blue Moon Brewing Company remains the immediate company overseeing production of Blue Moon Belgian White, though it is a subsidiary of Coors, which in turn is a subsidiary of MolsonCoors. The original Blue Moon brewery (at "The Sandlot") continues to operate out of Coors Field in Denver, the home of Major League Baseball's Colorado Rockies.