Blue Moon beer seems to be all the rage around here recently. At the bars, you get it in a tall pilsner glass with a wedge of orange and it tastes great. But last night I bought some of my own to enjoy in the privacy of my home (sans orange).
It tasted like shit.
Or, more accurately, it tasted like soap. Dishwater, really.
Blech.
So, my question is, Does this beer really suck, or are my taste buds fried? Does the orange wedge make the difference? I’m tempted to go back to the grocer and get oranges so I can finish the other eleven, but just thought I’d throw this out there before doing so.
Blue Moon is, IIRC, a wheat beer. Many places serve wheat beer with a slice of lemon and in some cases orange. The citrus does “smooth out” the edge on wheat beer, probably similar to adding lime to coke/diet coke, etc.
Personally I don’t think they need it, but I can drink them either way, and don’t think that (normal) wheats taste like soap. But I’ve also heard that some people think that cilantro tastes like soap, and it doesn’t taste that way to me.
Go buy an orange, slice it up and throw it in. If it tastes the same as you’ve had at the bar, you’re good. If not, maybe you got a bad batch?
Go get a bottle of Leffe Blonde, or Chimay if you can find it. Try those, but don’t drink them out of the bottle. Also, wheat beer should have a head so don’t pour it like Bud or something (I’m sure you know this, but you never know who’s reading this stuff). These are good “standards” for what a Belgian wheat beer should taste like, and I think this is what Blue Moon is shooting for. If you don’t like those then stick to German style wheats, which are a bit different, IMO.
Which might make some sense, as Belgian White Ales are usually flavored with curacao orange and coriander seed (aka cilantro.) I’m not sure if the seed of coriander has the same soapiness some people associate with the leaf, but it’s a possibility.
As for Belgian Whites…if you like the general flavor profile of Blue Moon (which I think is a very watered-down version of a Witbier), get yourself a bottle of Hoegaarden. It’s a good, authentic, entry-level Belgian Ale (and still is among my favorites.) This is the beer that more-or-less lays down the guidelines for what this style of beer should taste like.
Funny, the topic of Blue Moon just came up last night. The BF tried it at the local watering hole awhile back, and absolutely hated it. So when we were on our way over there, he was hoping that something better would be on special.
I should ask him if he thought it tasted like soap. He didn’t say what he thought it tasted like, but it was clear he wasn’t keen on it.
They’re the same general style, but you’re right, Chimay is crafted by elves disguised as monks, living the in the deepest, darkest recesses of les Ardennes.
I think the Beer Advocate has Blue Moon at about a 3.3 out of 5.0, while Chimay is about 4.0+, depending on the version (red, blue, white). Also, apparently Blue Moon is made by Coors, although I could have sworn it wasn’t always. Anyone know the scoop on that?
Weird. I wonder if there’s some sort of oil/chemical that some people pick up soapy taste characteristics in. Sierra Nevada makes some of my favorite beers, and I’ve never tasted anything resembling soap in them. Could it be the hoppiness you don’t like (which is more evident in styles like India Pale Ale [IPA] )?
Blue Moon has, AFAIK, always been made by Coors. It is not advertised as such (neither is Killian’s Red, also made by Coors), because they want you to think of it as a craft beer, not a megabrew.
I wouldn’t put Chimay in the same class as Blue Moon in any fashion. For a more accurate representation of what a Belgian Wit should taste like, get either Hoegaarden (as **puly ** mentioned) or Celis White, currently being made by the Michigan Brewing Company.
Chimay Cinq Cents (the one with the white label) is absolutely wonderful beer. I like mine at cellar temperature, in a wine glass. they’ve even got a picture on the bottle to show that you’re not supposed to pour it into a pint glass like you would other kinds of beer. I drink it without fruit, since it already has a bit of its own, and it’s delicious.
It’s Belgian and comes from the Trappist monks of the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Scourmount. They make cheese there too, from what I know, and have been doing so for more than a hundred years.
Yummy stuff. Hard to find the white label, but the red and blue label are more widely available in my area. The red label is the Chimay Premiere and to me a stronger taste than the Cinq Cents. The blue label is the Chimay Grande Reserve and is the strongest tasting of them, so when I want mellow I’m looking for Cinq Cents but when I want a lot of flavor I go Grande Reserve.
It’s darker than your Blue Moon types, your hefeweizens and Belgian style white wheat beers, and apparently there are few kinds of beer that actually carry the Trappist style classification. Good stuff though, even if it does cost me an arm and leg to get in Pennsylvania.
Hmmm…could be. I’m trying to think back to other pales I’ve had recently and if I tasted the same thing, but I can’t say - it feels like I did, but I may just be making my memories fit the theory.
Would Hoegaarden cause the same thing? Because that doesn’t taste soapy to me.
I knew that Blue Moon was owned by Coors… but doesn’t Blue Moon have several styles, not just the Belgian White? Perhaps therein lies the confusion. On tap at local watering hole are they serving the Blue Moon ‘xyz’… but one is purchasing the Blue Moon ‘zyx’ for home consumption.
Yeah, the Blue Moon Brewing Co. makes about seven different styles of beer but the one most widely available is the Belgian White. I’ll second the idea of trying Hoegaarden if you want to see what a Belgian White is really supposed to taste like. I drank a six-pack last night at a BYOB Moroccan restaurant. Chimay Cinq Cents is Belgian but the style (Abbey Tripel) is a whole different taste. Way too spicy for my liking.
