Blue Moon Belgian White
I have a family with a bias for drinking beer from a can so I picked up a 12-pack of Blue Moon for Thanksgiving dinner this year. I've already reviewed this in bottled form, but let's see if it's any different from the "brewmaster's can". 12 ounce can poured to a pint glass. A finger-tall head forms and disappears nearly immediately. The brew is a tan/orange hybrid with an extremely cloudy appearance, much cloudier than I remember from previous encounters with Blue Moon. In fact, I can't see my fingers on the other side of the glass. There is a lot of sediment floating around the glass and some visible carbonation. This brew smells of wheat first and foremost, with a sweetness that no-doubt comes from the orange peel. The orange is present in the aroma and is generally pleasant. There's a yeastiness in the nose that provides some much needed heft to the overall effect of the fragrance. The flavor of this brew has a malty wheat bite and a surprising booziness up front. There is a sweetness present which I'm associating with the alcohol but it might actually be from the coriander and orange peel which are otherwise invisible in the flavor profile. The whole affair finishes pretty watery and isn't leaving a pleasant impression this time around. The mouthfeel is okay. The carbonation hits too hard and provides the illusion that this otherwise malty brew is much more watered down than it actually is. It actually is fairly malty. It finishes cleanly which is a saving grace at this point. With a 5.4% ABV Blue Moon is a bit heavy to be sessionable. It's a dumbed down version of the witbier style but I still generally enjoy Blue Moon when I'm in the mood. However, from the can this was just a mess; I'm not sure what happened. I can't imagine wanting to put too many of these away in succession. However I will say that it was pretty tasty with Thanksgiving dinner, and my Busch-drinking family was fairly impressed. As far as macro in a can goes, I can't imagine it gets much better than this.