Belhaven Scottish Ale

It was a request from one of the viewers from IRC, LewisCooper, that I review a beer from the Belhaven line.  I wasn't able to find Belhaven Best, but I got a hold of their flagship beer- Belhaven Scottish Ale.  Belhaven is out of Scotland, and was established in 1719.  I wasn't blown away by this beer.

The beer poured a rich copper color with a nice off white head.  The appearance was quite inviting.  However, I didn't get much out of the nose at all.  The aromas I did get were of florals, a small hint of malt, and an even smaller hint of vanilla.  The mouth feel on this beer would probably be a solid medium.  It wasn't watery or syrupy but rested right in the middle.

My first impression of this beer was that it was an imitation of Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale, but it didn't give me much nut flavor.  I did get caramel, some vanilla, a wood like taste and a hint of vanilla, but everything was so undistinguished that I was left with the impression of a semi bland beer.  This is definitely a better beer than macro beers, and it is a decent ale, but it didn't impress me that much.

The beer was well built and it had some semblance of the style, but it wasn't robust enough for my impression of an ale.  I didn't encounter any tastes or smells that turned me off, but I also wasn't very turned on.  For that reason, I decided to go against the other reviews I've seen of this beer and score this a 6 out of 10.  It isn't horrible by any means, but it just isn't spectacular.  It isn't much of anything, really.

People who like ales may want to give this a try, and it might even make a great starter ale for people wanting to cross into the ale side of the beer world if they never had an ale.  Other than that, I really don't have many merits to bestow on this beer.  Thanks for reading and watching and please tell a friend.  Keep drinking good beer!

I will add the video review when it is done rendering.

Blue Moon Belgian White Wheat Ale

For the first beer review on this blog I wanted to go with a beer that I'm very familiar with.  Blue Moon has always been one of my favorites- especially the Belgian White.  Blue Moon is a Coors product, and this beer is known for the unique use of orange peel and coriander in its recipe.  When you get to the bottom of it- this beer is just downright tasty.

Blue Moon Belgian White is a non filtered wheat ale.  Due to the lack of filtration, the beer has a nice glowing look that is cloudy and appears to be a golden amber in color.  The aroma from this beer is amazing.  When I smell it, I am just lured into it and it draws me in.  The smell of wheat and orange is dominant and it has a nice hoppy finish with a foamy white head.

Many establishments serve this beer with a slice of orange, something I had never done before.  I always drank this beer as it is, and so I decided to do a dual review on this beer.  I reviewed it with an orange and without an orange.  I enjoyed the beer both times, but the orange definitely brought out some flavors in the beer that I hadn't noticed before.  Some people like these flavors while others do not.

I sided against the orange slice, as it brought out too much of the spice in the beer and it tasted overly acidic for my tastes.  In my opinion, it turned the normal sweetness of the beer into borderline sour.  The orange also completed destroyed the foamy head of the beer- absolutely obliterating what was once a beautiful finishing touch to the eye on a great beer.

What I did not notice a lot of when tasting this beer in both cases was hops.  They were present, but they were not dominant, adding just the right amount of bitterness to the beer.  American breweries tend to over hop their beers, but Coors did a good job of not doing that in this case.  All in all this was a great beer, and remains one of my favorites.

Blue Moon Belgian White Ale has just enough citrus and sweetness to tickle your tongue, and it goes down smooth.  It isn't a very thin beer by any means either.  I didn't feel any watery sensation, but the beer was not like a syrup either.  A perfect medium bodied beer, well crafted and well done.

I give this beer a 10 out of 10 without the orange slice.  The orange slice brought out too much flavor dissonance for me to give it a 10, so with the orange it gets an 8 out of 10.  It is still a good beer, orange or no orange.  Thanks for reading, and please share this with all your friends who enjoy beer.  Keep drinking good beer!