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! 

Just something to pass the time...

So, I was hoping to have my first beer review finished by now, but I probably won't be able to post it until tomorrow. I've been working on a couple of other projects as well, and I was close to being finished with my latest music video, so I decided to direct my attention to that. Here it is, for your enjoyment:

Not too sure if you guys have heard the song or not. One of my friends on CyberNations has a huge collection of music and he did not have this song, which came as a huge surprise to me. He was quite upset about it as well and it was funny reading his responses as he was frantically looking for the song on his hard drive. So, getting back to the point, I hope you guys enjoy the video.

I am also going to give you guys my upcoming agenda so that you know what to look forward to. Tomorrow I plan to finish editing my video review of Blue Moon Belgian White Ale. I figured that my first beer review should be on a beer that is one of my personal favorites. Along with the video I will be making a written review here on the blog. Then by Wednesday or Thursday I plan to have a review of Harp Lager for you guys. I'll finish the week with one of my interesting Beer in History articles.

From there, I would like to get some feedback. What do you want me to write about? Is there a beer that you haven't tried that you would like me to review? Send me a message, or leave a comment right on this post. I would love to review beer for you guys, and your requests will be met.

Also, please help support this site by visiting some of the ads. Just visiting two or three of them for a couple of minutes really helps me out. I also have the tip jar as well. Supporting this blog goes toward purchasing the beer I will review, site upgrades, and the internet bill in general, so it would be greatly appreciated.  Whether you simply click a couple ads a visit, or help in other ways- I greatly appreciate the support, and would like to thank those who have supported me so far.

That is all I have for you this morning- I will see you again when my first beer review is completed.  Keep drinking good beer!

The History of Coors

It was a typical fall day in Golden, Colorado.  People going about their business on November 14, 1873 hadn't the faintest idea of what was being born in the now abandoned Golden City Tannery.  German immigrant Adolph Herman Joseph Coors invested $2,000 to go in with Jacob Schueler on a venture that would change the world of beer in America as we know it.  This is the story of Coors, The third largest beer brewer in the United States, and now a regional division of the fifth largest brewing company in the entire world.  Above all things, Coors is known for their creation and operation of the single largest brewing facility in the entire world.

Adolph Kuhrs was born in northwestern Germany

Adolph Kurhs was born on February 4, 1847 in Barmen, Prussia which is now part of Germany.  At the age of 15, both of his parents died, leaving him orphaned.  He was an apprentice for a brewery owned by Henry Wenker at the time and completed his apprenticeship to become a paid employee of the Wenker Brewery in Dortmund.  He continued to work for the Wenker Brewery until May of 1867.  He then worked for three breweries in Kassel, Berlin, and Uelzen to finish out the year.

Early the next year, Adolph Kuhrs immigrated to the United States, arriving in New York City.  He then made his way to Chicago, IL where he arrived on May 30, 1868.  His name changed from Adolph Kuhrs to Coors when he arrived in the States, a name that would live in fame in centuries to come.  Coors never forgot his origins, always finding himself in a brewery.  In the spring of 1868, he would work as a laborer, but in the summertime, he worked as a brewer.  During the fall and winter, he worked as a fireman, loading coal into the firebox of a steam engine. 

Naperville was home to Coors for 4 years

During the spring and summer of 1869, Adolph became an apprentice bricklayer and stone cutter but returned to brewing once again on August 11, of the same year when he became the foreman of John Stenger's Brewery in Naperville (Naperville is the neighboring town to me, so I literally live down the street from beer history!).  His tenure at Stenger's Brewery had been his longest at any job he had had in the United States to that point, but on January 22, 1872, Adolph Coors submitted his resignation and began his journey west.

After a couple of gigs in Denver, Colorado, Adolph finally began what would root him into the profession he had always known- for the rest of his life.  He paid $2,000 against the $18,000 investment of Jospeh Schueler to found the Schueler & Coors company on November 14, 1873.  The once defunct Golden City Tannery had been converted to brew beer, and the company sold its first beer in February of 1874.  Six years later, Adolph Coors purchased Schueler's interest in the company, renaming it the Adolph Coors Company.

The Origin of Beer

The beer industry is a mammoth of production, producing the third most consumed beverage in the world.  Over 35 billion gallons of beer are enjoyed per year, and the industry experiences over $294 billion in annual revenues.  Water and tea are the only beverages that have managed to top beer in consumption, and I suppose that has to do with children not being allowed to drink alcoholic substances...

But the question of the day is this- where did this wonderful elixir have its humble beginnings?  Surely beer could not have simply appeared out of nowhere; or could it have?  Today, I invite you to join me in a thrill ride full of inquiry, laughs, and discovery, as I present to you- The Origin of Beer.

Many people imagine the invention of beer as some dude sitting around in his house and throwing a bunch of ingredients together, letting it ferment and then enjoying the result.  This is not how it happened.  11,000 years ago, in ancient Mesopotamia, humanity was made up of hunter-gatherers who had probably just learned how to create fire.  There were no roads, irrigation, chariots, catapults, or any real primitive technologies at all at this point.  These people didn't even know how to make bread.

Basically, these people were as ignorant as they come and without fate, our entire civilization would not have advanced.  Without the magical elixir known as beer, you would not have your cell phone, your laptop computer or your I-Pod.  And we feeble humans couldn't even create this magical elixer on our own either...

The first post

Hello all. This is my first post on Blogger, but it sure won't be my last. I figured that I would connect my YouTube account with an actual blog. You may find that I'm a better writer than a speaker, but I'll let you determine that. As I've already revealed, I am on YouTube, and I am just getting started there as a video/movie maker.

I plan to post a lot of interesting things both on YouTube and on here, with the majority of it being beer based knowledge :P I am no alcoholic, but I enjoy a good beer, as you can tell from any picture or video of me that you will see.

I am also a fan of a lot of different kinds of music, a game called Cyber Nations (you will see many references to "CN" in my posts), good books, history, interesting facts and good humor. I'm easily entertained and pretty easy going. I also like making videos- mainly the kind that have lots of explosions in them, but I'm sure you will see other themes too.

I'm also embedding my first video production ever here for you to look at. Took me about 3 hours to edit the footage and I think it turned out pretty well. I'm looking to get better as I continue. Other than that, enjoy the video, and I'll be doing something a lot more beer related for my next post. Peace until then.

Advertising

I just wanted to cover the many ways that businesses can advertise on the Warbuck Beer Blog.  This blog is a chronicle of my personal adventures and enjoyment of many different kinds of beer.  Beer is the world's third highest selling beverage, and billions of people around the world are familiar with or enjoy beer.  As my blog grows, I expect to have more opportunities for businesses to utilize my site for their advertising needs, but at the moment, here is a list of possible ways that you can receive advertising space on my site:

• Buy an online ad- I have set up an area in a highly visible area for the sole purpose of displaying purchased advertisements.  Your ad will rotate through this area for the length of time that you desire it to run.  Pricing is dependent on the duration that your ad runs and you will have an unlimited amount of views and clicks during this period- this is not a pay per click ad.
• Product Reviews- One of the key elements of my blog is to review different beers.  If you are a well known beer vendor, or even a local micro brewer, you may request a review of your beer for free.  However, for me to use any logos or media that you have in my presentation, I will need written consent to do so (ie- I can review your beer but to make a video that has footage from an event that you hold the rights to, I need permission).
• Topic Related Businesses- If you own a bar, sports bar, liquor store, or any establishment that sells beer, and you are in the greater Chicagoland area, I can review your establishment in a showcase for a fee.  I will visit your establishment, interview key employees, and write an article solely to promote your business.  Out of state businesses may still request a review, but will need to pay all related travel costs (if I'm going to fly out there for a 3-6 hour visit, I can't afford to do so unless I am compensated).
• Non Topic Related Businesses- If your business is not related to the beer industry, you may still purchase an ad, but you are not able to have your product reviewed.  Other than the purchase of an online ad, you may also choose a sponsorship option.
• Sponsorship- The sponsorship program will give your advertisements a higher priority on the site, as sponsors will have their own ad area and a listing on my cool sites.  You will also receive a special mention at the top and bottom of my blog as well as your own sponsor page on my blog that will serve as a page long advertisement and explanation of what your company does and the products or services provided.

For more information, contact me at johnwarbuck@gmail.com .  I will answer any questions as well as pricing information for you via email.

Beer History

One of the things that I love to write about is the history of beer.  I hope to possibly compile all of my history articles into a nice book one day, but for now, you have the individual histories here.  Like beer reviews, you can ask me to write a history about a beer related topic and I will do the research and write it up for you!  Here are the historical beer articles I have posted so far.

The Origin of Beer
The History of Wheat Beer
The History of Coors

Beer Reviews

Due to my need to keep my blog from having a super long front page, I actually only show my two most recent postings, which means that you may be missing out on some great beer reviews!  So, I have chronicled all of my beer reviews right here for you so that you can have easy access to them.

If you want me to review a beer that is not on this list, just let me know.  If it is a local craft beer, or a home brew, or you just can't wait, feel free to send me a beer mail as well.  That is a super way to get your beer reviewed quickly.  Beer mail can be sent to the following address:

John Warbuck
6419 Arnold Dr
Woodridge, IL 60517

Here is a list of all of the beers I have reviewed to date.  Just click the links and you will be directed to the review you want to see.  Thanks for visiting the Warbuck Beer Blog and keep drinking good beer!

Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat
Harp Lager
Blue Moon Belgian White Wheat Ale
Guinness Draught
Hoegaarden Witbier-biére blanche 
Franziskaner Hefe-Weiss 
Great Lakes Brewing Company Burning River Pale Ale 
Budweiser
Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale
Belhaven Scottish Ale
Dog Days Dortmunder Style Lager