Blue Moon Full Moon Winter Ale

Brewed by Coors Brewing Company (MillerCoors)
Style: Abbey Dubbel
Golden, Colorado USA

Bottle. Wet cardboard and sour metal aroma. Offensive. Nice looking though, deep clear amber with a thin, elegant white head leaving nice lacing. Flavor isn’t terrible at first, but gets sour in the finish ruining the next sip. Biting palate.

Bottle from Pat’s. Brownish pour with off-white head. Aroma is caramel malt, some figs, mild spice. Medium palate with brown sugary malt, mild figgy fruity notes, and some X-mas spicy hints. OK, but not a repeater.

Bottle from Total Wine in Naples, FL. Pours a translucent amber orange with an off white head. Aroma of candi sugar, raisens, and cheap malts- but no belgian esters. Medium to light bodied with a typical macro texture and carbonation. Watered down flavor of candi sugar, maple, and wet grains- with a subtle balancing bitterness. Tastes like a homebrew kit attempt using non-belgian yeast strains. This is no where near a true Dubbel, and is not a good beer in general. I should kick my own ass for paying for this.

Well hmmmm.... All I can say is that it reminds me of Christmas, or that it is good for cold weather. An abbey ale it is not! But it is flavorful for darkfruits and sugar,but it still falls flat on the palate.

Bottle. This was my first "Abbey" style so maybe I had high expectations. Honestly it tasted just like a Mr. Beer Pale Ale, I made. I guess it was from the amount of sugar in the beer.

Bottle. Pours a strange translucent ocher color I can describe only by this scenario. Sometimes, after drinking an imperial stout, I will return to my glass a day later to find a mililiter of beer has dried in the bottom of the glass. To make it easier on my dishwasher, I often soak the residue with an ounce or two of hot water before washing it. The strange solution that results is the exact color of this beer. But the nose! The nose is not of belgian yeast, but indistinct sweetness. Flavor is quite sweet, with some corn and maple aftertaste. Finish is funky and maby a tad metallic. Not disgusting, so I wondered, how is this one of the worst abbey dubbles in the world? Then I realized that any brewer who goes out of their way to brew an abbey dubble is going to know what they are doing, and this one does not. This is not a belgian (style) beer and it is the color of Bass pale ale.

I got this thinking it would be an absolute trainwreck and it didn’t seem nearly as bad as I’d envisioned. It is far from being mistaken for an actually Belgium abbey ale though. Pours amber with a sudsy beige head. The aroma has soda spritziness, light caramel malt, brown sugar, hints of earthiness and brown sugar. The aroma overall is quite muted though. Medium semi-smooth body with some fizzy carbonation on the finish. The flavor starts with sugary sweetness, wateriness, minor toffee and caramel along with some biscuit-like malt. The finish has some spice and astringency. Not bad for who does it, but not something I’ll run out to get.

Single bottle I thought would be entertaining, but I was greatly disappointed. Aroma of much to do about nothing, mostly cardboard with a tinge of sugar. Looks good in the glass, brownish copper pour with a thick head and nice lacing. Light-medium body with a faint creaminess and a thin finish. Flavor is rather dull, mild sweetness and a touch of doughy malt. Thumbs down on this seasonal, whatever "Belgian" ingredients they claim are used are not used properly.