Should You Blue Moon Grand Cru?

Most craft beer fans have had at least a small experience with SABMiller/Coors' Blue Moon beer. Be it as a last resort beer when nothing else is available, a gateway beer on the road to something more authentic, or an easy to drink alternative, it's hard to deny that the beer brewed under the Blue Moon Brewing Company misnomer are a full flavored and tasty option on the grocery store shelf.

I'll admit that any new variety of Blue Moon causes me to pause and see what the big guys are up to - be it Honey Moon, Harvest Moon, Full Moon, Rising Moon, or Pale Moon, I think the beers are at least worth sampling. On a recent trip back to my hometown, I had the opportunity to drink Blue Moon against Boulevard Wheat - and although I release the beers are different styles, I'd easily choose Blue Moon if given the (lack of) choice again.


The appearance of Blue Moon Grand Cru on Kroger shelves once again piqued our interests, and after a night at Barley Island Broad Ripple, Gina succumbed to the $8.99 price tag and brought a bottle home. The question, then, is this: Blue Moon Grand Cru? Seriously? Is the Blue Moon drinker pining for bigger and bolder Blue Moon? And if so, hasn't that drinker probably moved on already?

According to the bottle, Blue Moon's explanation for the limited release of the beer - is there any doubt this is a Miller product? They've reserved the rights to the phrase "Artfully Crafted" - is in celebration of an actual blue moon on New Year's Eve. They've even proudly dated the bottle, a technique that's usually a craft beer/grocery store no-no.

In any case, we've had a recent (regular) Blue Moon experience, so it probably makes sense to drink it now so we can compare.

The first notable thing is that the beer has pretty much the same Blue Moon nose, but everything is stepped up a bit - elements of orange and lemon, but in the case of the Grand Cru, there's an alcohol element there as well, as well as a sort of flour-like smell that I had never noticed in Blue Moon before. The beer also has the same orange/gold Blue Moon color, but this time there's a noticeable amount of yeasty globules floating around in the mix.


The taste is peppery and almost saison-like, but follow up sips revealed a perfumey mix of flowers and citrus, and a strong alcohol note. We're no strangers to big beers in our time with HBG, and but this is one of the stronger tasting 8.2% beers I've had. The more we drank, the less we wanted it. And with other options in the fridge, we moved on.

As we always hope to convey at Hoosier Beer Geek, when drinking beer, it's best to find out for yourself. But this is one moon where my interest is waning.

The Hoosier Beer Geek 2009 End of Year Readers Survey: RESULTS!

For part one the 2009 year end readers survey results, I thought it might interesting to compare this year to last year. As an additional improvement, we've got a collection of graphs to make things a little more clear.

Demographics

This year's average reader age was 34.3, and 12.5% of you are women. 1.67% of you are other. 91.8% of our readers are Indiana residents, with Illinois (2.46%) and Missouri (1.64%) coming in second and third. In any case, we're glad to have you.

Last year's average age was 33.29 - which basically means that in the year that's passed, you've gotten a year older. As have we. Glad to see you're still along for the ride. Unfortunately the percentage of female readership has decreased from 19% to 12.5% - an issue we hope to address with some women-specific events in the coming year.

1. Which Indiana brewery is producing your favorite lineup of Indiana beers?


When it comes to your favorite Indiana brewery, it's no surprise that Three Floyds is running the show (51.67% of the vote). Perhaps a little more surprising is the instant success of Sun King Brewing Company, who came in second in our survey with 14.17% of the vote. Filling out the podium was Brugge Beer and Brasserie, who earned 8.33% percent of your votes.

Last year's results had Three Floyds in first with 59.8% of the vote, Brugge in second with 12.4% of the vote, and Upland in third with 8.2% of the vote.

2. Which of the following is your favorite Indiana craft beer retailer?


The HBG readers have again voted Kahn's Fine Wine and Spirits (27.73% of the vote) as their favorite Indiana craft beer retailer. Crown Liquors has again come in second, with 19.33% of the vote, and Parti-Pak Liquors comes in third with 12.61% of the vote. Our congrats also go out to Sahara Mart and Keg Liquors for coming in 4th and 5th in our survey despite having zero Indianapolis area locations. Both of those stores are doing fantastic work - we know from experience.

Last year's results - Kahn's Fine Wine and Spirits (18.7%), Crown Liquors (14.3%), The Hop Shop (14.3%). We were sorry to see The Hop Shop go in 2009.

3. Which of the following is your favorite Indiana beer bar?


It's a repeat victory for MacNiven's Restaurant and Bar as your favorite Indiana beer bar. This year they took 11.86% of the votes, narrowly beating Indy's Downtown Buffalo Wild Wings (10.17%). Shallos Restaurant and Brewhouse took third place with 9.32% of the vote.

It's also worth noting that there were quite a few write-in votes for Rich O's/The New Albany Public House, but we excluded them from this category since they're in the next one. We'll be visiting New Albany for the whole experience, and we hope to bring a group along - tickets for the KOTBR 100 bus trip to New Albany will be on sale in late January/Early February.

Last year's results - MacNiven's Restaurant and Bar (15.0%), Rathskeller (13.8%), Heorot, Muncie (12.5%)

4. Which of the following is your favorite Indiana Brewpub? (Not the same as Brewery - in this case you are rating the total Brewpub experience.)



The number of repeat winners would surely seem to indicate that we had the exact same readers voting this year as last year. You shouldn't be surprised to learn that Brugge Brasserie (29.41%) has taken the award as your favorite Indiana brewpub for the second year in a row. Coming in second was the Broad Ripple Brewpub (14.29%), followed by Three Floyds Brewpub in Munster (11.76%). Same as it ever was..

Last year's winners: Brugge Brasserie (32.0%), Broad Ripple Brewpub (13.4%), Three Floyds, Munster (9.3%)

More results soon.

Guest Post: North to the Future: Craft Beer in Alaska

Our guest contributor for today's guest column is Sun King Brewer/Owner Clay Robinson. Staraya, his talented and lovely girlfriend, is a former Alaska native.



Staraya & I arrived in Anchorage after a long journey that took us from Indy through Chicago, then to Seattle for a 22-hour layover, complete with sushi and last minute holiday shopping, and then a very turbulent flight to Alaska. I have been now been lucky enough to arrive in Alaska on both the Summer & Winter Solstices, so I have been able to enjoy their longest and shortest days of the year! But no matter what day it is, the best place to go for a beer lover is The Moose’s Tooth.


The Moose’s Tooth boasts an impressive 22 taps, all of which are pouring fresh beer, brewed on site. On this particular day, they had 18 beers pouring! I didn’t get to taste all 18 of them because it was crazy busy and I needed to save room for their pizza, which is exquisite. The place is packed at 8 p.m. on this frigid Monday night and from what I gather that is the case pretty much every night. The doors lead straight into their waiting area, which is right in front of their bar. Two dining rooms extend out from either end of the bar and the place is buzzing with chatter and good spirits. The atmosphere at The Moose’s Tooth is very cozy with exposed wood beams and stone. Everywhere you look they have artwork from their First Tap Series, all of which is incredible. You could spend hours perusing their poster collection that lines the walls.


We put our name in and headed for the bar to grab a beer for the wait. They have a convenient spot sectioned off at the bar for thirsty patrons to grab a beer while they wait for a table, which doubles as a spot for convenient growler fill service. Russell, Jeanie and myself all got the I.P.A. and Staraya got the Winter Warmer. After traveling for a few days I had a powerful thirst for something hoppy and their Fairweather I.P.A. really hit the spot. Its initial caramel sweetness is mild and quickly cut through with big doses of Chinook Hops. The hop flavor and bitterness were just right, so between the delicious beer and catching up with old friends, the wait really flew by.

We were seated and greeted by our server, Kristen, who was comfortably decked out in Moose’s Tooth apparel, topped off with a cozy sock hat. The staff at the Tooth is always friendly and seems to genuinely enjoy working there. After a little chatting, Russell told her that I was in fact a brewer, so Kristen said she would bring me samples of a few things that she felt I had to try… then she left us to the difficult task of choosing our pizza.


Choosing a pizza at the Moose’s Tooth is akin to picking your pie at Jockamo’s. There are dozens of options from traditional to unique and of course being in Alaska there is a Halibut pizza (Blackened Halibut, Diced Red Onions, Diced Roma Tomatoes, Spicy Sour Cream Sauce, Parsley, Mozzarella, Provolone, Garlic & Olive Oil). It is my opinion that some of the best things about pizza are: 1) Good pizza places have their own unique dough/crust. 2) There are a countless number of toppings and combinations. 3) Pizza is perfect for sharing. Of course these are some of the same reasons that I love beer, breweries and traveling to experience them, so I’m kind of in Heaven at this place!

In the infinite sea of pizza decisions, we chose to go with two medium pizzas and have each side of the table pick a pie. Russell and Jeanie chose the White Pizza (Sundried Tomatoes, Artichoke Hearts, Feta, Mozzarella, Provolone, Garlic & Olive Oil) with the addition of sausage. Staraya and I went with the Brewhouse Favorite (Italian Sausage, Sundried Tomatoes, Red Onions, Mozzarella, Provolone, Parmesan, Denali Sauce) then added mushrooms and black olives. When Kristen returned, she had three tasty samples of beer. We ordered pizza and a salad and I commenced sampling.

Winter Warmer: I took a sip of Staraya’s Winter Warmer when she first got it. I was happy to have some to myself, so I didn’t end up drinking all of her beer (which happens quite frequently), but given her fondness for this particular beer, I thought I’d better get my own. Winter Warmer is a really nice beer. It is reminiscent of Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale in that big malt and generous hops kind of way. The aroma is full of earthy hops. It has a rich malt start with a distinct extra dark crystal malt character. The body is full, bordering on chewy and it is all balanced with a generous earthy hop flavor. Winter Warmer is a well-balanced beer that is very enjoyable and would probably sneak up on you after a couple of pints, which would be easy to consume on a cold Alaskan evening.

Prince William Porter: This is a spot on Porter. It has a lot of chocolate to the nose with a bit of roast. The body is light to medium and the flavor is rich and chocolaty with a nice ester quality. It is a clean, smooth, delicious porter.

Dark Star Lager: From what I could taste, the Dark Star Lager is essentially the Porter, but fermented with a lager strain. The chocolate flavor was really nice in this beer as well and the clean lager finish worked well to make this a really nice beer.

While all of these beers were delicious, as I’m sure most everything else is, Fairweather I.P.A. was calling my name. It is the type of beer that I just can’t get enough of, so I ordered another pint to accompany our pizzas. The pizzas and my fresh beer were delivered to the table in a timely manner and our feast ensued! Both pizzas were f@$!&# fantastic and we devoured every bit of it.

All in all, I can’t see how there could possibly be a better place for pizza and beer in all of Alaska. So, if you ever make it up this way… Stop in at the Moose’s Tooth. It’s worth the trip!