Honey Moon and Baton

Honey Moon and Crawfish
Clear straw color with a substantial yet fizzy head after a vigorous pour. Kinda smells lagery, like veggie. Maybe a little honey. Taste has some smoothness of a wheat beer, but not much. The taste is pretty bland actually, although they claim they used the orange peel, coriander, and now honey. With the crawfish I get a lot more of the honey coming through. Nice. Only with the crawfish do you get some of that honey, and as it warms there is some orange peel. But by itself, not cool. Low 3 Star to 2 Star.

Dogfish Head Burton Baton
Very strong alcohol and malt and spicey floral hops. Head is very creamy offwhite with that apple cider look to it. Wow. Has a lot of hops later on, with a rush of hops and malt in the early goings. Reminds me of an Imperial style. (BTW, I have no idea what style this is as I review it). Could say Imperial IPA, American Barleywine. The hop AT is vanishing faster. No sense of alcohol going on. The wife tells me it's a blended young Imperial IPA with an Oak-aged Imperial IPA. I could see some of the oak in there. High 3 Star, and probably a 4 star if it's aged and mellows a touch. Hops are really grassy and floral, and the nose really contributes to the taste on this one. Nice touch from the Fish.

I've stepped away to down the rest of my Honey Moon and watch the Liddell-Rua fight again, and now the beer is a bit sweeter, the hops are still very strong. I like the balance tipped toward hops here. Dogfish Head just knows how to do an Imperial IPA man. I just can't wait until I make it to Cali to try some of those I-IPAs and whathaveyou. I still haven't had Pliny or any of the Alesmiths.

Holla...

Oh by the way, if you live in the gulf, try your crawfish this season with just about any craft beer. I had the Bud American Ale with my spicy crawfish in Houma, Louisiana, and the Am Ale tasted FANTASTIC. It totally blew away Abita Amber. The one drawback about crawfish is that they look disgusting as hell. The trick is to not stare at them, it will totally gross you out.

Carolina BLUE MOON

Oh yes. It is the first half of the Carolina-MSU game, and we are utterly destroying Michigan State. Carolina is the realest squad out there. I am sitting here having downed 3 of a 6 pack of Blue Moons, on Martin Luther King Dr in Houma, Louisiana. I'm operating on three hours of sleep from the night before.

This is so fantastic. North Carolina OWNS BASKETBALL. For my readers from France and Germany, take heed. We OWN THE SPORT OF BASKETBALL!

Blue Moon never tasted so good. That medium body, the nice orange flavor, the slight esters from the yeast, and that's just from drinking it out the bottle. And I've got 3 more to go.

North Carolina 55
Michigan State 34
HALFTIME

Make 7... UP Yours

I have to take a break from updating you all on my Paris vacation and clearing out my beer notebook to discuss the beer I have just tried. A good friend of mine and fellow Yellow Jacket knows that I am a beer connoisseur, and he raved about Bud Light Lime at the company BBQ. I picked up a six pack at the Wal-Mart while returning a drill, buying more baby diapers, and pricing a flatscreen TV (gotta love Wal-mart).

With an open mind, we cracked it open tonight. Mind you, as you will see in later posts, a couple days ago I tasted beer made from a recipe that could be 5000 years old (Midas Touch), a kickass Barley Wine, and the Drink of the Gods (Honey Mead). Bud Light better come with it.

Bud Light Lime

State: Finished eating spaghetti, chillin at night after watching Prince Caspian

First off, the movie was tight. The beer, not so much. Beer pours quickly with little head in that classic Bud Light straw color. There is a strong smell of lime in the beer. The head disappears quickly. The first taste is just plain EMPTY at first, which is actually pretty standard for a light beer. You don't want all those pesky "beer flavors" in your light beer. I never really noticed the emptiness until I started really tasting more complex beers. After letting it warm in my mouth, I taste the light breadiness and light lime. It's kind of like 7up or Sprite to be honest. My wife says: "Sprite with melted ice". The finish is clean and the carbonation is low to medium, yet fine like a light beer. Sorry, but this six pack will sit in the fridge until we "regift" it to someone else.

Lime Beer. Look, I love flavored beers, but it looks like the supermajors just can't get right when it comes to craft beer, save Blue Moon. In fact, I would highly recommend Blue Moon's Rising Moon, their Spring Seasonal for your Lime Beer Jones. I reviewed this beer in my Superbowl post. In the meantime, the wife poured me the last of the Honey Mead, I am feeling rather immortal tonight.