BlueMoonWinterAle — Blue Moon Winter Ale

12 Beers of Christmas (plus 3)

Blue Moon Winter Abbey Ale

My sainted mother is looking down from Heaven at me and laughing her fanny off. Things have a way of coming back to haunt you. When I was a child my mother’s dream was to have a Christmas tree with nothing but white lights.

Not if I had anything to do with it. Each year I put up quite the fight on preserving the strings of brightly colored lights. For many years it was those huge bulbs that the insurance companies and fire chiefs convinced the world were bad. Those puppies would turn the branches brown and create quite the fire hazard. But dammit (even at a young age I used those words to resist the white light movement) I was not going to cave in. Mother caved. After I went off to college she got her wish by decorating the tree before I got home. I also mellowed out. For the past 5 years Mrs. Dan has had me putting up white lights on our gutters, which I think look cool.

So, I tried to put up the white lights this year, which I was shamed into doing quickly because competition from my neighbor. I was stopped dead in my tracks by a crying 4-year-old who found a string of colored lights and said they had to go on up on the roof. Never mind that we have enough white lights for the entire length of the house and we only have one string of colored lights that covers one part of the carport roof. We’ve been using those white crystal lights since before he was born (they hurt like hell when you step on them). No matter how much I tried to persuade him or bribe him his tears didn’t cease until I strung up the colored string. The only argument I won was his demand that he climb up the latter and hang them himself.

My anger quickly turned to laughter. My mother was getting her revenge. She also enjoyed a nice Christmas toddy at times. So for the fourth Day of Christmas Brews the Beer Fairy brought me Blue Moon Winter Abbey Ale. I’ve really enjoyed the Blue Moon seasonal. I took it on faith that these would be good and bought a six.

Once again Mark gave me a hand. Nice chocolate malt taste. And I think there’s some caramel tastes in there (Mark and Mrs. Dan didn’t taste the caramel). Smooth. Not a crisp tasting beer even though we served it fairly cold. It’s got a nice little spice flavor going that I suspect is nutmeg. Maybe a hint of clove. Kind of the usual Winter stuff but then again not far from their Fall Seasonal pumpkin ale. Mark found a hint of brown sugar. It does brag on the label that they use Belgian Sugar and roasted malts. It has kind of a buttery finish. Each sip has a different taste. On second taste it was sharp on the start, mellows out to an almost toffee taste.

So, the fourth day of my Christmas Brews was a keeper. What next? Anchor Steam Christmas Ale or Bell’s Christmas Ale? Decisions, decisions.

12 Beers of Christmas (plus 3)

Day 4: Blue Moon Winter Abbey Ale