The Good News is "Slug Bait"

Blue Moon Blackberry Tart Ale and Samuel Adams Blueberry Hill Lager

I bought Blue Moon’s Brewmaster’s Seasonal Sampler and Samuel Adams’ Beers of Summer Variety Pack when they were on sale at Publix. I had an ulterior motive in purchasing them and that motive was unfortunately successful. Mrs. Dan’s peppers in the garden are being ravaged by slugs. Each night a slow slimy army invades and lay waste to the efforts we pursue by day. I hate slugs.

If you Google slug combat tactics you’ll find that beer is a great way to kill slugs. They love it so much they will climb in a aluminum pan of beer and then drown. I have to admit it’s a great way to go. Everything now and then I buy some really cheap beer and use it to wantonly kill the little bastards. But it is an expensive way to kill slugs. When you add up the cost buying peppers at the store it is probably even. But you can’t put a price on revenge.

I found both of these packs on sale at Publix. I’ve always said I’ve never had a Blue Moon seasonal I didn’t like. When I saw they included a fruity beer, the Blackberry Tart Ale, I thought maybe that statement was no longer going to be true. Likewise with Samuel Adams. Now Sam Adams has been producing a much wider range of brews that Blue Moon. They have specialty lines that really provide an opportunity to try something different.

Face it, a wider range of beers means you will eventually try a beer you don’t like. I don’t like every beer variety there is. I appreciate them, but that doesn’t mean I have to like them. Generally I don’t like non-citrus fruit flavored beers. Abita Purple Haze comes to mind. I guess if the wind is blowing in the right direction and the beer gods are smiling I might like a fruit beer.

The wind isn’t blowing and the beer gods aren’t smiling.

Both beers are very light in terms of a mouthfeel. Like a very light white wine. And they are truthfully Blackbery and Blueberry tasting. Although the Samuel Adams leans toward a hard lemondate.

If it is 100 degrees outside and just finished cutting the grass I would appreciate these beers. The Blue Moon pack has 5 brews in it. That’s impressive. But to come out with 12 brews in the pack they have odd counts: 3 Blackberry Tart Ales, 3 Agave Nectar Ales, 2 Belgian White, 2 Rounder and 2 Short Straws Farmhouse Ale. The Samuel Adams pack has 6 brews of two each: Porch Rocker and Little White Rye (I’ve already reviewed these), Summer Ale, Boston Lager, Belgian Session and the Blueberry Hill Ale. I plan to review the others later.

The bad news is that the Blue Moon pack has 3 Blackberry Tarts. The good news is that I have 2 bottles of beer that are now available to kill slugs. Same with the Samuel Adams but I only have one for the garden.

I just don’t fit the demographic marketing target these brews are aimed at. These beers are there to attract new drinkers who usually smell better than me and look better than me. Mrs. Dan I think is their target. (Although she shrugged her shoulders at both. She prefers wine).

If you like fruit beers then you should try them.  I can’t really tell you which one I like better. Both remind me of light fruit flavored malt liquors but without the buzz. But I can tell you both really do a great job at killing slugs. I found more than 10 slugs each morning with each brew. I would drink these though before I would drink a Bud or a Bud Light.

Now, the other good news is that there are several more brews to try with these packs. Like I said, as breweries broaden the types of brews they release more than likely they will produce a brew you don’t like. These happen to be two of them.