Friday Beer Review - Honey Moon Summer Ale

Brewery Name and Location: Blue Moon Brewing Company
Name of Brew: Honey Moon Summer Ale
Style of Brew: Summer Ale

Honey Moon Summer Ale isn’t exactly a kick ass microbrew but the fiancee brought it home from a weekend with the ladies which meant it was sitting in the fridge which made it convenient. Honey Moon is what I would call a good gap beer. It fits that gap between a really good, heavy IPA and the usual macro brew. When you’re not in the mood to pound 15 Bud Lights but you’d also like to last longer than 5 Redhook ESB’s Honey Moon is the gap beer you want.

It’s got a nice clean, crisp feel with a slight hint of citrus without requiring the addition of fruit like a white ale or a hefeweizen. Don’t let me make you think this is another citrus beer. The citrus is really just barely there. The beer has a wheat smell with slight hints of honey and clove. It pours a light golden color with about a finger of slightly off-white head. It’s got plenty of carbonation for nice mouth feel and you just pick up the sweetness of the honey on the way down. Blue Moon describes it with the following:

The Gold Medal-winning Honey Moon Summer Ale is a classic summer ale made even better with real clover honey, fresh orange peel and both pale and white wheat malts. Proof that brewing the perfect summer ale is a true art.

“Perfect summer ale” might be a little strong and just about anything brewed that’s actually drinkable is “true art” in my book. Like I said at the top, Honey Moon is the perfect gap beer to take to that summer BBQ with coworkers. To borrow an analogy from Swingers it’s the beer you want to take when your tired of being the macro brew PG-13 guy that never really does much, and you’re ready to be that R rated guy that maybe drinks just a little too much and does something he’ll regret come Monday.

Blue Moon Brewing: Honey Moon Summer Ale