Blue Moon Valencia Amber Ale
Blue Moon Brewing Company

This is not just Valencia Amber Ale but Valencia GROVE Amber. Special.

The copper-colored ale smells of wheat malts and the typical array of blue moon spices, plus orange peel. I like the taste, because I like orange juice, and it tastes just like OJ! At least it has flavors similar to that of good, fresh-squeezed valencia orange juice, the type served in Spanish cafes. As an amber, though, it misses the mark. Some pale and sweet malts lay a soft base, but the orange flavor dominates. The mouthfeel also reminds me of thick but pulp-free orange juice with just a bit of carbonation.

This 'beer' is enjoyable to drink as long as I don't think too hard about it. So I keep my beer review short and just enjoy the OJ-esque malt beverage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beer was mediocre at best an atemp at a craft beer

 

 

 

 

Poured deeper amber colored. Smell was malty and spiced, but nothing special. Taste was sort of the same. Not a whole lot going on. Malt, and a smidge of tart citrus. Mouthfeel is thin. Overall, its a middle of the road brew. Would have decent drinkability. Its straight forward. And 5.9% abv which isnt horrible either.

 

 

A: Pale amber color with a 1 inch off white head that dissipates quickly, no lacing

S: Weak smell of malts, not much else

T: Sweet malts, caramel, spice, Im guessing coriander since that is what the bottle says, pretty similar to the Belgian white, I get a little of the orange as it warms

M: Pretty thin, I would say light to medium

O: A decent beer, way too similar to the Belgian white, just a little darker color and not a cloudy. I like their flagship but its pretty much the same thing.

 

 

Appearance : Pours a honey golden amber color, with about 70% transparency. The head is around 1 finger tall, but recedes to a wispy ring within 2 minutes. The head is an off-white color with orangeish hue.

Aroma : It's pretty faint. There's malts and clean water with some faint coriander and orange, and the malts here have a lightly roasted aroma. It takes some deep whiffs to analyze this smell. Pretty weak.

Flavor : Both toasted and pale malts mix together with coriander, and it finishes with some slight fresh orange, leaving hints of copper on the tongue. Not much else to write about.

Mouthfeel : The first thing I noticed was the creamy front on this beer, very calming and very palatable. Medium bodied and ends dry. Easily the best part about this beer.

Overall : Pass. It's mediocre in about every sense of the word. It's not delicious, it's kind of lame, and just barely qualifies as "crafty".

 

 

 

My least favorite in the line-up.

Drain-pour!

 

 

 

not really much to say here, pretty bellow average attempt at an amber ale. Crystal clear amber color, head is ok. Kinda reminds me of a not as good, filtered belgian white.

It has a nice fluffy head and a deep golden amber color, and it's a pretty solid brew, but there's not a lot to recommend in this beer. Nothing wrong but nothing really remarkable, either. What I did find interesting was the specific kind of bitterness in the flavor. It takes more notes from the orange peel than the usual source of beer bitterness, hops. It takes on other aspects of the orange flavor, but the least of this is the sweetness (which I am in favor of, as sweet is a treacherous tone to add to beer). So there is that to appreciate in this fruit beer. It's definitely better than average, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it, as the more dominant malty beer flavor is a bit lackluster.