Blue Moon Cocoa Brown Ale
Blue Moon Brewing Company

Note: I am in the process of moving all of my ratings from other beer sites to here, so that all of my ratings are consolidated in one place. The review below is an exact copy of my original RateBeer review from 03/03/2017.


12 oz. bottle. Pours a clear reddish-brown with a light-tan, tight-foamed, head that lingers for quite a while. Aromas of brown sugar, caramel, and citrus. Taste is bitter-sweet with flavors of burnt-caramel, unsweetened chocolate, and a hint of sour citrus (e.g. lemon, kumquat, or Buddha’s hand). Medium-bodied with slick texture and average carbonation. Finish is a bit on the astringent side, which I find a bit off-putting.

 

Old November 29, 2016 beer review here. One interesting thing I've noticed: Both Blue Moon and Shock Top have variations that I prefer to their OG versions. Here is the Blue Moon one.

Here is the requisite look analysis for a brown ale: brown ale pours brown, head, lighter brown. Whose That? Brooooown. Such a good song. Anyhoo, it smells like chocolate. How about that. The citrus peel was lost on my smell wise.

Taste, eh, its a relatively watery brown ale as a chocolate delivery system. But I still like it more than all the other Blue Moons. I don't think its as good as the chocolate Shock Top one, but they're pretty similar. I guess the bitter note here is the orange peel, might as well have been grapefruit, didn't have an orange taste, just more of a rind bitterness, but it was minor compared to the chocolate sweet sensation. Well carbonated. I'd recommend you check it out at least once for the tick, but its not gonna be anyone's go to beer methinks.

 

 

 

In the Law of Unintended Consequences, The Bottle Backlog here at Chez Woody is enabling me to conduct a buncha brewery horizontals (same brewery, different beers) & today are Blue Moon offerings!

From the bottle: "Brewed with Cocoa and a hint of Orange Peel"

I unscrewed the screwed-up screw top bottle, cursing the fact that it was depriving me of the Pop! of the cap. It took every bit of my thrice-over anger management classes to keep from up ending the bottle & letting fly. Instead, I took a deep breath & gently poured it into the awaiting glass. Once decanted, an in-glass swirl raised just over a finger of foamy, rocky, deep-tan/light-brown head with decent retention. Color was Brown to Dark Brown (SRM = > 22, < 27) with NE-quality clarity. Nose held a good dose of chocolaty cocoa, quite sweet, actually. Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, not quite creamy but surprisingly big for the style. The taste was very chocolaty, which was reasonable for both the style and its name, but the orange peel was not immediately discernible. I got an orange citrusiness on the finish, but I found myself wishing that it had been more pronounced. Instead, the result was a sweet finish which finished me. I just do not dig sweet stuff & this was making me sweat. YMMV.

 

Once again, this is a rather bizarre beer where I can't quite construe some of the ratings on this. Take your beer. Add a ton of dark chocolate. That's this beer. I suppose it isn't the most complex beer around, but, it's exactly what one would pay for when purchasing a chocolate beer. A beer that delivers like this one merits a high score.

 

 

 

A: Light brown, 1/2 inch khaki head,

S: Hops, chocolate, caramel

T: Chocolate, caramel, coffee

M: Medium to light

O: I love the original Belgian White but most of their others are not so good versions of the original. This one is actually kind of decent. I like that they are venturing into the stout and brown ale categories.

 

 

 

 

A clear, very light brown, almost red up to the light. A half finger of eggshell head that fades to a thin layer, quickly, and leaves a mild lacing down the glass. The aroma is very mild brown bread crust, and mild cocoa/chocolate. The flavor is balanced between sweet and bitter, a little bready, a little (very little) cocoa/chocolate. The feel is dry, medium thin body, and above average carbonation. I don't think this is any threat to Bell's Best.