I love singles. Just so you know, I’m not talking about the mass e-mails that everybody gets from singles net. No, I’m talking about single bottles of beer. Variety is the spice of life, and my beer spice rack overfloweth. Before I forget, Blue Moon’s website concept and look are very cool. You can even do some virtual brewing on the site. I have a link below.
There are two reasons that I love to buy single bottle of beer. One, you are only committed to one bottle of beer. If you don’t like it, no big loss. Second, it gives me the chance to try more beers more often. I’m reluctant to keep buying beer when I have the rest of a six pack at home. So, when I see single bottles of beer, like the Harvest Moon by Blue Moon, it gladdens my heart. Unfortunately, the first reason I offered is why I’m so happy I only bought one bottle of Harvest Moon. Here is what I thought of this beer.
The Pour: Harvest Moon had a nice maple-colored body with a finely carbonated and short, stable head. This part of the beer was pretty straightforward.
The Nose: There was a tinge of sweetness on the nose, which offered (I thought) a lot of promise. The pumpkin that was used in the ale was discernible but not over-bearing…also very promising. Small hints of nuttiness from the pumpkin was also present.
The Taste: My initial impression of the beer was favorable. There was some nice graininess, lovely sweet pumpkin, and a touch of nuttiness. Again, I think the nuttiness came from the fact that pumpkin was in the beer. Like I said, the initial stuff was pretty decent.
However, I found something menacing lurking underneath me first impression. There was a cooked vegetable quality to the finish. What caused this? One would immediately assume that the pumpkin made this vegetable quality happen. Are you out of your Gourd?–Don’t blame the pumpkin. I know that was cheesy, but I can’t help myself. Seriously, it could have been the pumpkin, but it could have also been some failures in the brewing process. A cooked vegetable quality has often been found in beers that contained no pumpkin, beets, corn, corn dogs, corn flakes or corny additions. Vegetables don’t have to be in the beer to find an unpleasant cooked vegetable quality. I’m personally not inclined to blame the pumpkin, but I will blame the brewer. Whether it was the addition of too much pumpkin or a failure in the brewing process, it is still a brewing issue either way.
Overall, the beer had a lot of promise, but the shortcomings made it a significantly less enjoyable to drink. Try it for yourself to see what you think, but I’m not going to the harvest next year.
P.S. If you want to try a good Pumpkin Ale, try Dogfish Head’s Punk.
Mike’s Rating:
Overall Satisfaction: 
Among other Pumpkin/Spiced Ales:
I had this back in December. I can’t recall specifics, but I didn’t like it much. I’ll have to try the dogfish head.
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Hmmm. Those pumpkin beers seem to be hit or miss. Of the ones I’ve had, I thought the one from Smuttynose was pretty good, but otherwise – eh.
Seems a little out of season too? That beer was probably on the shelf for awhile too – I recall seeing all the Oktoberfest stuff starting to show up in early September now.
Generally, I enjoy the offerings of Blue Moon, I’ve had 3 of their seasonal brews but not Harvest Moon.
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Some of their other stuff is ok, but this one was just not good. I admit that it is not the time of year I would normally drink but it’s simply not well made.
As to Punk. It’s one of the few Pumpkin Ales that I really enjoy. I’m normally reluctant on spiced ales and so forth, yet it is really nice.
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Tried it. Once. Didn’t like it one bit. Didn’t realize it was a pumpkin ale until I opened it. I’m sorry, but cooked gourd does not belong in my beer. Gave the rest away.
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I think if it’s done right is adds a very nice nutty quality, not unlike a nut brown or some other English Ales. I’m in general agreement with gourds and other things not being added to beer. Neo-purist. I guess I might describe myself that way. Don’t give them all up, though. I really do like Punk by DFH.
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