Two Nerd Party

Brewer: Molson Coors Brewing Company
Type: Pale Wheat Ale
Rating: 7/10

I've liked every one of Blue Moon's seasonal ales so far (though I still have yet to try the Harvest Moon, since pumpkin beer kind of scares me.) Honey Moon is brewed with "clover honey, orange peel, pale malt, and malted white wheat", so it has a warm, summery taste. It's not quite as crisp as the Rising Moon, but it's still a nice beer for warm weather.

Brewer: Duvel Moortgat
Type: Belgian Abbey Double
Rating: 5/10

The first two thoughts that came to mind were: "Wow, this smells like barley. And...it tastes like barley." Oddly enough I didn't taste the higher alcohol content that much (I suppose it was overpowered by the heavy barley flavor). I enjoyed it, but probably wouldn't drink more than one every now and then. This wasn't really my style.

Here's my rating scale for beer. At some point, I'll come up with one for food.

The scale goes from 1 to 10, with 1 being bad and 10 being good. Ratings 3-7 are based on party experience.

7 means that after coming home in the afternoon, I'd happily open one of these beers and have it with dinner, or by itself. At a party, I'd like to start with a 7, both to get me into the "party mood" (I'll probably drink it fairly quickly), and because later on I might not be able to enjoy its more subtle flavors. A 7 has an excellent flavor and is easily drinkable. The Shock-Top I just rated is a 7.

A 3 is at the other end. At this point, the party's gone past its peak, one or two party poopers have already gone home (but I of course haven't noticed), and I'm in very high spirits and trying to sustain that. I don't really care what I drink, as long as it's got some kick and doesn't taste like a penny in the sewer. PBR might be a 3.

You can probably extrapolate the remaining values from that. Steel reserve is probably a 2 (doesn't meet the penny-in-the-sewer requirement). I can't think of any 8+ beers off the top of my head. I don't like giving anything in the far extreme; I expect to meet a 1 or a 10 maybe once every few years. Both 1 and 10 beers must be truly amazing: they are unique and outstanding in their own ways.

Keep in mind that beers rated below 5 aren't necessarily bad, just as beers rated above 5 aren't good in all situations. Every beer has its place. As I mention above, some beers belong at the beginning of a great party, and some belong somewhere in the murky, blurry shadowy depths at the end.

Brewer: Anheuser-Busch
Type: Belgian Hefeweisse
Rating: 7/10

Susi picked this out at the Spec's the other day, and I was pretty skeptical. This beer has a giant orange dude (not a dude who's orange, but a dude who's actually an orange) on the front, surrounded by wheat, with BELGIAN WHITE printed in big letters underneath. I'm not personally a fan of Belgians (the beer; as a whole I find Belgian people "charming and quaint"), nor am I a big fan of wheat beer. When I do find a hefe I like, I don't generally prefer it with a big slice of citrus sticking in its side. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I tasted this beer; it's got the thicker, bready taste that hefes sometimes do, but it also got an excellent flavor to follow it up. There's just a hint of hops (just the right amount), and possibly just a hint of citrus. Not at all the light, watery orange juice flavor I was expecting based on the label.

Brewer: Guinness Brewing Co.
Type: Lager
Rating: 6/10

Up until recently, it was uncommon to find a Lager in our fridge (unless my dad was visiting). We are not ironic hipsters guzzling PBR or Schlitz. For a while I automatically associated "Lager" with "bad". Fortunately, that's not always the case. We visited Spec's just before St. Patty's Day to find a ton of Irish beers on sale, and one of them was Harp. I hadn't had any in a long time, so I had completely forgotten how drinkable (yet tasty!) it is.