Blue Moon ale full of flavor

Your Weekend Starter with Carter: O'Doul's: unjustifiably tasteless

Old East India Pale Ale ($5.99 for a six-pack, available at Hannaford) This IPA is a standard on the tab at the Sea Dog Brewery and delivers a great taste that only Sea Dog could. Because it is 6.2 percent alcohol by volume, I happily purchased this beer the other night down at the bar, curious to see how smooth this IPA would taste in relation to others I had sampled in the previous hours. The first thing that struck me about this beer was that it was noticeably darker than any of the other beers on tap and seemed to weigh more, although I am told that is untrue.

Your Weekend Starter with Carter: Imminence of winter brings new wave of seasonal ales

Ah, yes, 'tis the season for the beloved winter ales. Though I'm not a huge fan of the strong taste that characterizes most Sam Adams brews, I had heard good things about their winter lager and decided to give it a try.

Your Weekend Starter with Carter

This piece represents the opinion of the author:

Carter Thomas

Columnist

October 28, 2005

Blue Moon ($5.79 for a six-pack at Uncle Tom's)

This past weekend I was lucky enough to score a few bottles of this delightful Colorado-based brew while hanging out with some cool dudes.

Classified as a witbier (Belgian style ale, very pale), Blue Moon packs a flavor that I have never had before?a pale sweetness that combines many of the attributes I love most about beer. Its color displays a luminous yet cloudy, golden hue with a hint of orange that glows when held up to the sunlight. This also speaks to the taste of this brew?a slice of orange squeezed into a Blue Moon creates an extremely synergistic effect if you enjoy citrus flavorings.

Packing in a modest 5.4 percent alcohol content, I found this beer to b a great beverage for outdoor drinking, specifically on fall days when it is warm in the sun and cold in the shade. Also, kegs of this beer are relatively inexpensive?you should be able to find one for under $80 with a little luck, and offer a great change of pace from the standard Natural Light. For those of you who enjoy trying new beer, I recommend a Blue Moon with an orange for a great experience. My ratings: Taste: 4.4 Partyability: 3.8 Benefit/Cost: 4.7.

Molson XXX ($5.89 for a six-pack at Hannaford)

This beer, actually classified as malt liquor, is the king of ice beers. Though novice drinkers may assume this is merely another Beast Ice, they are wrong. Dead wrong. Delivering a powerful 7.3 percent alcohol content, drinking a cup of this stuff will do the same damage as almost two Bud Lights or one and a half Bud Heavies.

Brewed in Canada, XXX is a deep, rich beer that actually has less of a bite than many other beers with lesser alcohol contents. This can be both awesome and troublesome in the party scene?awesome for the party throwers who can get people pretty loose for relatively little money out of their pockets, but troublesome for partygoers who were hoping to take it easy and only have a few casual beers.

Corey Bergen '08 knows first hand about XXX, saying, "I only had to have a few of those for the party to get extreme."

This beer is a good one but is better suited for a college party rather than a dinner party. My ratings: Taste: 2.8, Partyability: 4.3, Benefit/Cost: 5 (party thrower), 4 (eager partygoer), 2 (unsuspecting lightweight).

Keystone Light ($13.49 for a 30-pack at Hannaford)

Categorized as a light lager, Keystone Light leaves much to be desired in terms of taste and originality. Visually, it appears much like any other light beer with its thin, gold color and medium-sized head. In terms of flavor, it follows the same path as its silver counterpart, Coors Light, refusing to give the drinker any sort of perceptible flavor that can be enjoyed.

Interestingly, Keystone is brewed by the Coors brewing company in Colorado and uses the same size cans as Coors Light. If you look closely, on every Keystone Light can there is some sort of dent or imperfection, possible evidence for the theory that Keystone is in fact nothing but damaged Coors Light. Regardless, Keystone Light is cheap and easy to chug, making it a viable option for students everywhere. I recommend paying the extra two bucks to get a 30-pack of Busch or a box of Franzia just so you don't have to labor through another night of 4.2 percent beers that are really not that cool. My ratings: Taste: N/A, Partyability: 3.3, Benefit/Cost: 2.

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