I sometimes think I like Blue Moon, or have favorable memories of it from the past.  But a clone recipe I’ve brewed in the past, didn’t live up to expectations.  So I decided to just brew a beer that matched my memories of what Blue Moon tasted like to me all those years ago.  It turned out refreshing, but not the beer I imagined, so I’ll be iterating on this again in the future.  The name comes from my neighbor, Bob, who loves Blue Moon.

Crisp sweet aroma of hops/malt/yeast (not sure which). Taste is equally crisp, and palate-clearing. Finishing taste is smooth, with some fruity hop flavor in the background. Leaves minimal aftertaste other some hints of mild hop flavor hanging out in the background. Clean, crisp, and refreshing.

Brewed: 7/23/2021.  Distributed: 8/19/2021.

ABV: 4.9%,  IBU: 28

Malts: Brewer’s 2-Row, Flaked Oats, White Wheat, Red Wheat.

Hops: Hallertauer, Citra, Centennial, Amarillo.

Yeast: White Labs WLP001 California Ale.

This was a new beer for me, based on a picture I saw somewhere.  I envisioned a super-bitter IPA with caramel notes and an overpowering hop bitterness to cut through a hot, humid summer day.

Sharp, sweet aroma of malt with hops in the background.  Initial taste is crisp hop bite, combined with caramel malt sweetness.  Followed by full-flavored hops and then lingering bitterness.  Powerful punch of hop bitterness, buffeted by caramel malt sweetness.

Brewed: 7/9/2021.  Distributed: 8/6/2021.

ABV: 7.0%,  IBU: 89

Malts: Maris Otter, Caramel 20L, Munich, Caramel 60L.

Hops: Magnum, Chinook, Cluster, Ahtanum.

Yeast: Wyeast 1056 American Ale.

This was my second attempt to try to make the ubiquitous “Wheat Beer” I always  had visiting those early microbreweries before “craft beer” was a phrase.  This one is closer than my last, but I’ve got one more step to go.

Sweet aroma of malt. Crisp taste that clears the palate. Tangy, but not sweet. Finishes fairly cleanly with slight flavor hints of hops in the background. Quite refreshing. .

Brewed: 7/4/2021.  Distributed: 7/30/2021.

ABV: 4.9%,  IBU: 27

Malts: Red Wheat, Maris Otter, Flaked Wheat, Caramel 20L

Hops: Magnum, Spalter, Simcoe.

Yeast: Imperial Yeast A07 Flagship.

This recipe pre-dated my Black IPA recipe, and was something I initially thought would be a Black IPA.  But in the end, it just turned out to be a smooth black ale.  I might change it up some next time, but it’s decent as it is anyway.

Slight sweet aroma of hops and mild black malt in the background. Crispness of taste that clears the palate, then dark malt slides in after that. Flavorful, but leaves the palate clear with a slight lingering dark malt sweetness.

Brewed: 5/10/2021.  Distributed: 6/8/2021.

ABV: 6.4%,  IBU: 68

Malts: Golden Promise, Carafa III, Munich, Carafa I.

Hops: Mosaic.

Yeast: Imperial Yeast A07 Flagship.

I wanted to do a lager to try out new pressurized fermentation process/equipment, and I thought a rye lager might be cool.  I was looking for a COVID-inspired name, so came up with IRL, which I learned what it meant during lockdown quarantines.

Aroma is faint sweetness like pears or some sort of light fruit.  Taste is initially pretty flat on the palate, then turns to a nice mild grain taste.  Not much notable hop presence, mostly overall clean malt-tasting lager.  No real detectable rye “spiciness”, other than maybe hints of a slickness on the palate in the background.

Brewed: 5/2/2021.  Distributed: 5/27/2021.

ABV: 5.5%,  IBU: 35

Malts: Maris Otter, Rye Malt, Munich, Caramel 20L, Carafoam.

Hops: Cascade, Willamette.

Yeast: Wyeast 2308 Munich Lager.

Cheesy name, but I wanted to try a new yeast from Imperial Yeast, called Barbarian.  Then I went super bitter with the hops, coupled with this yeast that’s intended to be for NEIPA.  I’m super happy with how it turned out.

Aroma is beautiful and fragrant of flowery hops.  First taste is bitter, yet at the same time somehow feels smooth on the palate.  Lots of hop flavors throughout, combined with the smooth mouthfeel.  Left with lingering hop bitterness.  Beautiful.

Brewed: 4/25/2021.  Distributed: 5/20/2021.

ABV: 6.7%,  IBU: 115

Malts: Brewer’s 2-row, Munich, Caramel 20L, White Wheat.

Hops: Hallertauer, CTZ, Citra, Galaxy.

Yeast: Imperial Yeast A04 Barbarian.

Sometimes I have Sam Adams and it’s absolutely delicious.  Other times, not at all.  I was searching out clone recipes for Sam Adams Boston Lager, and I decided to just make the beer that was in my mind for those delicious ones.  This was my first attempt.  Not there yet, so this is just a cousin.  I’ll keep trying.

Sweet aroma of malt and lager yeast.  Crisp bite that has a bit of hops and then cuts out cleanly.  Left with a fairly sweet, light, bitter crispness.

Brewed: 4/5/2021.  Distributed: 5/20/2021.

ABV: 6.0%,  IBU: 30

Malts: Brewer’s 2-row, Vienna, Caramel 20L, Amber.

Hops: Hallertau Mittelfrueh.

Yeast: Wyeast 2308 Munich Lager.

I made this beer because I wanted to try out a new yeast supplier.  Since I’d made a lot of IPA-stuff recently, I wanted something a bit different, so opted for a hoppy Amber, using malts and hops I had on hand.

Slightly sweet aroma of malt with mild hop aroma in the background.  Taste is starts off sweet and slightly thick feeling, but then has a slice of hop bitterness cut through and then dry things out.  Ends with a cornoccopia of flavors of malt, yeast and some hop bitterness.  Mild caramel malt flavor mellows on the palate and lingers.

Brewed: 4/1/2021.  Distributed: 5/4/2021.

ABV: 6.2%,  IBU: 51

Malts: Brewer’s 2-row, Munich, Caramel 20L, Amber, Flaked Oats.

Hops: Hallertauer, CTZ, Simcoe, Cascade.

Yeast: Imperial Yeast A07 Flagship.

For this, I followed a lot of the base recipe from my NEIPA that I really enjoy, but I used different hops to go for something slightly brighter.   I also tried using flaked wheat instead of flaked oats, simply because that’s only what I had available.  In hindsight, I’m sticking to flaked oats on my NEIPAs going forward.  And lastly, I used a new yeast.  I really liked how this yeast worked out and will likely use this again in the future.

Fruity, citrusy hop aroma.  Slight bite from the hops and yeast at first taste, which then transitions into a moderate malt taste, before slowly fading out and leaving some lurking hop bitterness and hints of yeast flavor.

Brewed: 3/27/2021.  Distributed: 4/24/2021.

ABV: 4.9%,  IBU: 56

Malts: Maris Otter, Flaked Wheat, Caramel 20L.

Hops: Columbus, Zythos, Amarillo, Simcoe.

Yeast: Imperial Yeast A38 Juice.

This is one of my favorites.  Born from an ethereal experience after a 5k run up in Traverse City, where they had beer during and after the race.  I had this phenomennal beer with Galaxy hops.  It was so delicious post-run, but was my inspiration for this beer.  I’ve made it several times.  This was the other beer entry in National Homebrew Competition.

Beautiful color of orange with a white frothy head.  The beer is opaque and hazy from the flaked wheat.  Nice perky hop aroma.  Flavorful punch of hop zest on first drink that fills the mouth with exciting hop flavors, and full sweetness of the yeast.  Finishes fairly crisp, with lingering hop bitterness trailing off into the distance.

Brewed: 2/13/2021.  Distributed: 3/13/2021.

ABV: 5.4%,  IBU: 83

Malts: Maris Otter, Flaked Wheat, White Wheat, Caramel 20L.

Hops: Hallertauer, Galaxy.

Yeast: White Labs WLP008 East Coast Ale