This is a light pumpkin ale, but it leans more toward the sweet than the bitter. Blue Moon manages to get the nose right, if a little weak, and the aftertaste is pleasantly in line with some of the more powerful pumpkin ales out there. It's not overly powerful (5.7% ABV), and is quite easy to drink. The color is pumpkin-standard orange-tinted amber ale color, though I've found few that stand out in that regard.
I'm not overly clobbered with pumpkin flavoring. Some people may like this, but I prefer my pumpkins big and bold. It claims (on the bottle) to be flavored with pumpkin, cloves, and allspice, but I don't really notice much of anything besides the title ingredient.
I'm inclined to rank this as a mid-range pumpkin ale, but I could see it being popular for just having an easy, light-but-noticeable, sweet flavoring to it. I wouldn't put it as going very far depending on the matchup, but I'm definitely hanging an asterisk next to that prediction. I'm not the unique judge for this tourney, and the popular vote may end up sending this one on a streak. This is the first ale I've tasted that didn't have nutmeg. I can't say for sure whether or not I miss the flavoring. I give this one a solid “B” as a pumpkin, which is what I've come to expect from Blue Moon. Despite being owned by MillerCoors, they deliver consistently decent beers. They have yet to deliver me a knockout, gotta-have-it, raving-to-all-my-friends beer, but neither have they put up many disappointments. Well done, Blue Moon. I'm a fan, just not a huge one.
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