Hjunottsmanathr

After my recent delightful surprise with AB's Bareknuckle Stout, I guess I was feeling adventurous. So when I saw a new Blue Moon beer on the shelf called "Honeymoon," I figured it might be worth a try. Oh, I knew that Blue Moon (not a bad beer, IMHO) was a Coors product, but I was game. And thirsty. So I picked up a sixer. The bottle says that it's a "classic Summer ale made even better with real clover honey, fresh orange peel and both pale and white wheat malts."

My studies in Norse lit revealed an interesting origin for the word "honeymoon,"  In a nutshell, the word derived from the ritual use of mead (honey-based) by newlyweds for a month--supposedly right after the bride was kidnapped, but before her family stopped looking for her. (Hey, "sensitivity" is not a word usually associated with the Vikings.) Anyway, the newly weds supposedly drank large amounts of mead and did whatever such consumption led to (use your imaginations here, or recall your college days) for a month. Thus "honeymonth" or hjunottsmanathr came into being. Though there are several etymological explanations for the word, they're not as cool as this one.

But I digress. The beer, brewed in Canada by BMBC and imported by Coors, is actually a very decent summer ale. Pale yellow, almost straw-like, the beer is light and refreshing. The honey is not cloyingly sweet, nor does the orange peel dominate the palate. Both flavors kind of "dance" through the mouth and nose, and, interestingly, the beer improves with each swallow. While it could qualify as a "Lawnmower" beer (drunk greedily after a mowing session on a hot summer afternoon) it actually deserves more attention. Tasting, rather than slugging, can bring nice rewards with Honeymoon. Kind of like a Viking bridegroom taking some time with his kidnapped wife rather than doing the old wham-bam.

I pulled out some Meier's multigrain crackers--the big suckers--and spread some of the missus' newly made tunafish salad on them. Voila! The beer and the food made a perfect pair, kind of like those Viking newlyweds on holiday.

Wouldn't be a bad choice for newlyweds to have this at their nuptial celebration, IMHO.

Blue Moon Honeymoon Summer Ale is worth your time. Just be gentle.