SUMMER ALE DEATH MATCH!

For the first Boozebattle we have two of the most prominent Summer Ale's - Samuel Adam's Summer Ale and Honey Moon from the maker's of Blue Moon. Each is vying for your attention, your wallet, and a special place in your beer belly. Lets go to the Stats!

When you get to the point where the foam won't actually fit in the glass...keep going.

Sam Adams Summer Ale

Color: A warm reddish-brown hue

Foamability: Epic

Special Powers: Grains of Paradise, Lemon Zest

Honey Moon

Color: Bright Amber

Foamability: Meager

Special Powers: Bug Vomit

These days it seems that every one of the smaller breweries has a brew for every single season and/or holiday halmark has ever birthed from its accursed womb. This isn't such a bad thing as it means we get and endless stream of excuses to buy new booze. ("Sorry honey, I had to get the "Christ Is Risen" Easter Ale")

But when it comes down to it there are only a few legitimate seasonal ale's. One of those is the Summer Ale. With Summer Ale companies try to capture the feeling of backyard barbecue's, roasting marshmallows over an open fire, and trips to the hospital after Uncle Frank blows off what's left of his pinky finger with a cherry bomb. Truly it is a worthy endeavor.

But which Summer Ale to buy? Tis the eternal question, one that Boozeblogger aims to answer. We picked up two of the most popular: Sam Adams Summer Ale and Honey Moon from the good folks who brought you Blue Moon and decided to...decide...once and for all which brew you should do.

Blue Moon's Honey Moon

I have to be honest, my first impression on this one was "they added honey" but, in my opinion, Blue Moon is a fairly tight product over all with not much room for improvement (though I know MANY who would argue that point.) If Blue Moon has a target market it's the recently awakened beer drinker who has seen the light and no longer wants to drink BUD, but at the same time doesn't know where to start with all the micro brews and imports. For you booze nerds out there I think of Blue Moon as the Maker's Mark of beer. MM is a whiskey which no one will denigrate but at the same time most don't want to stake their booze-claim on Maker's Mark. Why? Because everyone had heard of it. I think Blue Moon knows it's place in the beer world (the one you drink with an orange) and is comfortable in it. For that reason I'm not surprised that this ale is not shooting for the stars but rather trying to give it's customer base something new to try.

Sam Adams' Summer Ale

This one has been out quite some time actually so if you're a veteran I've got nothing new to tell you. On the other hand if you're like me and only now getting accustomed to drinking beer for the pleasure of it then this is a fairly exciting product. The pitch is something like this "Sam Adams found a long lost grain...of paradise...and that grain, with a twist of lemon, makes this beer totally kick-ass." (I'm sure I just demolished about a million dollars worth of carefully written marketing copy but that's really the half of it) "SASA", as I call it, is actually pretty different from the other brews Sam Adams puts out. You'll definitely taste a difference with those Grains of Paradise and the lemon zest comes through in a big way that I think really does say, "Summer."

So which of these do you want at your barbecue? That's a tough question. I really like something a bit sweeter and Honey Moon wins in that category. At the same time I really enjoy the depth of those little extras "SASA" is rocking, even if it is a little bitter for my taste. What to do....what to do....I know!

Yep, I went there. I mixed the brews. What can I say? I'm a rule breaker. I'm just a little bit edgy. Now you all think I'm crazy but just wait till you taste......this shit. Uhg, this mixture blows pretty hard and not in the good way. I just wanted a bit more sweetness to go with the lemony spice of the Sam Adams. Ok, fine, maybe I shouldn't have crossed that sacred boundary, but if Christopher Columbus hadn't gotten drunk enough to sail a ship off the edge of the world we'd all have teeth like the British. You just think about THAT SHIT! Goddamn, it's 5 am...time to wrap this bitch up.

WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION OF THE FIRST EVER SUMMER ALE BOOZE BATTLE.....

For the man who REALLY wanted a Daiquiri.