Beers of the Full Moon
Today, March 19th, the earth’s only moon will reach its closest point to earth (221,565 miles) in nearly 19 years. For those of you lucky enough to be able to see it, this so called “supermoon” will be, according to NASA, about 18% bigger and 30% brighter than the average full moon that we are all accustomed to seeing each month. The moon travels in an elliptical orbit about the earth and each month has both a maximum distance from the earth (it’s apogee) and a minimum distance (it’s perigee). Tonight’s full moon coincides with the closest perigee of the 19-year long full moon cycle… and it is going to look spectacularly like nearly every other full moon you have ever seen. Sorry to get your hopes up…
Enough with the science lesson as the real question to be answered here today is whether or not full moons, not to mention the unusual full moon this month, can contribute to better beer? There is much folk lore about the supposed benefit and detriment of full moons; such as the benefit of planting or harvesting of crops or the supposed rise in crime or mental illness (lunacy?) that may occur during these events. Why not suppose that this lunar cycle can affect the beer as it is being brewed?
A quick search of the Internet and Ratebeer located a number of beers being brewed by various brewers which claim that brewing under the watchful eye of “The Man” has the decided effect of producing better or “different” beer than normal. Some examples of this type of beer are:
- A Japanese brewer, GBC Ltd., produces a beer called Full Moon Beer. According to the commercial description on their Web site, this beer “uses hand-selected premium raw materials, is brewed in dawn of each full moon night and slowly matured for a whole lunar cycle, with special yeast”.
- Wychwood makes a beer called King Goblin which is produced under a full moon. I actually have one of these in my beer larder and plan to drink it tomorrow night just to see if the double effect of producing and drinking with a full moon adds anything to the experience.
- Brasserie Caulier has produced a limited-release full moon brewed Belgian Strong Ale called Paix-Dieu of which only 12,000 bottles were produced.
- For you unimaginative or lazy shopper types, there is always Blue Moon Belgian White Ale. Coors Brewing Company (MillerCoors) makes no claims about it being produced during a full moon, but it is interesting to note that a “blue moon”, of the “once in a blue moon” fame, is actually the second full moon to occur in a calendar month. The lunar cycle runs about 28 days, so it isn’t hard to see that, with nearly all months having more days than that, a “blue moon” happens pretty often. However, if you need one, it is still a good excuse to drink beer…
A search of Ratebeer turned up 27 beers with the phrase “full moon” in their names. Try something different for a change… find one of these beers today to drink under the “supermoon” tonight. If you do, look for me out under the stars; I’ll be the one howling at the moon!
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