Blue Moon and My Grandma

As silly as it sounds, Blue Moon is a sort of special beer to me now. It reminds me of my grandma, Norma (Dendooven) Zelnio, who passed away two months ago. She was a proud Belgian. While Blue Moon is from Colorado, not Belgium, it is brewed in the Belgian style of ales. It became Norma’s signature ale. After her funeral we all piled into the Belgian Village Inn in Moline, IL, where she was known quite well, and drank several Belgian beers to her name while eating Reubens. She would have been honored and flustered to see us all together, along with the over 600 people at her visitation.

When I saw Full Moon on the shelf, a seasonal ale from Blue Moon, I did not hesitate to pick up a six-pack to try out. In hindsight it was quite appropriate being a winter ale, the season my grandma died in, full of character, just like Norma, and flavorfully reminiscent of the holiday season, where most of my memories of her lay in the recesses of my mind.

A fine aroma, like hoppy incense with a slight, not-in-the-least overwhelming cinnamon on the tail wind. Like my grandma’s kitchen full of women and grandchildren making cookies, Belgian waffle cookie irons in full deploy mode tended to by my young cousins Liz and Steph. They anxiously await their time to turn the irons, mastering the art of making the most perfect golden tone that signifies a Belgian waffle cookie, with more batter at the ready while Norma tended to five thousand other things simultaneously. She was always eager to ensure the happiness of all her guests. Her only complaint was we didn’t eat enough.

The first taste of Full Moon had a malty hint of a sweet wine flavor on the back of my throat. It is quite flavorful and not in the way of a typical seasonal ale. There are no Christmas spices overloading your senses, making the beer unpalatable like sipping on potpourri. I don’t see myself drinking this on a hot summer day (hence why it is a winter ale) or crowning my glass with an orange slice, but do enjoy the brief vacation from the typical Blue Moon. They used dark malts and dark Belgian sugar in the brewing process. The flavor of the malt is apparent, but it is a bit difficult to separate out the sugar. It is probably where that caramel-wine hint comes from. Though dark, they stay true to flavor of the Belgian Abbey style. Grandma was very pleased when she unwrapped her final Christmas present from my Uncle Bill’s family – a case of Blue Moon. She would be pleased with this seasonal ale as well. I hope she got to try a bottle before she left us.

Norma’s last act was having her eight grandchildren carry her casket into the church on that icy January morning. Though most of us consider ourselves atheist, agnostic or otherwise non-christian, she would have had a convulsion of joy and delight to see us all together in the front pew of St. Mary’s Church, where she was a devoted congregant for over 80 years. If there is a heaven, grandma was smiling rainbows on that freezing, gloomy midwestern winter day.

Grandma Norma with her two only great-granddaughters. My daughter, Freya, is on the right in purple. Photo taken by Linda in Atlantic beach, NC 2008.