Yesterday Alley Kat officially announced the release of a special, one-time beer to support the Edmonton Pride Festival, the annual GLBTQ community’s annual celebration, which officially starts today and runs through the 12th. Called Full Squeeze, the beer is a blend of mainstay Full Moon Pale Ale and their popular Main Squeeze grapefruit beer. $1 of every pint and $6(!) of every six pack sold will be donated to the Festival.

While the news just came out less than 24 hours ago, I actually picked up a bottle a few days ago (wily me!), and so I can not only tell you about its existence but also offer an on-demand-style review. I will admit to not having being sure what to expect. As regular readers of this site well know (read here) I am a fan of Full Moon (pale ale version). I respect what Alley Kat does with Main Squeeze – its aroma is astounding – but it is, on the whole, not my cup of tea (that is not a criticism – just an expression of personal preference). So how would a hybrid work out? I was curious.

The beer pours pale orange with a sharp clarity. It builds a decent bright white head. It looks like a slightly watered down Full Moon, to be honest. The aroma starts with that amazing Squeeze sweet, ruby grapefruit, which is so like cutting into a fresh grapefruit. I also get some other, more subdued citrus, which might be the Full Moon whispering in the background. But the grapefruit is still king here.

The flavour starts with a similar inclination with a moderate fruitiness upfront of a distinct grapefruit character. But then a toasty, biscuit malt emerges, as does a bit of citrus hop flavour. The middle palate sharpens the malt a bit, offering that distinct Full Moon malt character and soft C-hop citrus. The finish is big in grapefruit flavour and the linger has a moderate hop bitterness of citrus and some pine.

Throughout the sipping the Full Moon elements and Main Squeeze elements bob in and out. They don’t fight. It is more like each gets a turn at a guitar solo while the other plays rhythm. In retrospect that interplay kind of makes sense, given Full Moon’s citrusy, piney character.

I think this was a fun experiment. On the surface one might think the Squeeze comes through more, just because that grapefruit aroma and initial flavour is so intense. But when you stop for a moment you begin to realize that Full Moon is making its presence felt, just in a quieter way, mostly in the malt presence by adding a light toast, biscuit, smooth graininess. The linger also gives a bit of Full Moon bitterness.

I fully expect this will be something of a divisive beer in the beer world. Some will castigate it for being to fruity, others for having a bit too much hop character. Still others will feel it offers only a part of what makes each beer unique. Fair enough. But I disagree. If you sit with this beer for a few minutes you might start to realize how the flavours complement each other and create a beer that is quite original and very different than its constituent parts. At least that is what I did. My first impressions were that it was too Squeeze-y, but only after sitting with it for a bit did I start to see how the Full Moon changed and enhanced the beer.

Plus it is being sold to support a very good cause. Do you need another reason than that to at least give it a try?