(Courtesy Nikola Tomašić)

For years, Blue Moon drinkers have accepted one of beer’s great little contradictions. The beer called Blue Moon was never actually blue, just as the celestial event that inspired its name is not really blue either.

Despite what the phrase suggests, a “blue moon” in the sky is simply an extra full moon in a season or calendar cycle. No glowing sapphire orb overhead. No cosmic color show. A bit of a letdown if we’re being honest.

Now Blue Moon Brewing Company has apparently decided enough is enough. And we’re with them on this.

For one weekend only, the brewery is taking matters into its own hands and finally giving people what the night sky never could. At bars across the country, Blue Moon Belgian White will temporarily become exactly what its name implies: blue.

Think of it as the green beer phenomenon usually reserved for St. Patrick’s Day, but with a bluish character and a lot less annual predictability. Blue beer does not exactly make frequent appearances, in fact it may not ever have, which is part of the appeal. Blue Moon is leaning into the “once in a blue moon” expression and turning it into a drinking experience that feels equal parts pectacle, and social experiment.

From May 29 through May 31, (which coincides with when the actual blue moon phenomenon is taking place in the night sky above the U.S.), participating bars in more than 30 markets nationwide will serve Blue Moon Belgian White Belgian-Style Wheat Ale transformed with a bright blue hue while supplies last.

The familiar ritual remains intact, including the signature Valencia orange garnish that has become part of the beer’s identity. The only difference is that your wheat ale suddenly looks like something brewed for a galactic convention.

And yes there’s a gimmick aspect to all this, but it taps into something beer brands increasingly chase these days: beer experiences worth posting, photographing, and talking about. And we’ve got to admit a blue, Blue Moon beer is certainly that.

Elizabeth Hitch, Vice President of Marketing for Above Premium Beer at Molson Coors Beverage Company, leaned into the joke behind the campaign.

“We can’t do much about the color of the moon in the sky, but we can do something about the one in your glass. So for one weekend, we’re making Blue Moon, well… actually blue,” she said.

The company is positioning the promotion as a chance to turn the old phrase “once in a blue moon” into something a little more tangible.

“We wanted to take a ‘once in a blue moon’ moment and turn it into something people can actually experience together over a great beer,” Hitch added.

The promotion will roll out in cities across the country including Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York City, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, Tampa, and many more.

Of course, part of the fun here is that Blue Moon is correcting a problem most people never really thought needed fixing. Nobody has spent years demanding a beer that matched its label. But there is something amusing about a brewery deciding to settle an age old branding technicality.

But for one weekend at least, Blue Moon finally becomes exactly what it says it is. The moon overhead still is not blue. Your beer, however, might be.