Friday, September 28, 2012

Brown-nosing Smuttynose

HAPPY NATIONAL DRINK BEER DAY EVERYONE! Every once in awhile in the quest to find one thing you discover something else. That discovery can be as good as the original goal in your journey. While I don't believe I found the biggest diamond in the rough, I'm pleasantly pleased what I discovered in this brew.


It's hard to read from the glare, and label, chosen but this time around we are trying Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale.  The label is a bit dated, but is decorative when it comes to beer labels. The beer label looked washed out, which may either be a label mistake, random bad label batch, or that's literally the way this label comes. It almost works for it, given it an authentic age look. I could be just extrapolating a little too much from just a label ;) Onwards!

It's hard to tell from this picture but the color of the beer is nearly orange with a solid frothy head that took a little time before it settled. Even the foam had the tiniest of color to it. When it came to flavor, the beer had what I'd describe as a raw-er pumpkin flavor. Ever accidentally licked your fingers after carving a pumpkin? Yea me neither, but that's what I'd liken this to. It's got a bit of alcohol strength, with strong caramel sweetness. I'd more accurately describe this as a blend of a fall beer with a pumpkin beer. I really enjoyed it for it's great balance as a pumpkin beer without actually hiding the pumpkin flavor. I give Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale a French PINTRS score as one of the best fall beers I've had. Bravo!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

A Dogfish Halloween

Evening all!

So many pumpkin beers to drink, so much time to drink it in! We've done 3 so far and while some are good beers, they're not what I would consider the penultimate pumpkin beer still. Our quest won't be stopped by a Fall mediocrity, we will press on! And with that, I introduce Dogfish Punkin Ale as our next tasting.


Being in Dogfish territory, I got pretty excited when I saw this on the shelf. Dogfish is known for it's high quality, consistent good beers. They're also known for going way out of bounds in the brewing department, coming up with modern day recipes to ancient brew or mixing the craziest flavors together to see what happens. The beer is so easy to recognize on your local liquor store shelf thanks to they're great and solid branding. What's behind the label?


That color is unexpected, right? No your eyes or my camera are not deceiving you. That beer has a distinguishable redness to it's ale. A dark amber beer with a ruby glint. It has a small beer head but brought quite a lot of carbonation to the table.

On taste, this is a 'spicy' beer. Allspice and nutmeg pack a powerful bunch in this beer. The brown sugar practically sticks to the glass. It even has the slightest hint of a mead-like sweetness. I let this beer sit a little while and was surprised how much the beer softened up and became a much lighter and balanced sweet beer than when it was first popped open. What about the pumpkin? On initial tasting, the nutmeg and allspice overpowered it completely. However, after letting it sit, the spices mellowed and among the brown sugar sat a medium-body pumpkin flavor. I'm not totally convinced this was successful as a PUMPKIN beer. It was definitely successful as a fall beer, and I'll definitely buy this before the season is over. I toast Dogfish to a UK PINTRS rating.


Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Halloween at the Shipyard

Evening readers!

Tonight's pumpkin beer hails from one of my favored breweries, Shipyard. I've reviewed their beers here before, but this will be the first time a embrace their pumpkin offering, Pumpkinhead, with my palate. Let's see where this ship sails.


I'm so use to the typical Shipyard label that this one throws me for a loop. Small point to critique them on, but I think they could embrace their navel history with a pumpkin twist. But what do I know. This is a very recognizable beer in your local store, and it has been for years.


It's a very frothy pour. lots of carbonation that quickly settles. It's a lighter color, definitely on the lighter side when compared to most pumpkin or Oktoberfest beers. I'd even say it's the color of a turned leaf, which is poignant considering the time of year we see this selection. The aroma is very light. So far, I'm not overly impressed. '

Whereas I've been harsh on beers that are light on pumpkin when they call themselves a pumpkin beer, Shipyard walks a very thin plank and manages to stay on. I'm reminded when I try, and fail, to bake. Were I to try and bake a pumpkin pie, I'm pretty sure I'd leave out several ingredients and come up with a flavor like this. It's a rawer pumpkin flavor, not incorporated with sugar but hinted at with sugar. There's the slightest copper aftertaste in a swallow that is light and bubbly. After several minutes I was surprised at the hidden sweetness in the beer. Halfway through the glass it was more noticeable. Shipyard Pumpkinhead is promoting pumpkin with spices that I thought were balanced in such a way to bring out a pumpkin flavor, not overpower it. For it's balancing act I give Shipyard Pumpkinhead a UK PINTRS score.

So far we've seen lots of average and decent beers, some fails, but nothing excelling. I'm still waiting to be wowed!