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.

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!

Pot Shot at Amber Ale

Happy Friday All!

Our first blog post on our first week of regularly updates is none other than my first home brew creation, .38 Amber!

.38 Amber is my first try with the Mr. Beer home brewing kit's Cowboy Golden Lager. On the scale of complex beers, this is your base. Nothing crazy is going on in the hops, the yeast, the malt. If you're looking for a home brew equivalent of a Budweiser, this is what I understood as what you're looking for.

After the pour, I noticed a few particularly things. The head on this isn't large, nor does it look like it was supposed to be. There is very little in aroma here either; the slightest hint of bitterness but mostly clean.  This picture above doesn't accurately portray the color. Rather than the very light tone the picture seems to suggest, the beer is much closer to amber. It's slightly lighter than I would want or expect so a darker malt might be the way to go. Or more fermentation time in the keg.  Clearly, this will take some experimenting.  But how does it hold up in flavoring?

The first taste is fairly unremarkable. However, I'd consider that a success.  If you're aiming for a simple and large target, and you hit it cleanly, you can't fault the target for being too easy. This really is a beginner's beer for both beer drinkers and beer makers.  It's a very clean beer, with the slightest hint of bitterness on the palate which aligns right with the slight scent. I do think we may have misfired on the carbonation. I'd say this particular bottle had a bit too much sugar at the start of the carbonation process and will be something to remember in the future. However, I'd certainly rather be on the side of slightly over-carbonated than risk a flat beer.

This beer also may need a bit more maturity. At the moment several bottles are still under cold conditioning and we'll maybe revisit this brew in a few more months to see if time adds (or subtracts) anything. I have to be honest with myself (and this recipe) and give it a US PINTRS score. Not quite a triumph but certainly not a failure, this caliber beer will get the job done.