Friday Beer O'clock Selections

Southern Tier Pumking Imperial Ale - Friday Beer O'Clock Selection 9-24-2010

This week's Friday Beer O'Clock Selection continues with the seasonal pumpkin selections and was chosen based on a lot of buzz and recommendations from others based on their experience with last year's release. So without further delay, this week's selection is ... Souther Tier Imperial Pumking Ale! 

From the Bottle:

Pumking is an ode to Púca, a creature of Celtic folklore, who is both feared and respected by those who believe in it. Púca is said to waylay travelers throughout the night, tossing them on its back, and providing them the ride of their lives, from whichthey return forever changed! Brewed in the spirit of All Hallows Eve, a time of year when spirits can make contact with the physical world and when magic is most potent. Pour Pumking into a goblet and allow it’s alluring spirit to overflow. As spicy aromas present themselves, let its deep copper color entrance you as your journey into this mystical brew has just begun. As the first drops touch your tongue a magical spell will bewitch your taste buds making it difficult to escape. This beer is brewed with pagan spirit yet should be enjoyed responsibly. 

ABV: 8.8%

Appearance:

Poured with a golden brown color, a bit lighter than other pumpkin ales I've had, and formed a generous creamy head at about 3 fingers.

Aroma:

Another Brew pushing my olfactory senses into hyper-drive. A lot of sweet bready/crusty aromas dominating the nose with spices and pumpkin coming in underneath. I'm also reminded of toasted almonds, amaretto and sweet yams smothered in caramel. (hungry yet?)

Taste:

Sweet in front as expected, with genuine toasted pumpkin spice flavors coming out in the middle mingling with crusty bread. Toasted pumpkin spice finally submits to the dominating crusty bread on the back. Finish lingers with bitter, breadiness with hints of sweet caramel spicy pumpkin goodness. 8.8% alcohol bites a bit, but does not overpower the overall flavors, however, it does become more pronounced as the beer warms.

Feel:

It's certainly got some weight behind it but not a heavy beer. Also has a pretty smooth texture and comes across on the dryer side.

Drinkability:

At 8.8% ABV, this one might leave a dent after the first round or two so pace yourself. 

Conclusion:

This is a treat. When I think of pumpkin, I imagine the full spectrum of flavors that come out in the autumn harvest spread across a Thanksgiving table - squash, yams, pumpkin, breads, and the assortment of flavors they bring. This beer comes about as close as you'd imagine to bringing all that together ( even the burps are pretty good ). If I had to take points away, it would be because of the dry bitterness that comes out in the back and lingers in the finish. It just seems out of place here and throws the balance off just a bit for me. But in the end, after getting past the expectations, I do like it - maybe not as much as the Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale, overall - but still, I like it.

This is a complex brew for sure!! If you've tried this one, we'd love to hear what you thought.

Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale - Friday Beer O'Clock Selection 9-17-2010

This weeks Beer O'Clock Selection is from a semi-local brewery - Smuttynose Brewing Co. in Portsmouth NH.

Keeping up with the seasonal pumpkin stock popular for this time of year, and hoping to continuing some conversations I had on facebook and twitter about pumpkin ales I decided it would be a good idea to keep the pumpkin going this week with Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale.

ABV: 6.3%

Appearance

Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale poured with golden orange color with copper accents forming a slightly loose head at about 2 - 3 fingers, breaking down to a dense coating across the surface and leaving sticky lacing covering the sides. There was a fair amount of carbonation activity in the hazy liquid.

Smell:

The first thing to hit the nose for me was a sweet floral perfumish malt scent followed by pumpkin and spice (nutmeg and cinnamon) with subtle bready aromas.

Taste:

Sweet malts on the front, nice pumpkin and spices in the middle with a good amount of bitter hops on the back. The finish comes together nice with bitter hops and the sweet pumpkin and spice flavors coming through together. Good balance all the way through with more hop bitterness than expected.

Feel:

Nice medium refreshing body. Smooth but with a slight carbonated bite.

Drinkability:

6.3% ABV aside, this is a drinkable brew with a nice balance of pumpkin, spice, malts and hop flavors.

Conclusion:

It's a keeper. I like this one a lot. It's not over the top sweet or over spiced, it's got a great balance and I really like the hopiness that I have not found in other pumpkin ales. The 6.3% ABV is not really noticeable, but does leave a nice warm feeling in my cheeks without interfering with the overall flavors and experience.

Have an opinion on this one? We'd love to hear it...

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale – Friday Beer O'Clock Selections 9-10-2010

This weeks Beer O'Clock Selection comes from Dogfish Head Brewers, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Given that we are beyond Labor Day here in the States, marking the popular end to another summer, the fall seasonal brews are finding their way to the shelves. This week's Selection is a seasonal spicy pumpkin brew - "Punkin Ale" (yes, that is spelled correctly)  :)

ABV: 7.0%

Appearance:

This beer poured with nice creamy head at about one finger before slowly withering to a consintent smoot coating across the surface leaving smooth lacing along the sides. Color is a beautiful clean light brown / copper. In the glass there is a nice crisp clarity and lots of carbonated bubbly action.

Smell:

WOW! This smells So good! Right up front is a mixture of sweet nutmeg, pumkin, and spice. Reminds me of Mom's sweet pumpkin pie, only in a glass. I can just pick up some very slight hops in there too.

Taste:

This is the part I was waiting for... And...
Not what I expected. But not necessarily a bad thing. Pumpkin and roasted barley all the way through. Sweet and spicy up front with Brown Sugar, Malts, and nutmeg dominating. Cinnamon and all-spice come out in the middle and play nice while the back brings it all together with some hoppyness. The finish is slightly bitter at the back of the mouth and the alcohol really comes out here as well. In the end, more sweet and spice than pumpkin in my opinion.

Feel:

Overall it is pretty smooth with a little bit of a bitter carbonated bite. Has a nice hearty medium body and a warming alcohol feel that comes out in the finish.

Drinkability:

I can't see throwing more than a couple of these back at a time. It's a nice, warm your gut kind of brew to enjoy on a cool night but I had some trouble getting past the sweetness and, warming alcohol at first.

Overall:

In the end, I did like this. Full of flavor, decent balance, and nice body. It's not a session beer and I'd likely only have one or two in a sitting anyway. It's good, but I did feel a little cheated after the pour and the amazing smell.

Magic Hat Odd Notion Summer 2010 - Friday Beer O'Clock Selection 9-3-2010

This week's Friday Beer O'Clock Selection comes once again from Magic Hat Brewing Company, more specifically, their Odd Notion Series, delivering an interesting, flavored, wild ginger Belgian Wheat Ale.

ABV: 5.5%

Appearance:

The beer poured with a nice light golden color that seemed to darken a couple shades with a lots of haze once in the glass. The pour provided a slight head, about one finger, that fizzed a bit, similar to pouring a soda, before fading into a thin, dense ring around the edge of the glass leaving fair lacing.

Aroma:

At first from the bottle it smelled a bit unpleasant and skunky. But after letting it breath a bit, you can pick out aromatic hints of bready/wheaty yeast, oak, banana, ginger, and light spices. 

TIP: Remember to let your beer "breath" a bit to get the full benefit after popping the top or pouring into your favorite mug.

Taste:

I get a sweet malty flavor up front that transitions into a nice spicy ginger, still with some sweetness before trailing off to smoky oak and ginger flavors on the back. The finish lingers with mostly that smokey oak and ginger, but with subtle hints of sweet malts. The flavors play off each other pretty well, but it wouldn't hurt to drop the sweets down a notch.

Feel:

Medium-light body, sharp, crisp and refreshing. Smooth with a subtle carbonated tooth. 

Drinkability:

5.5% ABV this just tips the session scale, so pace yourself, but over all it is a nice brew that is easy to enjoy.

Conclusion:

I've tried a handful of ginger laced brews and found that most were a little too heavy on the ginger accents. The Magic Hat Odd Notion 2010 Summer Ale is a nice exception in my experience. A lot of Magic Hat's brews are hit or miss for the most part in my opinion, but I keep coming back to them because I love that they are always bringing new ideas to the tap. Some are real good, others not so much. I think they did a good job with this one.

What do you think?

Have any thoughts on this one or have you tried other ginger laced brews that you would suggest?

We'd love to hear from you. Comments are open.

Mass Brewers Summerfest! Rain or Shine! 9/3/2010 | Massachusetts Brewers Guild