Pumpkin Ale - Day 4

Lured by the promise of pumpkin ale aged for six months, we decided to spend Halloween as the end of our pumpkin beer tasting at DuClaw's brewing company.  Apparently, this was the last day of the DuClaw Retribution Pumpkin Ale (10.5% ABV), so we were anxious to try it out.  Upon ordering, the waitress (dressed as Velma) told us that most people did not like the beer and instead to enjoy their 31 pumpkin ale, at a lesser 5% ABV.  We did, and were were happy with the beer.  Overall, the beer was good taste wise and was a great compliment to the sliders we had.  We were expecting something much more ABV wise, but we felt that it had the following characteristics:

look: 4.0 | smell: 4.0 | taste: 4.0 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.0

Then, we decided to taste the retribution.  It was good, but as far as pumpkin ales go, it had a long way to go.  It tasted more like a whiskey than it did a beer, and there were little tastes of pumpkin at all.  The Retribution tasted as:

look: 4.5 | smell: 3.2 | taste: 3.0 | feel: 3.0 | overall: 3.0

Though we still did have a 10oz version of it, we felt as though the 31 would be a better fit.  After returning home, we thought it would be good to test a few more beers before the end of the season.  First we tried shipyard, which did not fare well with Tara (she only drank a few sips of the sample).  At 9% ABV it was similar to retribution, though not aged in a barrel or anything....Overall,

look: 4.5 | smell: 3.2 | taste: 3.0 | feel: 3.0 | overall: 3.0

 

Luckily, we had also picked up a 5% pumpkin ale to round out the tastings.  It proved to be well received by everyone and ranked as:

look: 4.0 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.0 | feel: 4.0 | overall: 4.0

 Pumpkin ale testing went well.  Looking forward to the next challenge!

Pumpkin Ale - Day 3

While I think both of us are a bit tired of Pumpkin Ale at this point, we have a lot of Pumpkin flavored beer to drink before November, so we will trudge on! 

The beer we chose for tonight was Brooklyn Post Road Pumpkin Ale, a jaunty 5.0% ABV/165 calorie pumpkin brew, strictly based upon the other good beers that Brooklyn Brewery puts out.  Tara enjoyed hers out of a bottle and Dan poured into a pint glass.  Overall, Tara did not like the beer very much and "would not drink it again", but Dan "enjoyed it's subtle tastes and spicy pumpkin flavor".  Ean has also cried all day, so that could add to the somewhat sour reception to the beer.  Overall:

look: 4.0 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

Now to figure out how many more we will taste before Halloween.

Pumpkin Ale - Day 2

We were excited to keep on the tasting schedule, and decided to spend a Friday night watching Shark Tank and drinking some Pumpkin Ale (less than a week to Halloween after all).  The second beer we tried was Sam Adams Harvest Pumpkin Ale, a 5.7% ABV, and part of the Sam Adams Fall Sampler Pack that we saved/hid from the Fall Festival party goers.

We also took this opportunity to look up how to taste beers from beeradvocate and so we are going to try a new format using grading.  So here is our rating for Sam Adams:

look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Poured pretty dark (whereas the first was more Amberish) into a pint glass, but Tara enjoyed from the bottle.  Overall, we felt as though this did not taste much like Pumpkin and instead just tasted similar to other Sam Adams beers, but it was pretty good.  They say they use 17 pounds of real pumpkin per barrel, but we couldn't taste it.  It is a good beer, but overall, not good as a pumpkin one.

We tasted the last Dogfish beer as well, and had the following ratings:

look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

After tasting again, with the Sam Adams still on our palette, we really liked the Dogfish and found it very superior to Sam Adams.  It tasted very wheaty and strong, more of what we would expect from a pumpkin beer.

Note for next time - look for the following:

Appearance - Note the beer's color, carbonation, head and its retention. Is it clear or cloudy? Does it look lackluster and dull or alive and inviting?

Smell - Bring the beer to your nose. Note the beer's aromatic qualities. Malts: sweet, roasty, smoky, toasty, chocolaty, nutty, caramelly, biscuity? Hops: dank / resiny, herbal, perfumy, spicy, leafy, grassy, floral, piney, citrusy? Yeast will also create aromas. You might get fruity or flowery aromas (esters) from ales and very clean aromas from lagers, which will allow the malt and hop subtleties to pull through.

Taste - Take a deep sip of the beer. Note any flavors, or interpretations of flavors, that you might discover. The descriptions will be similar to what you smell. Is the beer built-well? Is there a balance between the ingredients? Was the beer brewed with a specific dominance of character in mind? How does it fit the style?

Mouthfeel - Take another sip and let it wander. Note how the beer feels on the palate and its body. Light, heavy, chewy, thin / watery, smooth or coarse? Was the beer flat, over-carbonated?

Overall - Your overall impression of the beer. 

Pumpkin Ale - Day 1

Our first tasting adventure started as a seasonal celebration of Pumpkin Ale.  After buying over $80 dollars worth beer (mostly pumpkin) from the store, we devised a plan to taste one beer a night until

we had tried a good variety.  The first, and also most expensive, Dogfish "Punkin" Ale ($8.99 for a 4 pack) was a beer named after the renowned Delaware traditional Punkin Chuckin event.  Weighing in at a respectable 7% ABV, it's alcohol content matched it's price. On to the tasting!

Poured into a glass (Tara usually does not allow this), the beer had about an 1/4" of head, and was a nice.  It was a pretty lightly colored beer.  We both enjoyed it and were surprised at how little of an aftertaste it had for it's strength.  We thought it did not taste much like Pumpkin though (but we will try again later).  Dan had a second, warm one.  After pouring and drinking, we didn't talk about it much.  We have a long way to go maybe....