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.