Epic / DC Brau Fermentation Without Representation

Brewed by Epic Brewing Co. (Utah)
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Salt Lake City, Utah USA

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker, Tumbler

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Extremely fresh bottle of this fine new entrant to NE OH. pours reddish brown, pillowy tan head that fades. nutmeg, molasses, cinnamon, squash/pumpkin vegetable and some burnt characteristics on the nose. Once you take a sip, brown sugar, nutmeg, burnt malts, vanilla, chocolate. more of a porter with subtle squash and pumpkin notes. fairly dry on the finish with burnt baking chocolate coming through. light to medium bodied. quite pleasant and drinkable.

Pours a dark brown with a big tan head. Aroma of chocolate, spices and pumpkin. Sweet roasty taste, notes of chocolate, pumpkin, spices and vanilla. Smooth, medium body. Delicious for dessert.

Belmont bottle, Release #3. This was pretty nice overall. It trended towards the sweeter side of pumpkin pie and not so much the spicy. Definitely the meaty portion of the pumpkin included. I liked it because it was not overpowering at any point.

Pours a medium bodied brown with a sticky light tan head. Aroma is roast, chocolate, pumpkin, chocolate. Flavor is pumpkin, roast, chocolate, bittersweet chocolate. Actual pumpkin flavor in a pumpkin beer.......and less pumpkin spices which I love. I enjoyed this.

Pours a dark brown with a very small head. Aroma was of the spices and some very light pumpkin. The body seemed a little thin and there was a little to much bitterness/astringency on the finish. Some chocolate flavor came through. Would have liked a little more body and less spice but this was still a nice beer to drink.

Draught pours deep brown with a light tan head. Aromas are some spice, sweet malt, not much else. Beer is cold though. As it warms, it really opens up. Spices are subdued once it warms and you really get the marshmallow and chocolate notes. Pumpkin spices are there, but in the background as the chocolate takes center stage. Body is medium to full. Overall, a pleasantly surprising beer.

Batch #1; Sampled November 2011
A solid pour into my Lost Abbey Teku glass produces a three-finger thick, light tan colored head that leaves some light lacing on the sides of the glass as it slowly subsides. The beer is a concentrated brown color with suggestions of black to it; when held up to the light it shows a brilliantly clear, deep, concentrated ruby and plum color. The nose smells of brown toasted bread and an initial tartness that seems sort of pumpkin like; this last is surprising as I wasn’t expecting to notice any actual pumpkin in this beer. My second sniff has me noticing sweet spice notes of cinnamon and cardamom, some sweet clove and maybe some of the tartness is actually accentuated by a light ginger note. Ah, the sweetness is really accentuated by a smooth vanilla note that I am mistaking for an actual sweetness.

The beer is lightly sweet, even somewhat light bodied on the palate. It finishes with a roasted bitterness that is a bit like cold black coffee as well as a lingering spiciness and hint of tartness that also lingers on for quite some time in the finish. The spiciness contributes notes of nutmeg, cardamom, perhaps a touch of allspice, clove and a definite vanilla note. The body has a light prickliness to it from the carbonation and it does have a viscous texture to it up front, it finishes light though as the combination of roast, bitterness and spiciness lightens up the effect of this beer pretty quickly. The beer is certainly a bit colder than I would perhaps prefer right now, but that is easily remedied. This has a prominent astringency / bitterness to it, though I am not sure what all contributes to this; certainly roast malt and perhaps some hop bitterness does, but there seems to be more to it somehow. As the beer warms up the spices open up a bit more with the cardamom, a touch of ginger, some smooth clove notes and perhaps some of the sharpness comes from some peppercorn notes in the finish.

Interestingly enough, this beer does actually have some real pumpkin noticeable in both the aroma and flavor; it is light, but certainly adds some tartness and a bit of a squash / vegetal note to this beer. The spice character here is actually somewhat restrained compared to most pumpkin beers and it actually works pretty well. I am surprised that I am not getting an anise aroma or flavor from this beer though as that seems to be one of the more noticeable notes in beers that have had Five-Spice added to them; though perhaps this blend of Five-Spice is different. An interesting go at a Pumpkin Porter; it could really use a touch more body and rounded malt flavor to balance out the spiciness and the roast bitterness that can be a touch distracting in this beer.

22 ounce bottle from the brewery, batch 5. Pours a very dark black color with a medium tan head. The aroma is rich spices and vanilla. The flavor is a rich chocolate porter, some vanilla, light milkiness, very smooth, loads of spices and certainly pumpkin. Very good, excellent actually. Mostly a rich porter but very strong and distinct pumpkin flavors. Awesome.

(22oz bottle from Papago). Pours a dark brown/cola color with chunky tan head. Nice lacing left behind. Aroma is earthy pumpkin, vanilla, spice and chocolate. Taste is sweet with some roast hitting the back of the mouth. Full bodied with a creamy texture/mouthfeel. Some bitterness and spice on the finish. Full flavored pumpkin porter here. This is a good winter warmer.

Bottle; poured a dark brown color with not much head. Not great lighting. Aroma of roasted malt, caramel, pumpkin, chocolate with hints of vanilla and spice. Flavor was pretty good; roasted malts, with hints of cocoa, earth, caramel, pumpkin/spice, and chalk. Fairly good beer.