Grand River Highballer Pumpkin Ale

Brewed by Grand River Brewing
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Cambridge, Canada

500ml bottle. Pours a cloudy swampy orange color, swampy. Nose of fresh pumpkin, all spice, nutmeg and faint hops. Some orange zest, spice and baked pumpkin in the flavor. An interesting beer, pretty tasty.

500 ml bottle from the brewery- Slightly hazy, deep gold pour pours a frothy beige cap. Nose of pumpkin pie spices.....nutmeg, cinnamon, some allspice, a bit of coriander, followed by earthy malts. Tastes of hoppy pumpkin pie with all the aforementioned spices. A bit of caramel malts with fresh hops leading to the finish. Bitter, spicy, good.

Bottle courtesy of Matt7215. Pours gold with a nice frothy off white head. Smells of pumpkin pie spice, some caramel. Tastes of pepper, dry malt, some spice. Decent.

A golden amber ale with a thin white head. Caramel malt aroma melds with light pumpkin spices. In mouth, a good crisp malt with a good balance of pumpkin spices, cinnamon, nutmeg. Medium bodied. On tap at Wellington Gastropub, 6.30$ pint.

500 ml bottle from retail store. Pours a clear amber-gold with very thin white head. Spices quite clear in the nose, while not overpowering. Similar re: flavour but spices even more muted and with a hint of fruitiness. Light body, dry finish.

Cask sample at C’est What - poured a lightly hazed apricot with a billowy white head that lasted a long time. Enticing soft spice in the aroma - cinnamon, nutmeg, some clove, a bit of ginger, but fruity overall. As others have noted, peachy even. Flavour more of the same, but not overpowering like some pumpkin ales - well-integrated spice and soft in the mouth, lending to an overall package that could be enjoyed over a session, and wouldn’t restrict itself to one pint. Quite lovely actually. I’d like to try the regular (uncasked) version of this, but have a sneaking suspicion I’m going to prefer the cask. Update - Tried the bottled version from the brewery, and it was slightly inferior to the cask. Head retention was lower and the overall package was a bit less ’’’’put-together’’’’ still good though. I averaged the two scores, but the (rare) cask is preferable.

Subtle aroma of pumpkin, orange, tiny custard head. Taste is Peach? and some other mixed fruit. Light bodied, sweet. Nice peche, but ain’t a pumpkin ale!

Golden amber in colour, thin white coloured head, light lacing. The aroma is quite spicy - allspice, cloves, pumpkin pie including the crust. The flavour is exactly what you would expect from the aroma, clove, cinnamon, pumpkin. Mild mouthfeel, medium/light body, mild carbonation. Finishes mid length, some spice and a light sweetness. Dry at the very end, not bad though, just enough spice and never overpowering.

Growler from <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Place/ontario/ target=blank>Grand River Brewing in Cambridge, Ontario.
Opened on November 16, 2007.
Bottled November 6, 2007.