Grand River Highballer Pumpkin Ale

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/cambridge/grand-river-brewing/9220.htm target=blank>Grand River Brewing in Cambridge, Ontario.
Opened on November 16, 2007.
Bottled November 6, 2007.

[711-20070928] Tap @ C’est What 2007 FOSB (Toronto, ON). Very faint at first, aroma has light nutmeg or similar spice and spicy bits of fruit or pumpkin later. Clear, orange brown body with a quick bubbly white head. Allspice nutmeg throughout, mildly fruity flavour has a very nice light ginger aftertaste. Medium body. Well-blended. (7/3/7/3/15) 3.5

[2514B-20091002] Cask. Wonderful allspice pumpkin pie crust aroma. Clear, medium orange brown body with a long-lasting foamy white head. Floral allspice toasted pumpkin pie crust flavour. Medium body. Wow, great quality, couldn’t take a pint but awesome to try. (8/4/8/3/16) 3.9
(21st FFOCB @ C’est What; Toronto, ON)

From a growler. (Thanks radiomgb). Pale, rusty copper. The head has good intentions, but ultimately fails. The aroma contains lots of brown spice (cinnamon, clove, allspice), and maybe even a little pumpkin. It taste mostly like those little red cinnamon hearts you see at Valentine’s Day. Maybe some pumpkin pie in there as well. No hops. The body is actually quite light, considering the strong aroma. Dryish, short finish.

On tap, Dark Orange with thin off white head. Aroma is laced with spices. Flavour is like chai tea, nutmeg was predominant for me. Light body. The flavour was unique for myself.