Heavy Seas Mutiny Fleet The Greater Pumpkin

Brewed by Heavy Seas Brewing Company
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Baltimore, Maryland USA

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker, Tumbler

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In short: A typical spicy pumpkin beer with only light barrel notes
How: Bottle 22oz. Exact age unknown, consumed a few months after getting the bottle from my BA trading partner, thanks a lot Heath
The look: Cloudy orange body, lots of particles, small white head
In long: Nose is dominated by the typical array of spices we associate with pumpkin pie (cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, etc.). Taste is like a spicy pumpkin pie… that simple. I don’t even know if real pumpkins were used to make this beer, but the spiciness and the sweet pie crust flavor were very reminiscent of a spiced pumpkin pie. They say it is aged in bourbon barrels but I honestly only noticed light barrel presence notes with the spiciness overwhelming the beer. Not a big fan of spicy pumpkin beers and this one was just average. A pumpkin beer aged in bourbon barrels from the State of North-Carolina!?! I’m surprised… that State still exists?!?

When I took my first smell of this beer I really loved what it brought to the table. The bourbon was their but it’s rather subdued in the aroma. Instead hints of vanilla come through with a stronger aroma of cinnamon and other spices. Of course the pumpkin is there too. My initial thoughts of this beer totally changed though when I took the first sip. It was a total bourbon bomb. Alcohol warmed my throat all the way down to my stomach. The alcohol and bourbon had washed away everything else that was in the smell. The good thing though is that the next sips and the finishing ones were totally different. It’s like the beer wants the bourbon to totally take your taste buds at first but then let in all the other stuff. The bourbon was still their, it’s not going away, but the spices come through more and more as you drink. Cinnamon and nutmeg. The vanilla lingers on the tongue and the pumpkin comes through nicely on the after taste. The mouthfeel is smooth and oily. Medium bodied. If it wasn’t for the strong alcohol taste and feel this might go down a little bit easier.

Bottle at a Christmas party. Aroma is full of brown sugar, pumpkin, butterscotch, and oak. The flavor is massive sweet butterscotch balanced by ground pumpkin, cinnamon spice, and slightly smoky oak. The finish is perfectly balanced and delicious, making me want to rush another sip. I don’t know... Pumking smells better, but I think this may be the best tasting pumpkin beer I’ve had.

UPDATED: FEB 24, 2012 Sampled at Neil’s Rare Beer Stash tasting. Smells sweet and a little vanilla. Flavor was alcohol, and some mild pumpkin spicing, with a weird woody funk. Not all that great imh. I think the regular was a little better. Second trial was better, but not that much better.

The Heavy Seas (from Clipper City) already produces one of my favorite pumpkin beers, "The Great Pumpkin." They then take that awesome brew, age it in spent bourbon barrels, and call it "The Great’er Pumpkin." I’ve heard about this one for a few years now, but never had the opportunity to pick one up. This year it was released in the CT market, and we made sure to get some! The Great’er Pumpkin pours a slightly hazy, burnt-orange, almost rusty color. It’s a little darker than I remember the Great Pumpkin being, but I doubt I’d be able to tell them apart just by looking at them. The foam is pretty thick at first, but fades pretty quickly. I’m surprised at how much white foam there is at first, because this Great’er Pumpkin checks in at 9% abv, making it one of the stronger pumpkin beers this year. The nose is awesome; filled with all kinds of pumpkin pie spices, I’m getting cinnamon, nutmeg, and I can’t help but think of ginger for some reason. There’s a mild amount of pumpkin aromas too, but it’s hidden behind a substantial amount of alcohol esters. Wow, once I take a sip, I am impressed! This is gorgeously spicy, a bit malty sweet, a little pumpkiny, and quite boozy. It’s pretty much everything I like in a beer. Now, it’s not nearly as heavy in the pumpkin as some others out there, but the spice is great, and I honestly love that little bit of a boozy nature. The alcohol isn’t over-powering, but there’s enough of it that you definitely notice it. I think I’d like to see a touch more pumpkin, but otherwise, I love this beer! Well I’m getting down to the last few pumpkin beers to try this year, and the Heavy Seas "The Great’er Pumpkin" has really set the bar high. I think tomorrow night might be the time for the Pumking, and we’ll see if it holds it’s own again this year.

Bottle shared at the December iteration of the Santa Cruz tasting series. Dark orange color. Peppermint and cinnamon aroma, very wintery, pumpkin pie plus spices. Smooth pumpkin sweetness, big spice notes, too much nutmeg/cinnamon. Didn’t get any bourbon. Dial down the spices, dial up the squash and the booze.

22oz bottle. Surprisingly dry for such a big pumpkin ale and bourbon is almost absent on the whole. Spices and pumpkin are out there but not overpowering or astringent. Nice balance and pretty drinkable. More on the earthy side of pumpkin. Could have used a little more bourbon flavor.

Sampled from a 22 oz brown bottle this beer poured a hazy caramel-amber color with lots of little floaters and a medium sized foamy orange-beige head that left decent lacing. The aroma was moderately strong cinnamon, nutmeg and clove with faint caramel and bourbon. The flavor was toasted caramel, cinnamon sugar and nutmeg with a faint bourbon note and a sour almost rancid off presence that really detracted. Medium finish and body. Ok.

on tap @GABF-pours yellow with a thin white head. Aroma is bourbon, spice. Taste is alcohol, bourbon, spice, light malt.

22oz bottle. Cloudy orange pour with an averaged size off white head. Aromas of spices, some pumpkin, and lighter barrel aging. Tastes of bourbon, spices, pumpkins, vanilla, and some wood. Does not smell barrel aged but tastes like it.