Iron Hill Ichabod Imperial Pumpkin Ale

Brewed by Iron Hill West Chester
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
West Chester, Pennsylvania USA

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker, Tumbler

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Growler from the North Wales location. Pours a cloudy caramel amber with a medium sized light beige head. Aroma of pumpkin filling, banana bread and nutmeg. Taste of rich pumpkin filling, nutmeg and banana bread. Very good. One of the better pumpkin beers.

Tasted from Growler courtesy of MrBendo. Poured a medium and cloudy amber color with a smaller sized off white head. Aromas of spices (cinnamon and cloves), pumpkin, caramel, bananas, and vanilla. Tastes of the same spices, bananas, pumpkins, caramel, fruity, and candi sugar. Light alcohol in the finish but overall well hidden.

Tap at IH North Wales. Deep, hazy orange color with good lacing. Aroma of pie spices, yeasty cloves and a bit of alcohol. The initial spicy yeast taste gives way to the pumpkin pie spices in a very enjoyable way. Spicy-sweet finish. Pretty substantial bodied. The alcohol was fairly well hidden. Kudos to the brewers for another great beer.

Poured a murky brown orange color with a medium sized, off white head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of banana nut bread, some clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, pumpkin, caramel, and vanilla. Taste of more spices, cinnamon, light ginger, clove, banana, nuts, bread, caramel, brown sugar, pumpkin, and light alcohol in the finish as well.

From a growler. Cluody dark orange and brown colored body. Fruity and sweet sweet blood oranges pulp and fresh squash. A bit of sugar sweetenes things up but seems to be mostly natural. Body is medium to full, and overall it’s peppery, spicy, and fruity. Good stuff.

On tap at the brewery, allegedly tapped from an actual pumpkin. Surprisingly dark look, maroon and chestnut, hazy, thin head. A lot of spices -- cinnamon, cloves, are really at the forefront. The malt is very typical for the high-gravity Iron Hill offerings, kind of on the sweet side, and with a really big presence. The pumpkin is more apparent toward the beginning, it takes a back seat the the spices and sweet malt. Kind of boozy. Enjoyable but not really stellar.

On tap at IHNW as part of their Pumpkin Celebration 2008. Pours a mostly hazy orange amber with a medium creamy/bubbly off white head that laced. Aroma of pumpkin pie spices...cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and all spice along with your Belgian yeast ester notes...banana, clove, pepper, apple. A bit bready, banana bread, walnuts and light pumpkin. Flavor has some more of the Belgian notes up front, peppery, spicy, banana, clove, pumpkin pie spices, candi sugar, nutty, , earthy, pumpkin. Pretty much what I expected, a Belgian strong ale with all it’s fruity/spicy ester notes complimented nicely by pumpkin pie spices.

Draft at Elysian Great Pumpkin Beer Fest (GPBF) 08. Very nearly the beer of the day. Dark amber under a light tan head. Big sweet strawberry and pumpkin flesh nose. Creamy medium body. Pumpkin, biscuit, light caramel, very subtle funk, and a hard to place dark note, maybe anise, all on the mid-palate. Delightfully, intriguingly complex. Long nutty pumpkin finish. Absolute triumph.