3.3 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
UPDATED: NOV 2, 2006 On draught at the Tap Room. Pours a cloudy orange/brown with a thin head that stays and coats the glass. Aroma of clove, cinnamon, and citrus. Sweet toasted malt flavor borders on cloying; coats the mouth. Spices also dominate along with some hop bitterness and bread-like qualities. Alcohol warmth shows up after the swallow. Brewer told me that the tap is 8.6% ABV weighing in a little heavier than the bottled version which I tried the next day. The bottled pours clear (filtered at bottleworks), has a thinner head and tastes just a bit crisper. Really like them both!
3.5 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
From 12 oz. bottle - I had hoped for so much more than this delivered. Poured deep amber with a medium sized off-white head. The aroma has lots of clove and the lightest hint of orange - not much to speak of from malt or hops. Medium rich body with a good amount of carbonation. Taste is a LOT like the pumpkin ale... minus the pumpkin of course. Starts out with lots of clove spiciness and some lightly toasted malt. There is just a touch of sweetness from the orange peel. I think more of the malt was prevalent here that wasn’t in the pumpkin ale strictly because the pumpkin wasn’t in it. The finish has still lots of cloves with some spicy hops, but the hops are not very forceful in comparison. This is overall a good beer, but far too similar from the their last special release to cause too much excitement. The next special release is to be the extra stout - I’m assuming (and at this point hoping) there is no clove in there.
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