Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale

Brewed by Smuttynose Brewing Company
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA

First off, I’m a sucker for spicy fall beers, especially pumpkin ales. I like nutmeg in my beer too. Cinnimon never hurts either, along with allspice, and all those other spices that end up in beers like these. That beeing said, this pumpkin ale is the bomb. Awesome fall sessioner.

slightly hazey pale with a large white head. The aroma is heavy pie spices with some pumpkin and caramel. The flavor is nutmeg, cinnamon and some caramel, heavy spice. Medium body with a heavy spicey bitterness.

Overall a solid pumpkin ale. I liked the way the beer was still extremely well spiced, but it had more than a hint of pumpkin. Complex, and had that smutty bite.

This is the first of three pumpkin beers we reviewed this night, and we did well to start with this one. It pours a light amber color with a small, fizzy white head. Hazy body. Fully diminishing head. It appeared to be bottle conditioned. Aroma was decidely colorful, with notes of ginger, nutmeg, and allspice. Pumpkin pie was also noted. Initial taste was moderately bitter, ramping up to a heavy bitter finish with a long duration. Light on the palate, it left an oily feel behind with fizzy, lively carbonation. Sean was initially hesitant about the pumpkin beers, but turned out that he liked this one the best. Some notes from the review were: It’s got a bite -- Ian; I taste the spice -- Sean; Hoppiness -- Sean; I would drink this again -- Anonymous Reviewed on October 8th, 2006

I was looking forward to this one as I heard good things about it. A bit over spiced for my taste but very tasty in small quantities. Deep golden color with a good body for a pumpkin beer. Aroma and flavor is mild of pumpkin, more focus on spices, like cinamon,clove,vanilla, perhaps ginger. I’ll drink this gain, but I won’t be running out to get it.

12 oz bottle: Smell is......... you guessed it, pumpkin pie. The smell was actually very deceiving, in that there was a lot of spices on the nose, but the flavor was rather subdued. The flavor was a little funky and bitter. There was a harshness to this beer that didn’t sit very well with me. Without the spice and harshness, this would be a fairly nice APA.

Looks and smells just like a pumpkin pie. A gorgeous burnt orange with absolutely no head, fresh out of the oven heavy spice aromas waft up from the brew. Clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, a slight vegetal/pumpkin essence. In the mouth the spices fade considerably - unfortunately - leaving a heavy malt presence and a flat, boring pumpkin taste that is only piqued with the occasional splash of lemon that comes through. High carbonation but watery; crisp but not pleasing on the tongue. If only it tasted as good as it looks and smells.

Bottle. Orange color. Pumpkin aroma, with less of a spice aroma as other pumpkin beers I’ve had. Flavor is the same, with more subtle spice flavors, which I like.