This brew pours a deep, reddish orange, with a tall head that's gone pretty fast (but has great lacing).
There are light aromas of spice (cinnamon... maybe clove, maybe nutmeg), and pumpkin.
In the brew are nice-enough flavours of the spices & pumpkin, too, but they are rather light. The flavour is fairly bright, almost on the citrus side of things... it kind of reminds of the their John A. Honey Wheat 's brightness. It's an almost lemony brightness that I can't decide on whether it helps or hinders the whole brew yet. I would like it to be a bit more smooth, with a slightly fuller body. I want a pumpkin ale to be slightly more warming / comforting, like a pumpkin pie. That being said, this brew goes down clean & easy with a bit of a lingering pumpkin pie aftertaste. It also has a bit of sweetness from brown sugar, but it's restrained, for sure. It has a light body and a clean finish.
This is a very easy drinker... the brightness balances the pumpkin & spice very well... it's got seasonal flavours, but they are subtle. I enjoyed my second bottle more than the first, and I bought two more bottles yesterday, so take that as an endorsement!
I as well thought last year's Gahan Pumpkin was quite poor, and this year's is certainly better.. But be warned when you go to the Gahan House and order one of these : They rim the glass with cinnamon sugar unless you specify otherwise! Cinnamon sugar really throws off your taste right before a beer... order it without
ReplyDeleteGood point. There's nothing wrong with having a little fun with beer, but it's good for folks to know if they don't want the unexpected add-on. I saw people posting a pic or two of this on Untappd, but never thought to mention it here yet.
DeleteI'm new to the Maritimes and I must say it's rather refreshing to finally read a local beer review by someone who knows something about beer. I've never seen so many terrible youtube reviews, done by so many uninformed, uneducated locals has I have since I first moved here. Guys such as Todd and Houghly could really use an intro to beer 101.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work PEIBeerGuy!
- Eric W.
Thanks for the kind words, Eric. Always glad to hear feedback from the people that come upon my site. Cheers!
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