Beer in Review: New Belgium Pumpkick

So, I may have previously mentioned my relative disdain for the fall beer season. To summarize, no Halloween beers before Labor Day, no Christmas beers until November 1st. But, given this IS a beer blog, I know I have a responsibility to try SOME of the beers of the style. The things I do for a blog that almost nobody reads. So, enjoy my first live review.

New Belgium's Pumpkick spiced ale is pretty obviously loaded with spices like cinnamon, all spice, and nutmeg to go with the strong pumpkin flavors in this ale. The items that help to cut those spices and sweetness are lemongrass and, according to their notes, cranberry juice--this latter addition really kind of kicks it into a more Thanksgiving-appropriate beer. Anyway, for me, the lemongrass is faintly evident as a flavor, but more serves to temper the fall spice mixture, resulting in a more balanced flavor overall. I'm not getting much flavor of cranberry, personally. There is perhaps a slight hint of tartness, and perhaps the flavor itself comes out more at the end and in the aftertaste. Regardless, I'm sure that tartness is also helping to cut down the strength of those fall spices.

I bought just a single bottle of this beer, but I would consider buying a six-pack for the house. I'd probably wait to drink it until Thanksgiving dinner. Overall, pretty decent.

Beers in Review, Labor Day Weekend Part 2: Beer Flight Style

I'm struggling to stay caught up, so I'm going to fly through a bunch of beers from Labor Day weekend.

Anchor Steam: a nice malt/fruit flavor, and pretty clean

Widmer Upheaval IPA: dank aroma, with some dark fruit notes--it's listed as an "American" IPA, but it's pretty hoppy, if so

River Rat Broad River Red: nice malt sweetness, pretty clean finish

Stone IPA: surprisingly mild citrusy hop profile with some sweetness in the middle

Finch's Pale Ale: somewhat mild flavor; the hops are evident but not super-flavorful, pretty clean

Beers in Review, Labor Day Weekend, Goose Island Edition

Goose Island was, of course, the subject of some scrutiny 4 1/2 years ago. As has been mildly mentioned in this space, Goose Island was one of the first craft breweries to become a NON-craft brewery, with their acquisition by AB-InBev in 2011.

Since that acquisition, Goose Island seems to have managed to utilize Budweiser's money to expand their reach without sacrificing their quality. First up from Labor Day weekend was Goose IPA. This was an enjoyable IPA that game a fruity start that transitioned into an interesting mix of hop flavors (mostly on the dank side, to me). Those hop flavors tended to linger on the palate for a little while after drinking, but overall the Goose IPA was an enjoyable beer.

Next up was Goose Island's Autumn Ale. Now, the last 4-5 months of the calendar year are my least favorite beer seasons. The cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, all spice, etc. all easily overpower beers, and the fall and winter beers tend to become major turnoffs for me. Add to this the fact the fall/pumpkin beers are being released seemingly earlier and earlier (mid-August? Really?), and I tend to really dislike the Fall and Winter beer seasons. If I had my way, the pumpkin beers could be released on September 15th, and not a damn day earlier!

Digression over.

Goose's Autumn was...pretty good! Hops play an unexpectedly strong role in this beer. Officially a red ale, that style of sweetness, perhaps merged with some of the spices listed above (or is it just my imagination?), is evident early, but eventually gives way to their own unique hop variety that provides a dank, piney push on the back end of the beer. The result is a nice balance for people like me who tend to be overwhelmed by the usual Fall seasonal. Goose Island has a couple of other Fall beers in their seasonal lineup, and I expect one of those may be the more common spice bomb that the industry is used to this time of year.

Plenty more beers from this long weekend, but this entry already got verbose. Check out 5 quickie reviews later this week.

Beers in Review, weekend of 8/28: 4 and 1/3 beers

I've been a long-time fan of Brooklyn Brewery (Brooklyn, NY). The availability ebbs and flows here in South Carolina. I find the Lager to be solid, and have heard very good things about Sorachi Ace, but the home run hitter for me was the Pennant Ale. I discovered one summer about 4 or 5 years ago, and literally couldn't stop buying it.

It had been a while since my last Brooklyn beer, but I found the Brooklyn Brown Ale at Pinch a few weekends ago, and remembered why I was a fan. I'm starting to move out of the brown/red ale phase a bit, but I found the Brooklyn Brown to be quite enjoyable. It contained a good amount of maltiness, which I enjoy (especially the roasted variety). Also a mild hoppyness which, for me, combined with a caramel sweetness. A nice balance and pretty smooth.

I call Boulder's Hazed and Infused (which is now simply known as "Hazed", no doubt a result of some cease-and-desist letter from Hollywood) a gateway beer for one wanted to start their journey towards the hoppyness of IPAs. This session pale ale has some evident hop notes, but puts a lot of the focus on a fresh, clean beer that combines with a peach or apricot sweetness. With those evident hop notes, but not much of the normally-accompanying bitterness, this "Hoppy Session Ale" was one of the first hoppy beers I tried and legitimately enjoyed. Hazed served to be a first step to my enjoyment of stronger and more bitter pale ales and IPAs.

The goal of this blog is not to diss the pale lager crowd, despite certain producers' disses of the craft beer industry (Pumpkin Peach Ales, anyone?). Regardless, the Miller Lite rep was in a local bar and bought everybody an aluminum bottle. I drank about a third of it. It was about what you'd expect.

Terrapin's Liquid Bliss is a damn tasty beer. Liquid Bliss is their chocolate peanut butter porter, with a good combination of both. I found the peanut butter to be prevalent in the aroma and the aftertaste, while the chocolate side seemed to dominate the in-mouth taste. Very tasty, but can be a bit overpowering if drank quickly--enjoy as a sipping beer, and you will be well-rewarded.

Swamp Cabbage is one of the newest breweries in Columbia's quickly-emerging local craft beer scene. Just over a year old, their ESB is one of the more commonly-found beers in Columbia's bars and restaurants. It's pretty clean, with a small amount of bitterness. Overall, a pretty solid ESB.