Dogfish Head's Punkin Ale

Mmmmm, a subtle hint of cinnamon from my favorite fall beer Dogfish Head's Punkin Ale. From the previous post you know that this is the second beer in a small homage to Pumpkin Beers. The other day was R.J. Rockers' Gruntled and today is Dogfish Heads. I will be noting slight differences between the two since they are the same style. First, as always the brewers description;

"A full-bodies brown ale with smooth hints of pumpkin and brown sugar. We brew our Punkin Ale with pumpkin meat, organic brown sugar and spices. As the season cools, this is the perfect beer to warm up with."

 The color of the beer is a brownish orange with a slight lacing of cream colored head. The head itself did not last very long in the glass, it covered the beer then quickly dispersed before the first taste. As far as aroma goes its pumpkin with a hint of brown sugar and a smaller hint of nutmeg. The aromas do not over power one another in the slightest but actually are all quite mellow and complementing.

The first taste, which is accompanied by an aroma of pumpkin and a few spices, is pumpkin, simple and quite tasty. The aftertaste finishes smoothly with a subtle taste of cinnamon and nutmeg. The beer all in all is quite smooth, the pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugars all mellow and mesh very well together. Nothing is fighting to over-power the other in either aroma, first taste and the aftertaste.

As compared to the other day with the Gruntled Pumpkin Ale where there was a fight in the glass its a much appreciated and welcoming calm to the glass, not to complex but enough to enjoy and have another slip. Honestly, the glass is already empty and the post itself is not complete. In the end its a great beer for the fall and early early winter and very much earns a 4 out of 5 glasses.

For more info on the brew visit Dogfish Head.

R.J. Rockers' Gruntled Pumpkin Ale

Fall is in the air and that means a slight homage to pumpkin beers. Originally I was going to do a comparison due to the fact that I was caught off guard by their already being pumpkin beers on the shelves, then I realized its cause of where I live and its still ungodly warm and does not yet smell like fall is in the air. So I scratched my original idea to do a verses with this beer against my favorite pumpkin beer, Dogfish Head's Punkin Ale which shall be tomorrows topic unless I get really thirsty later tonight...both are possibilities. That being said lets dive right into the glass...

"The Gruntled Pumpkin planted the seed and started a revolution for all of pumpkin-kind. To guard the promising vines of the future that would eventually blossom to become the bottom of the barrel (and thats a good thing) of this new pumpkin ale."

As always, I pour the beer from bottle into the glass and judge the head of the beer which did not last long. The beer itself is orange, as any pumpkin beer should be, quite clear with no cloudiness and the head itself was white in color and quickly disappeared and left no ring of lace on top.

As far as aroma goes its nothing but pumpkin and spices, maybe a nutmeg but the pumpkin over powers anything that could try and escape into the nose.

For first taste its spices for me, the moment that ale hit my tongue I was surprised that its wasn't the pumpkin I was tasting. While it may overwhelm the nose to some extent in the taste department it was beaten. Now don't get me wrong, you will taste the pumpkin but its more mid sip and after taste where its subtle characteristics begin to come forth. Even with it hitting you hard at the beginning the spices will not back down and the will be there during the after taste which brings back memories of slices of pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving dinner, not many but some memories. Its the spices that you will taste and remember when you think of this beer.

All in all this isn't a bad pumpkin ale. It will not be my first choice but not my last by a long shot. In the end it was the overwhelming spices that did it for me, when I sit back and drink a themed beer I want that theme to stand out no matter what it is and this just didn't do it for me in that regard. As an ale its good as a pumpkin ale it works which is why I am giving it a 3 out of 5.