Welcome to the Brew Ha-Ha, Dive's new weekly beer blog. Every thirsty
Thursday we'll be coming at you with new posts related to good craft-brewed beers right here in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area. Some weeks it will be reviews of interesting beers brewed by established local breweries, to keep you up to date on what The Carolina Brewery, Tyler's Tap Room, Top of the Hill and others have on tap. Other weeks we will profile students who home-brew, seeing what interesting and flavorful concoctions UNC's finest can come up with on their own. Other posts will explore seasonal topics of beer-related interest. We hope you enjoy. Prost!
In honor of the Halloween holiday we decided to take a look at several Pumpkin beers that we picked up at a local bottle shop. Pumpkin ales' popularity levels have grown exponentially in the past several years with almost every brewery offering its own variety. While each has its own characteristics, they would all pair well with Thanksgiving dinner: turkey with cranberry sauce and butter-nut squash soup come to mind as tasty compliments. Just make sure you drink them all before the Christmas ham roles around.
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Post Road Pumpkin Ale
Grade: B
Pours a rich, clear brown with bright orange undertones. Not quite the deeper brown of brown ale, but much crisper than amber ale. A small, bubbly white head will form mostly around the inside glass, and will stick around for the party. Not hugely carbonated.
Mildly strong aroma of spices that reminds me of gingerbread. If you
Have a crazy Polish ouma who loves to bake holiday treats, this beer might smell like her house around Thanksgiving.
Tastes predominantly of spice-altered barley. The pumpkin is very
subtle: I caught a hint when the brew first hit my tongue, and there’s a bit of a spiced-pumpkin bread aftertaste in the back of the throat. This beer doesn’t have a single hop to spare, which is probably a good thing, because I can imagine even a slight hoppiness overwhelming the spices.
Serving type: Bottle
Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale
A
The imperial pours a very warm dark orange. While the head was poured about three fingers - a lively tap I suppose - it disappated quickly and left little lacing on the sides of the glass.
A lot of nutmeg gets picked up in the aroma, as well as some cinnamon and pumpkin. The description says clove is there too, but I couldn't pick up on it. Don't think my nose is attuned to that scent.
For it being an 8% beer, the body still retains its smoothness and hides the alcohol well. A lot of pumpkin ales have a dash of bitterness, but the Weyerbacher balances the beer with a sweetness, maybe a byproduct of some molasses. Really a nice beer that has the effect from the high alcohol that warms the body, perfect for a fall day.
Seving type: Tap
Big Boss Harvest Time
A -
This Raliegh offering pours a deep, crisp orange with a slight haze and creamy white head. Again, the head didn't stick around long and left little reminder on the glass.
Although pumpkin does come out in a big whiff, the spice really stands out on this one. Nutmeg, cinnamon and something sweeter are all present. Not to much hop at all coming out, but it might be vanilla sweetening the whole nose.
This beer tastes like a perfect slice of pumpkin pie. Sweet yet cut with bitter from the pumpkin, and then all smoothed over with that vanilla flavor to cover the tongue like whipped cream. Even with all this going on the beer still has a medium body, not too heavy.
Serving type: Bottle
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