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Saturday, September 28, 2013

173. Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale



I know pumpkin season is among us, but this was one of the leftover pumpkin beers from last year that I didn't get around to consuming until now.  No shame in my game though, I'm still looking forward to this and I imagine that a near year of aging didn't hurt it any.

This beer was poured into a pilsner glass.  It has a dark amber color with red hues.  I got about a finger of head, but with the low retention and little lacing, it quickly settled down.  The aromas of pumpkin spice is evident in this.  I detect pumpkin, molasses, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, rum.  Heavier on the sweet factor than I thought it would be, but that gives it a very favorable aroma.  I had an overly sweet pumpkin beer before and didn't like it, so I'm hoping that it's just in the aroma and that the taste itself doesn't suffer.

Fortunately, the taste doesn't suffer.  It's still slightly sweet, but the taste is much milder than expected.  The spices are still somewhat formidable, with the nutmeg and the cinnamon the two standouts, the clove punchy in the background.  The pumpkin is detectable in there as well, but the spices tend to dominate.  Medium bodied with light to medium carbonation, I feel like the mouthfeel could be improved if the brew was a little heavier.  It's an imperial ale, but the alcohol is hard to detect.  It's one of the better pumpkin beers I've had, and it's helped me with my crusade to get more high ABV pumpkin beers.  If they're going to taste like this, I'm not going to complain.

Grade: B+
Price Paid: $3.00 (12 oz bottle)

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