Samuel Adams Pumpkin Ale

The second beer in the first annual Great Pumpkin-Off is from a larger, more well known brewery. Every year, Sam Adams puts out a Harvest Pack and in the Harvest Pack is their very own Pumpkin Ale. While it may seem like Sam Adams has been around forever, the brewery actually started in 1984.

This was an impressive beer. The color was deep reddish orange, bordering on mahogany with a cream colored head. The head was thick when initially poured but thinned as time passed. The nose was rich with cinnamon and spices along with a good dose of malts. The beer itself had a rich, spicy flavor that was thoroughly reminiscent of pumpkin pie. It was warm and full bodied, which I realize is generally a wine description but it is the best way to really describe this beer.

I would highly recommend this beer to anyone and look forward to trying the rest of the beers in this year's harvest pack. For the 12 pack it ran me $16.49 and there were 6 different types of beer in the 12 pack. The third beer will be the Fisherman's Pumpkin Stout from Cape Ann's Brewing Company.

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale

In the spirit of the changing of the seasons, I decided to try pumpkin beers. This will be the first of four posts dedicated to these tried and true harbingers of fall. First up is Dogfish Head's oldest brew: Punkin Ale. Now, my first experience with Dogfish Head was less than spectacular and I was more than happy to finally be done with what I had started affectionately calling the "whiskey beer", I had promised a friend that I would send her a delicious pumpkin beer. After a bit of research, and some wandering around a distributor, Punkin Ale seemed to be the best bet to try to win her over to the wonderful world of beer.

Dogfish Head: Take 2

In case you can't read the label in the picture, it says: "A full-bodied brown ale brewed with real pumpkins, brown sugar, allspice, cinnamon & nutmeg." Once again, I was immediately on board. A beer brewed with all the best parts of pumpkin pie and none of the crust? This was something I could get behind.

Pie in a glass? 

The beer, despite being a brown ale, was more of a deep orange color which I found to be highly appropriate. There wasn't much head on it when I poured but what was there was a cream color. The smell was not very dissimilar from what you would expect. There was a lot of cinnamon and nutmeg but it was also a good dose of alcohol in it as well. The taste was as if someone infused pumpkin pie into a beer. There was a good amount of spices evident in the flavor and more than enough hints of pumpkin. It was a little thin in the mouth but I feel the high ABV may have something to do with that. The price was $2.99 for the bottle and $10.49 for the 4-pack so it was a bit pricey but worth a try. Overall, it was a very enjoyable experience and a great beginning to the pumpkin season! Up next: Sam Adams Pumpkin Ale

Sixpoint Sweet Action

Last weekend I went to a restaurant I'd heard about for years on a local radio station, Bacchus Restaurant and Bar. A couple of good friends had gone to a wedding so I met them for lunch. Their sign boasts their beer list as over 400 beers but their website says that they're at about 500 so trying to pick something was a bit daunting. I've been really trying to not be picky but 500 choices and only being allowed one is damn near impossible.

The bartender suggested one of their draft selections, Sixpoint Sweet Action. It's a cream ale and after my delightful experience with Kilkenny's, it seemed to me like an easy decision. The Sixpoint brewery is located down in Brooklyn and has only been around since 2004. After exploring their website a little bit, I noticed that we both share the same Ben Franklin quote so they're also going to be on my list of breweries to continue to try beers from.

Two guest elbows for this blog post

The beer was served in a pint glass. It had a reddish gold color to it with a white head to it that dissipated fairly quickly to a thin ring around the edge. The smell was mildly hoppy with a lot of floral notes to it. The taste had more malt notes too it but still finished mildly hoppy and was flowery overall. While it was a good beer, I felt it was largely unremarkable as far as beers go. 

I don't know that I'd get it again at $5.75 a pint but I'm sure if I could find it at a more reasonable price I'd be more than  happy to drink this beer on a regular basis.

Love letter to Big Sky Brewing Co.'s Moose Drool

Moose Drool

Not exactly something that screams being delicious. Kind of seems like something that would be a last resort when you go into the refrigerator. I was mostly intrigued and only a little wary of the name when my cousin told me about this brew. I did some cursory research before going out to see what I was getting myself into and was a little more scared when I saw it was a brown ale after my experience with Raison D'être. I know they're not nearly the same, for the record, but Raison D'être was based on a Belgian style brown ale so that was what I was basing my experiences off of. 


Needless to say, I was smitten at first sip. This was perhaps the most rich and balanced beer I have ever had the pleasure of drinking. Moose Drool is made by Big Sky Brewing Co. in Missoula, Montana and it is one of my new goals in life to visit there some day because if this beer is any indication, the rest must be brilliant. 

The beer was served on tap and was a dark mahogany color with brilliant ruby highlights. There was very little head on the beer but what was there was white. It did manage to hang around for the whole pint too. The smell was rich and mallty. It wasn't very different from other malty beers in the nose but the biggest difference for me was undoubtedly the taste. It was smooth and velvety but still mildly carbonated in just the right amount. The flavor was rich in dark chocolate tones with coffee highlights and stayed that way through the glass, even as the beer began to warm up a bit. 


The only bad thing about this beer is I can't have it on a regular basis as Big Sky doesn't distribute to New York. I would love to try their other beers that they have listed on their website such as Slow Elk or Cowboy Coffee Porter. It runs about $9.99 a six pack from their online distributors plus shipping and tax. I believe it was about $5 or $6 at the bar for the pint. It was undoubtedly worth it and everyone should try this beer if they're given a chance. It truly is worth drooling over. 


Edit: As informed by my cousin/comment, the bar served Moose Drool at a very manageable $4.50 a pint. Now, if only shipping it were so convenient...

Widmer Hefeweizen

My second day in the Seattle area included a day trip down to Portland. I was incredibly excited because I wanted to go see Powell's books and was actually not really thinking about beers to try while I was there. All of my book shopping and squealing left me hungry though so we ended up trying to find somewhere close by to eat before we headed home. About a block away from Powell's we located Henry's 12th Street Tavern. At first glance, it doesn't quite look like it will live up to its tavern name but one look at the beer list and all fears will be quieted.

There was a third panel too!

As you can see, the beer list was quite extensive (as it continued on to a third panel on the reverse side) and was even separated by types of beer so that you can pick according to the style you want. They have a few specialty beers that are denoted by an asterisk next to the name and are served in a snifter as opposed to a traditional pint glass. It should also be noted that all of these beers are on tap. There are no bottled beers in this tavern. Being in Portland, I wanted to get a beer from Oregon rather than Washington since that was more local and ended up settling on Widmer Hefeweizen, brewed right in Portland itself.

Now, I will never claim to be a beer expert. I know which styles I tend to like and which I tend to stay away from. I had never heard of a hefeweizen before so I did a little searching. Hefeweizen translates to "yeast wheat" which is an unfiltered wheat. From what I read about the traditional German style, it's supposed to smell like bananas and cloves. Widmer Brother's Hefeweizen, however, is an American style Hefeweizen so I feel that is probably why I couldn't smell either.

As you can see from the photo, the beer was a gold/orange color that was cloudy in appearance. The head was thin and white but stayed with the beer throughout the duration. It was served with a lemon which made discerning the actual smell of the beer from the lemon but the beer itself seemed to be mild. There was a definite bready aroma to it but lots of citrus as well. The taste was also fairly citrusy and very smooth. The finish was refreshing and didn't linger much after the drink was gone.

The price was not an issue, I believe it was $6 for my beer. I would highly recommend this beer to people who enjoy things like Blue Moon and would like to try something different. I had the bottled version of it later on in the evening and would strongly recommend to wait to try it as a draft if the option is available over the bottle.

Fremont Brewery

My trip to the Seattle area was phenomenal. The people are fantastic and incredibly friendly. Anyone and everyone will start up a conversation with you. This, in addition to the wonderful beer, was part of the appeal of the Fremont Brewery. It was recommended by a friend of my cousin's, who I was visiting this weekend, but she had never been herself either. Both of us were very impressed.

While we didn't take a tour of the brewery, we arrived during the hours in which they hold their Beer Garden. As you can see from the picture above, they have a long bench table set up with planks of wood propped up on used kegs. You can purchase beer by either draft, growler, keg or bottle. Growlers, however, need to be taken with you as there is a sign asking you do not drink them on the premises. The place was packed when we arrived and there was no room for us to sit but people moved in and out fairly quickly so don't let this discourage you if come and this happens to you. Plus, you can always get a beer while you wait like we did.

Photo taken at the end of the evening, it was much more crowded when we arrived

I asked the bartender what his favorite was because I'm trying to be adventurous and he suggested either the Harvest Ale, which is a saison, that had just be put on draft that day, or the Interurban IPA. I chose the Harvest because I had never had that style of beer before and was eager to try it...and maybe a little because I'm still intimidated by IPAs

Held by my lovely assistant :)

The beer poured a beautiful golden color with very little white head. The head stuck around, clinging to the edge of the glass, the entire time I drank the beer. This beer was a bit of a challenge for me because I am unfamiliar with the style but I was able to figure out the different flavors all on my own. The beer had a faint apple smell to it which pleasantly combined with the hops. The taste was mildly hoppy but still had some of the fruit notes evident. Overall, I'd definitely agree with the bartenders' assessment of the beer coming out wonderfully.

Now, I know I normally only review the one beer, but I was so impressed with the Harvest Ale that I went back and purchased a sampler of the rest of the beers they were offering that evening. The beers offered on draft were Universale Pale Ale, Sister Imperial IPA, Wandering Wheat, Harvest Saison, and Interurban IPA from Fremont and Troll Porter from Hale's Ales as a guest tap.

From left to right: Universale Pale Ale, Hale's Troll Porter, Interurban IPA, Wandering Wheat, Sister Imperial IPA

The first one I tried was the Imperial IPA. It was gold in color with a thin white head. The smell was very crisp and almost piney. It smelled a bit like Christmas trees to me. I think I might just be unfamiliar with this style of beer though. It was intensely hoppy in its flavor which for me was a bit of a turn off but I'm still getting used to hoppy tasting beers. I could make out some citrus notes and the beer had a very crisp, clean finish.

The Sister Imperial IPA

The next one up was the Wandering Wheat which was rather refreshing to me after such a hoppy beer, but again, that's personal preference. The wheat was gold and cloudy in appearance with a thin white head. It had a very mild scent to it with mild wheat and bread notes. A very smooth beer, it had a sweet flavor to it and a nice clean finish. It had a citrus quality to it as well.

Wandering Wheat

The next beer I had was the Interurban IPA. The color was slightly darker than the Imperial IPA with a thin white head. Once again, all I could really smell was pine and hops but it was far milder than the Imperial IPA. The flavor had some citrus notes but also quite a bit of hops to me. It was more enjoyable than the Imperial but still not my favorite of the evening. The finish was clean and crisp and the flavor lingered just a little bit with some hops.

Interurban IPA

The next one on the list was the Universale Pale Ale. Now, I know in the picture above the Troll Porter would appear to be next in line but with all these hoppy beers I wanted a malty one to finish. But, alas, I digress. Visually, this beer was hard to tell apart from the Interurban IPA. They are similarly colored. The flavor, however, was a bit different. While still hoppy, this was a much more accessible beer to those of us who don't enjoy hops. It was citrusy with a mild hops flavor. It had a mild flavor lingering at the end but was very pleasant.

Universale Pale Ale

The final beer of the night was actually not from Fremont's Brewery but from another local Seattle brewery, Hale's Ales. This was their Troll Porter in nitro which is a style I'm growing to really enjoy. The beer poured near black in color with a light tan/beige head that stayed the length of the beer. The smell was coffee and very sweet malts. The taste was rich dark chocolate with some coffee notes. The beer was sweet but not overly so and very smooth with light carbonation due in part to the nitro.

Nitro Troll Porter

Overall, this outing was fantastic. Everything about the experience, the beer, the people, the atmosphere, made it truly enjoyable. The pricing was just right. The Harvest Ale was $4 for the pint with most beers running about the same. Each sampler glass of beer was a dollar which I thought to be more than reasonable. The growlers ran $8 for refills and I'm not sure how much it was to buy a growler from them (anyone with that information feel free to let me know!). I purchased a 22 oz. bottle of their Summer Solstice brew for $3.75 and I'm very excited to try it. For the first night out in the Seattle area, this brewery certainly set the bar very high.

Coming soon: Widmer Brother's Hefeweizen and Big Sky Brewing Co. Moose Drool