BEER411 TURNS TWO!!

HAAAAAAAAAAAAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
HAAAAAAAAAAAAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
HAAAAAAAAAAAAPPY BIIIIIIRTHDAAAAAAY DEAR BEER411!
HAAAAAAAAAAAAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Wow... Two years old. Never knew how long Kate and I would keep this going, but we've had a blast bringing the knowledge of our favorite beverage and humor to all of our readers. Thank you so much for your support... We've learned a lot too and continue to find new things out everyday. Our readers ROCK!!



So for our birthday... Let me take you back to a beer that my buddy Jim and I found the other night. Well, we didn't "find" it, I mean Weyerbacher is a good name in beer, but we were on a mission to find a Pumpkin ale on draft. After all, the Pumpkin Ales have EXPLODED in the CT Packies so one would think that a draft Pumpkin Ale wouldn't be hard to find.

Well, we didn't find it until we got to our 3rd establishment... and boy was it worth the trip. Now, one thing to keep in mind, Weyerbacher is the favorite Pumpkin beer of our good friend John year after year. See, every year we set up a pumpkin beer tasting where we blindly taste about 10 pumpkin beers to see which one we like the most. For two years in a row he's picked this out BLINDLY as his favorite. That being said...

If this year's Imperial Pumpkin offering on tap is ANY indication how good it is in bottles, I think the other Pumpkins out there better cower in fear.

This beer is NOT a Pumpkin session beer... no M'am. At 8%, this was served in a snifter type glass. The color was dark orange with a slight red hue to it. It also had about two fingers of white fluffy head.

The smell that I got from this glass is a combination of Pumpkin Pie and Happiness. Ok, the happiness part is my own contribution, but you get the idea. Cinnamon, cloves, pumpkin, nutmeg... all in the mix there.

Tasting... whoa mama. I dare you to try and not smile after taking a sip. Lots of the smells back up the taste here. Really no surprises. Full of flavor and malt. Slight nuttiness as well with a little orange peel. I must say, as a hop head, I enjoyed the hop/flavor balance throughout. When drinking this beer, you know the ABV is higher than most, but hard to realize that its way up there at 8%. Gotta love that Ninja ABV...

The finish just keeps the party going. Smooth, dry... Medium-bodied. Tons of pumpkininess. The sweetness is not too over the top at the end, but you do get a slight caramel presence.

I have to add that this WAS my first draft pumpkin beer of the season. Looking over some of the reviews online, this beer seems to be all over the map. Some LOVE, while some felt like it's "Not in the same league" as the other pumpkin beers. MOST of the reviews I noticed however are from drinking out of the bottle. Well, MOST beers are BETTER on draft, no? But even after having it both on draft and the bottle, I have to say, this is one of my favorites of the season. As the weather starts to change, crack open the Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin to warm you up on those cool Fall evenings.

Ok, great, Tone... you just reviewed a pumpkin beer and said it tasted like "pumpkins". Awesome. What's my takeaway from this? Is it good? What makes it different from other pumpkin beers?

I get it... You wanna know if you should get this. Several things to keep in mind is the high ABV (8%), medium-bodied quality, and lots of spice. If you are having a gathering and want to have a few pumpkin beers throughout the evening, this may NOT beer the best pumpkin beer to grab. But, if you plan on just having like one or two, and enjoy beer with a little more gitty up, than this is for you.

Overall: A

Coming Next Month... the 3RD ANNUAL PUMPKIN ALE TASTING EXPERIENCE. 16 ALES ENTER... 1 ALE LEAVES!!!

Quote of the Week:

[Referring to AB (Anheuser Busch) products] "I'd rather be seen in public with a Zima." - Beercoaster Mike from the Beercoasters Podcast