Pumpkin beer #2 on my list is the River Horse Imperial Pumpkin Ale. "A festive Ale brewed with pumpkin and molasses. A variety of
hand-crushed, whole spices set up an impressive aroma and well balanced
taste. 8.5 abv" as described on their site.
The color was a dark brown and cloudy, you can tell there was some sediment in there. This was a good sign for me, because I was crossing my fingers that this wasn't going to be an artificial pumpkin flavor. You can see in the picture above that this beer had a nice foamy head on it and the aroma was malty with notes of pumpkin and spices. The taste was sweet with a punch of pumpkin taste, not artificial tasting at all, and you can definitely taste the higher alcohol content. The mouth feel was very clean with not much aftertaste. Really well made beer! I gave this one an 8/10.
I paired this one with my butternut squash soup. I roasted one whole butternut squash in the oven with some EVOO then scraped out all of the guts and added it to a large soup pot, 5 c of veggie stock, 2 large baking potatoes peeled and cubed, an onion, a peeled and cubed apple, S&P to taste and some nutmeg to taste (a little goes a long way), then boiled it for a couple hours. Let it cool then throw it all in a blender, probably in small batches, AND don't forget a dollop of sour cream. Mmm....
This autumn, pumpkin beers are top on my obsession list. There are so many out there and it's hard to choose one that you will like. I plan to review as many *craft* pumpkin beers as I can before they fade away into winter...
Pumpkin Beer #1 is Wachusett "Pumpkan" Ale. An "ale brewed with pumpkin and spices," as their can declares.
It presented as an amber-orange color and the aroma, eh, it smelled like
a regular ale to me, not much pumpkin-y goodness. It had a slightly
sour taste to it and sort of tasted like a can, even after pouring it in
the glass. The flavor tasted like a regular ale and the pumpkin taste
and aroma was very faint.I would love to try this one again on tap, but I'm not holding my breath to be able to find it now...
Overall I would give this one a 3/10. It didn't really impress me as a pumpkin ale and I would not go out of my way to buy another one to pair with my dinner. I might recommend bringing a 6 pack to a Halloween party only because the can is so festive.
