Southern Tier 2XIPA
Double India Pale Ale
ABV: 8.2%
Goose Island Sofie
6.5% ABV
25 IBU
A really enjoyable Belgian style saison. Goose Island tends to bring great brewing and classy style with their beers. Walk into a party with Sofie, and you’ll be sure to turn some heads.
Uinta Punk’n Harvest Pumpkin Ale
10 IBU
4% ABV
A 2010 Silver Medal winner at the World Beer Championships, this smooth pumpkin has just enough spice to really warm your palate and ignite the feeling of the season in your soul. This is by far the best pumpkin ale to be blogged so far this season, so if you see it anywhere, try it, and you will agree. Soft touches of honey, vanilla, cinnamon, and roasted pumpkin make for a strong flavor and engaging smell. You’ll almost want to breath the beer in more than drink it. A truly enjoyable pumpkin and not the first Uinta to get a huge thumbs up from the beer snob crew. Uinta also claims this beer pairs wonderfully with food, so grab some roasted turkey with a 6 pack of Punk’n and you’ve got one hearty harvest meal.
Captain Lawrence Pumpkin Ale
15 IBU
5.5% ABV
A subscriber told us we should check out this pumpkin ale from Captain Lawrence. Being that we always say “ask and you shall receive” to our readers, ran right out to the beer distributor and found it. While it was hyped up pretty well, it was not all it was cracked up to be. Comparatively to Samuel Adams or the Blue Point that was just blogged, this pumpkin ale was definitely a nice malty and very smooth one, but did not pack the aroma or real sting of spice one would normally hope for. Coming in with a 15 IBU it simply does not have the extra little sting of bitterness you would need to leave a sharp spice that most people look for in pumpkin ales. The reason for this is Captain Lawrence wanted to make it into a smooth amber, but that is not exactly what a pumpkin ale normally embodies. The aftertaste on your palate was just blah, and it honestly was almost more fruity then pumpkin. Although in the Blue Point review, it was noted that a pumpkin ale which is too intense with pumpkin can gross some people out, this ale from Captain Lawrence just did not have enough. It was a bland attempt at a pumpkin ale. More pumpkin flavor, more spice, and a touch more bitterness and it would have been a thumbs up.. Better luck next time guys.
