Just last week I reviewed Central City's Red Racer Spiced Pumpkin Ale, now Central City has yet another pumpkin beer called Patrick O'Pumpkin as part of their comic book-esque series of beers that featured Detective Saison and Mayor Kolsch. Patrick O'Pumpkin is an Imperial Pumpkin Ale that tops out at 8% ABV, a bit stronger than the Spiced Pumpkin and Patrick O'Pumpkin is barrel aged. Not surprisingly, Spiced Pumpkin is already sold out, so this one will be gone soon too.
Appearance: A rich nutty brown ale with a light copper hue to it. This is much more reminiscent to an autumn-inspired ale than your overly sweet reddish amber pumpkin beers. Very dark yet not too heavy.. not as heavy as a stout or porter but darker than your standard nut brown ale. Minimal amount of carbonation at the pour but I get a small amount of beige/cookie dough foam on top.
Aroma: I'm getting a lot of cinnamon and nutmeg in this beer. Also, a good amount of pumpkin aroma is popping up.. for the most part this is reminding me of their Spiced Pumpkin Ale for aroma. It's quite sweet, almost obnoxiously sweet with lots of brown sugar, caramel, and a bit of doughiness as well. Apparently this is a barrel-aged pumpkin ale but I'm not getting much of barrel/spirit aroma to it.. no oak, no vanilla and no whisky or rum notes so far.
Taste: A nutty brown ale with notes of toffee, coffee, toasted cinnamon and a hint of nutmeg. The nuttiness gives it a bit of a bitter aftertaste that lingers for a while after the beer is finished. The cinnamon and nutmeg aren't as much present in the taste as it is in the aroma. I'm noticing a hint of woodiness in the tastes finally, but only minimal hints at best. Later on as I'm sampling this, I notice a bit of a pumpkin flavour in it.. but it's not as pumpkiny as the Spiced Pumpkin Ale, thankfully!
Overall Thoughts: Really liked the nuttiness and that it's more of a brown ale.. but I was very disappointed that I barely noticed any of the flavours/aromas from the barrel aging.. it was underpowering. This compared to Spiced Pumpkin Ale.. this one is more reminiscent to an autumn brown ale that's perfect for the changing weather.. with hints of cinnamon and nutmeg, while the Spiced Pumpkin is more for those who want a spiced pumpkin latte for a beer. I don't think I'll be drinking this again in the next 11 months, but I might save a bottle if I do see it again just to see if it can be aged.
No comments:
Post a Comment