Pumpkin Combustion

Well, I must apologize for not keeping this more up to date.  Between my brother heading back off to college, a weekend air show and me getting an internship, I have been a bit busy the last few weeks.  The good news is neither has kept me from trying new beers.

When I first had one of these beers (Southern Tier Pumking) three weeks back it was humid and in the nineties—hardly the weather for pumpkin beer.  Breweries put out their seasonal releases earlier and earlier now, and it has been going on long enough to make a mockery of the phrase “seasonal beer.”  Sam Adams Summer Ale came out in March this year, and Sierra Nevada is considering re-branding their seasonal lineup “quarterly releases” for the same reasons.  Now, pretty much all of the pumpkin beers are in stores, but the weather is starting to feel like fall.  I bought two new pumpkin beers today, but I want to review the other ones I’ve tried this year first.  One is the aforementioned Pumking; the other is Sam Adams Fat Jack.

Both of these beers might be thought of as imperial pumpkin beers, or double pumpkin beers (Sam Adams calls Fat Jack a double pumpkin ale).  They are strong ales, each around 8.5% alcohol; minimally hopped; and brewed with a variety of ingredients commonly found in pumpkin pie (examples include cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger).  Beyond that, they are very different.

Southern Tier Pumking pours out a clear pumpkinized gold with a small, thin, off-white head that retains moderately well.  The carbonation is lazy, but the bubbles are nice and small.  A very faint lacing sticks to the sides of the glass.  Sam Adams Fat Jack is just as clear but takes on a darker red hue, and the foam is a bit bigger.  It also leaves more lacing.

The smell sets them apart…immediately.  Fat Jack is fairly tame; too tame.  It has a vague suggestion of the sort of Germanic malt I would expect in a bock, but just barely.  A bit of pumpkin and nutmeg round out a rather boring aroma.  For Pumking, I wrote down the phrase “HOLY PUMPKIN PIE BATMAN” in big letters in my notes.  In true Southern Tier fashion, this is a no-holds-barred approach to brewing a pumpkin beer.  Their chocolate imperial stout smells overwhelmingly of chocolate; their imperial cream stout brewed with vanilla beans smells like a vanilla milkshake; and their pumpkin ale smells more like pumpkin pie than beer. Specifics include pumpkin, cinnamon and bread.

That crystal-clear difference in aroma is replicated on the tongue.  Fat Jack’s bottle proudly proclaims all of the ingredients it is brewed with, to include nutmeg, allspice, ginger, cinnamon, pumpkin, and (weirdly) smoked barley malt.  I can actually taste the smoke a bit (hint of campfire log) and a mild hint of pumpkin and nutmeg; the ginger, cinnamon and allspice are nowhere to be found.  By contrast, the explosion of pumpkin pie flavor in Pumking is almost funny.  The taste focuses more on the spices involved (especially cinnamon) than the actual pumpkin, but both are much stronger individually than all of Fat Jack’s flavors combined.  Fat Jack also has a hint of pure ethanol flavor that Pumking is blessedly devoid of.

The two beers also differ markedly in texture.  Fat Jack is medium-full, edging towards full (sweet).  Southern Tier has a reputation for being the wrong brewery for diabetics; each time I’ve had their vanilla cream stout I feel like I need to buy a glucometer afterwards.  I was bracing for the same thing here, but even though it is a bit juicier than Fat Jack the spices are so strong that it feels dried out a bit.  In any event, I think the final gravity is lower than Fat Jack (which wouldn’t surprise me, Sam Adams’ strong beers are always too damn thick).

I don’t suppose Fat Jack is bad at all.  But for a “double pumpkin” beer that’s 8.5% alcohol I really expected more pumpkin flavor.  With Pumking, Southern Tier somehow exceeded my already-high expectations for pumpkin pie combustion.  I definitely like it better; people who hate pumpkins or pumpkin pies should avoid it at all costs though, as should anyone who hates cinnamon.

People need to stop buying so much of this so I can get more....

Expect more pumpkin beer reviews in the coming weeks.  I'm drinking another new one now (O'Fallon Pumpkin) and I've got a fourth in the fridge for this weekend.  I've also recently tried a new abbey double and two new imperial stouts, so I've got some catching up to do. Cheers!