Heavy Seas - The Great Pumpkin Ale

Just like the titles says, its a great pumpkin ale and a pumpkin ale that I really enjoyed since the Pumking. This ale is made by Clipper City Brewing Company that's located in Maryland, US.

The color of this beer is a dark orange to amber shade. When poured into a glass, it leaves a very nice head. The taste is light pumpkin with nutmeg and cinnamon. Each part of the flavor is well balanced and light but covers the alcohol percentage enough that you can enjoy the beer. The body is light and fits well with the flavor of the beer.

Overall, I would compare the Pumking to be the best Pumpkin beer I've ever had since the flavor of the pumpkin is so great and the spices are well balanced but also light. Shipyard's Pumpkin Head would be the worst since it's not well balanced at all since the spices out do the pumpkin flavor and overall it just doesn't taste well because of the over spicing. The great pumpkin ale would be in the middle of the two but slightly higher than the middle (out of 5 its a 4).

I almost forgot to mention that the alcohol per volume is 8% so drink responsibly

Shipyard's Pumpkin Head

Yesturday, Sunday the 7th of November, I was at Canals for my Sunday shift. While I was working, I thought that I should try one of the pumpkin beers that so many people say they enjoy; Shipyard's Pumpkin Head Ale.

I grabbed a bottle and headed to the breakroom to try it out. I popped the cap off and smelled the beer to find the pleasing scent of pumpkin. Good I thought, this will probably taste like the Pumking beer I had a month of so ago. I was dead wrong.

The first tastes that hit my taste buds were of nutmeg and lots of cinnamon. It was like eating a pumpkin pie with too much cinnamon and nutmeg. It was disgusting. The body couldn't even save this beer from poor quality because there was no body except for the carbonation that was added to give it the allusion of a body. For all the beer fanatics out there looking to try a tasty pumpkin beer, avoid this at all costs. This beer is horrible. I don't see how anyone could find it enjoyable unless they don't taste all that nutmeg and cinnamon like I do.

Old Fezziwig Ale

Another Beer out of the Samuel Adam's Winter Classics 12 pack.

I poured this beer into a Samuel Adam's glass and took notice of the dark amber color and sweet white head that it left at the rim of the glass.

The aroma that this beer gives is overall a light sweetness of the caramel malts. Once it was in my mouth, the body of this beer just felt great (medium). Very little carbonation and all pure ale body.

The taste was first noticed with caramel malts (very typical Samuel Adam's taste) with a surprising well balanced hops at the end.

Even though the label says brewed with cinnamon, ginger, and orange, I didn't notice it. Next time, I'll hold the beer in longer.

Overall the taste is light all around making it balanced and pleasing to drink but there's no stand out flavor or highlight. The body is what stands out the most making this ale pretty drinkable.

Samuel Adams Boston Lager

Last night at Canals, I bought a 12 pack of the Winter Classics that we just got in. 6 varieties of beers and of 6, 4 I haven't tasted yet.

Although ive had the Boston lager before, I've never taken notes on it even though I always remember how it tastes (when I go out to a bar and I hear that Boston lager is on draft) I'll get it if nonthing else taste better.

I pried off the cap and took a whiff of the lager. What I smelled was mostly floral hops and some malt (similar to rolling rock). The taste was a medium to low taste that was well balanced with malt and hops. The mouth feel was heavily carbonated yet it fills your mouth once it's swishes around.

No wonder this lager is Samuel Adams signature beer. It's easy to drink, the taste is well balanced, and the mouth feel is great.

Samuel Adam's Latitude 48 IPA

Samuel Adam's Latitude 48 IPA just came to Canals last Monday and I remember I thought it was decent before but never took note on it for later on so I bought a six pack.

The color of this beer is a deep amber. When poured into a glass, it leaves a small head that fades after a few sips. The smell is hoppy that focuses on an earthly type like grass. My first sip tasted more like malts at the beginning and a hint of bitter hops at the end. After a few more sips, my taste buds focused on the hops to try to define what kind of flavor they were giving to this beer. The first instance was malty but the hops tasted floral and grassy. The overall taste is ok but I don't prefer an earthly hop like this one.

The mouth feel is medium and crisp like a heavy soda. Overall, this IPA is too malty to me because I taste the malts a little more than the hops. I also don't prefer a heavy floral and earthly hops combination especially with a caramel malt taste. It doesn't quite fit well together because this beer tastes more like a Pale Ale instead of an India Pale Ale. Sorry Boston Beer Company, but you need to try again.

ATTACK OF THE GREEN MONSTA ALE!!!

Jeremy Wade with a goliath tigerfish, a giant-sized relative of the piranha and one of the hardest freshwater fish in the world to hook and land. image source: http://animal.discovery.com/fish/river-monsters/killer-fish-photos/goliath-tigerfish-photos.html

There is this tv called River Monster's on either Discovery or AnimalPlanet that I occassionally watch if I'm lucky to turn on the tv at the right time. The host of the show is Jeremy Wade and he has a strong english accent that makes him say riva monsta instead of river monster. Anyways, I love it when he says that because I find it funny. Good thing I'd never see him in real life or I'd be tempted to mimic the way he speaks.

A few weeks back at work, when I was searching for a beer to have afterwords, I came across Wachusett's Green Monsta Ale and I started to laugh out loud because Wade's voice came into my head as I read the label and I couldn't help myself.


The label read, "A BIG PALE ALE with an awesome balance of Belgian malts with Fuggles and East Kent Golding hops. A.B.V. 6.4% | 53 IBUs".


Right away, I knew this beer was going to taste good because of the IBU level and the description said there was an awesome balance of the malts as well. So, I bought it and brought it home.

I poured it into a glass and stared for a few moments to analyze the color. It was hazy (perhaps unfiltered)with an amber or dark orange color. I don't recall smelling the beer but the taste of it was sweet malts a hint of cream and a light bitter hop taste at the very end to make this beer very satisfying. The body was heavy too which really gave it some character and weight. Indeed, this beer is a green monsta ale! But it wasn't green, just the label was.

Mojo IPA

I bought this beer at my job, Canals on the black horse pike in Williamstown, NJ. I bought a single bottle of this beer costing roughly 2$. At the time I wasn't really sure of what to drink after work so I walk around the micro-brews section. I searched for almost 10 minutes before I decided that I wanted to drink an IPA that I haven't tried yet. Looking around for a decent deal, I found Boulder Beer Company's Mojo IPA.

The color of this beer is dark yellow/light orange. When I poured it into a glass, it formed a decent white head that cakes to the glass when I drank it. It smells sweet like caramel malts and some hints of citrus hops. Tastes malty with a fine crisp finish of dry citrus hops and leaves a very light bitter taste. The body is a medium feel but maybe should be lighter considering this is an IPA. Very drinkable with a 6.8 ABV%. Overall, the taste is great but it's not my favorite IPA considering the body is heavier than what I wanted and there's too much malt compared to hops. A similar beer to this one would be a beer made from Wachusett Brewing Company called, Green Monsta Ale since the malt flavor is very similar and there aren't much hops present.

Cheers!

The Pumking

Since it's October, I thought I should start this new blog with a very tasty pumpkin ale by Southern Tier called Pumking.

Drinkers beware, this beer's ABV% is 9% and part of Southern Tier's Imperial Series (Imperial because the beers have a high ABV%).

From the moment you open the beer and pour it into a glass, you get the aroma of a pumpkin pie that is coded with cinnamon, nutmeg, and whip cream. The taste is exactly that and with help from the yeast, you can taste what would be crust if this was a solid.

The mouthful or body, feels spectacular. The body is medium-heavy and just fills your mouth up with pumpkin flavor. There is little carbonation added so don't think the body is like a heavily carbonated soda. If you've had a heavy bodied beer, you will know what I'm talking about.

If you want to buy yourself a bottle, Canals sells this beer for 6.99 for a 22oz bottle.