Alpine Beer Company Ichabod Ale

Formerly brewed at Alpine Beer Company (CA)
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Alpine, California USA

Shared with DYCSoccer17...hazy amber orange pour with medium white head. Heavy spice aroma - clove, cinnamon, allspice. Strong spice flavoring as well. I catch a hint of pumpkin in the middle as it sweetens a bit. Some hoppiness and roasted maltiness finish this beer, and balances it pretty well, but the spiciness does me in. A little too heavy in the aroma.

Bottle, courtesy of Tom Nickel (owner of O’Briens in San Diego...you MUST go there sometime). Very spicy, peppery, cinnamon, and nutmeggy aroma. Pumpkin is very light in the nose. Moderately-mostly hazy amber-copper color with a nice frothy off-yellow head. Starts a bit thin, fruity, and sweet, but then turns very spiced and quite tasty. Cloves, nutmeg, pepper, and finally a mild sprinkling of pumpkin come through in the late middle with nice roastiness to finish. Extremely well-balanced and superb for the style.

The beer after its pour from the 22-ounce brown bottle sets in the glass a limpid burnished copper color with a behemothic creamy light tan head that after ever so slowly dematerializing leads to a full coating of lace around the glass. Nose is spicy with pumpkin and nutmeg with hints of clove and the sweet grain, start is lightly sweet with a pleasing grain profile, the top is fair to middling in its feel. Finish is hardy in its acidity, the hops delectably spicy and the pumpkin lingers on in the very dry aftertaste, a real “Hoot” of a beer, my thanks to my favorite bartender “Magnificent Melanie and my old friend Sean” for this bottle.

Tap @ Alpine. Clear amber/gold w good carbonation. Head fell quickly, fair lace. Aroma of spicey pumpkin pie. Interesting fresh spicey pumpkin flavor but these beers are usually not of much interest to me. Again it was quite cold and I couldn’t get the server to set up all the beers I wanted to try at once. (against the law?)

nice spiced ale very herbal and spicy nose with a very nice balanced mid palate malt body.

Bottle. Pours a beautiful dark copper color with a generous off-white head that lingers well and leaves decent lacing. Sweet, spicy aroma, definitely can distinguish the cinnamon, allspice nutmeg and possibly some clove. Very sweet, the pumpkin flavor is evident along with the aforementioned spices which leave a sharp, spicy aftertaste - maybe a bit heavy though. Medium body and creamy carbonation. This one improved as it warmed and ended up as one of the only pumpkin beers that I’ve really liked.

Draft @ O’Briens. An interesting beer to say the least. I didn’t notice any pumpkin spices in this but did get subtle flavors of cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and coriander. Taste is lightly hopped and not at all smooth. I didn’t think it was possible for Pat to make a beer I didn’t care for, but here it is.

This brew pours with a deep amber body topped by a medium thick head with a good amount of lacing. The aroma and flavor are sweet and spicy as hell, full of nutmeg, cinamon and allspice. Damn, way to spicy for me. Medium bodied and smooth.