 jhumphries69 (729), Tyrone, Georgia, USA
| 3.4 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 7/10 | 4/5 | 6/10 | 4/5 | 13/20 |
Oct 26, 2009
22oz bomber. Pours a cloudy glowing orange with old gold and tan highlights and a medium-sized light tan head that leaves a few thin wisps of lace on the glass. The aroma is rich with cakey malts, brown sugar, and lots of pumpkin spice - ginger, allspice, clove... The flavor starts cakey and toasty with a decent bit of malt sweetness. There is also a strong pumpkin spice note up front that lasts throughout. The maltiness turns to caramel and toffee towards mid-palate. A growing balancing neutral bitterness emerges towards mid-palate as well, along with a modest bitterness from the soft taste of ethanol (that is actually quite well-hidden until you realize that the bitterness tastes more like alcohol than hops). The finish is dry, bready malty, and spicy (cinnamon emerges as a strong contender, unlike in the nose). It is also mildly warming with a soft booziness (again, well-hidden at first -- gets stronger after a few sips). The mouthfeel is crisp and full-bodied with a slight astringency from the combination of spices and alcohol. Overall, a decent pumpkin beer that is surprisingly strong in all aspects. I think a little more age would do it nicely (the alcohol becomes more apparent after you drink a bit - and age would mellow out both the alcohol and the strong spiciness which is a bit strong on some spots of the tongue).
Swalden28 (1510), McKinney, Texas, USA
| 3.4 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 6/10 | 3/5 | 7/10 | 3/5 | 15/20 |
Dec 6, 2009 Bottle thanks to bman1113vr. Pours a murky gold with off-white head. Aroma of nutmeg and pumpkin. Flavor of pumpkin, nutmeg, some faint sweetness. Mouth feel is medium body with medium-high carbonation. Overall, not bad at all, pretty tasty!
pineypower (1096), Pine Barrens, New Jersey, USA
| 3.4 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 7/10 | 4/5 | 6/10 | 3/5 | 14/20 |
Nov 27, 2009 Pours out a nice mostly clear orange color with a light off white head. Aroma of nutmeg, cinnamon and other typical pumpkin spices along with a little bit of sweet malt and a slightly boozy note in there too. Taste is of pumpkin pie spices, namely cinnamon, nutmeg and a little clove with a few other spice notes in there too, slight malty notes and a touch of some bitterness, but the boozy alcohol notes from the aroma follow into the taste and are present throughout, granted its 8%, but the alcohol could have been a lot more hidden.
Skeegle (495), Maryland, USA
| 3.5 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 6/10 | 4/5 | 7/10 | 3/5 | 15/20 |
Nov 25, 2009 Decent beer that’s somewhat pumpkiney but not to the likes of Pumpking or Weyerbacher. Decent, but not great. Can’t see what the rave is about. Some sour beer tastes otherwise drown out other tastes that could have been done up in a more refined beer. But perhaps that’s why those others are higher rated. Glad I tried it none the less.
travita (1925), Frisco, Texas, USA
| 3.6 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 8/10 | 3/5 | 7/10 | 3/5 | 15/20 |
Nov 25, 2009 Bottle thanks to bman1113vr. The look is clear, orange in color, and has an off white head. The taste is sweet, puimpkin, and spices. The smell is nutmeg, pumpkin, cinnammon, and good.
mar (1883), Dallas, Texas, USA
| 3.8 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 8/10 | 3/5 | 8/10 | 3/5 | 16/20 |
Nov 22, 2009 bottle thanks to bman1113vr. light amber with a white head. nose is big spices, heavy pumpkin and not much else. nice on the palate with a smooth pumpking flavor and a spicy finish.
BBB63 (4232), La Porte, Indiana, USA
| 3 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 8/10 | 3/5 | 5/10 | 3/5 | 11/20 |
Nov 22, 2009 Bottle and served in Duval snifter: Tasted head to head against the Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin:
Hazy orangy amber hue with a fading head and okay lace. Shipyard wins the appearance battle (3-4). The aroma has notes of fresh pumpkin meat, cinnamon, clove, ginger, nutmeg, doughy pie crust and brown sugar. Yep smells just like a classic Pumpkin Pie. The Clipper City wins the aroma battle by a wide margin. (8 -6) Now on towards the make it or break it sense data for all pumpkin brews...
The taste is full frontal kicking in your face pumpkin and spice. Big sweet malts, big traditional pie spice supported by a mild doughy background. What hops may have been used in this beer have long been beat into submission by the spice overtone. Just seems too one note and suffers the common issue I have with the genre, too much spice and not enough beer. The points go to Shipyard here (5-7). The mouth feel is slightly aggressive and the one moment that the 8% ABV shows up in a snappy bite. Still the mouth feel is quite average and gets the score you would expect. I give Shipyard a slight nod here as well (3-4). Overall, while the Clipper City is hardly the worse Pumpkin beer I had, I am let down by expecting this to be the more drinkable and complex of the head to head matchup. Boy this is a shocking outcome, (11)
Heathen (800), Riverside, New Jersey, USA
| 3.6 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 8/10 | 2/5 | 9/10 | 3/5 | 14/20 |
Nov 21, 2009 THOUGHTS: Very nice. A bit like Pum King. It’s definitely in my top four pumpkin beers. Breweries should just stop making non-imperial pumpkin beers. This had the perfect amount of spice for this amount of body and alcohol. The spices went from the tip of my tongue to the back of my throat. It went great with light cinnamon applesauce. When it was done, I found myself wanting more.
TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a hazy, medium orange with a small, off-white head that mostly diminished and left fair lacing. The aroma was moderate caramel, along with nutmeg and other spices, and pumpkin pie. The initial flavor was rather sweet and a little acidic; while the finish was sweet, sour and a bit acidic with an average to long duration. There was caramel malt, pumpkin pie, tons of spices with some major nutmeg and more pumpkin pie. The medium body was somewhat syrupy with fizzy carbonation and a slightly chalky and light to moderately astringent finish.
ben4321 (1021), Rockville, Maryland, USA
| 3.5 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 8/10 | 3/5 | 7/10 | 3/5 | 14/20 |
Nov 16, 2009 Location: 22 oz bottle from Gilly’s, 11/16/09
Aroma: The aroma has some of the nice pumpkin spice and other spice characteristics I like in this style
Appearance: A mostly clear orange color with a thin lasting head, and light, drippy lace
Flavor: The taste is also lots of spice malts with a nice hop backing, spice is more cinnamon and nutmeg then pumpkin
Palate: The carbonation is pretty high for this beer, the mouthfeel is pretty nice, and a bit dry, and a bit of alcohol feel
Overall Impression:
This is a pretty good Pumpkin beer, but my main complaint is that the pumpkin spice is not as predominant as I would like it to be. That is only a minor compliant though, as I did enjoy this beer. As winter beers start to show up more, and this style is less available in stores, I can already tell I’m about to start missing the pumpkin beers. This is a quite good one.
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