Cottonwood Pumpkin Spiced Ale

Brewed by Carolina Beer Company
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Mooresville, North Carolina USA

One of the better pumpkin ales out there. Has the right blend of spices and real pumpkin flavor. Medium bodied and easily quaffable, this brew pours crystal clear chestnut brown and sports a small white, quickly receding, head. As usual for the style cinnamon and nutmeg pervade the aroma, but there a decent ale under the hood, and that’s what makes this brew better than other pumpkin ales. Tried this one in a pumpkin beer tasting at City Beverage in Winston-Salem NC, and it took top honors over the Dogfish’s Punk’n, Post Road by Brooklyn, and several others.

Bottle courtesy of ROBORB in trade. Thanks man! Pours a nice hazy dark amber to maroon color with a short lived offwhite head. Smell is tangy lemon and pumpkin meat with some nutmeg and pumpkin pie spice. Taste is bright, crisp and lightly malty with lots of lemon flavor and a nice amount of spice which isn’t overwhelming. Lightly acidic and refreshing. Crisp, prickly carbonation and medium bodied. Pretty nice.

this is a very simple but strong and flavorful pumpkin... not much complexity here - i like the imperial variety of the style much better

Pours a hazy light brown with a quickly dissipating white head. Nice spiced pumpkin aroma. Nice spice character. One of the better pumpkin ales I’ve had.

Sampled at the 2008 Knoxville Brewers’ Jam. Hazy light brown in the glass with a frothy off-white head. Aromas of pumpkin, nutmeg, and cinnamon. The flavor follows the same with some caramel malts also standing out. Medium body.

This wins as probably the first pumpkin beer that I could finish; in fact, I even had seconds. Hazy copper orange pour. Aromas of pumpkin, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon, and they seemed to get the balance right so it wasn’t overpowering. Good pumpkin flavor, too; not just a lager with spices. One I’ll drink every year, I think.

Bottled. Poured hazy, medium.. well.. pumpkin with a short-lived cap of off-white head. The aroma picked up the rich pumpkin meat, nutmeg, and cinnamon of a fine pie with a lightly caramelized crust.. excellent! The flavor had a little bit of sour character to it, which wasn’t necessarily bad.. pumpkin and nutmeg showed again on a bit of caramel base.. odd sour notes of cherry vinegar stuck on the end. Medium-bodied with high carbonation on the palate.. drier at the end. This was solid overall.

Sampled at the 12th Annual Knoxville Brewer’s Jam. Cloudy copper orange with a thin ring of off white head. Cinnamon, powerful nutmeg aromas. Moderate body, light pumpkin pie flavors. Pretty solid but bordering on being too thin. Re-rate: Dark brown-orange, thin off white head. Aroma is all spice, warm pie, cinnamon, clove. Taste is brown sugar, more allspice and clove but a bit thin. Original rating 7:3:6:4:14