Cottonwood Pumpkin Spiced Ale

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

12 oz bottle, via CaptainCougar. Pours a hazy amber body with a fleeting fizzy beige head. The nose is big pumpkin pie spices, lots of nutmeg, allspice, and to a lesser extent cinnamon. Light caramel malt peeking through. The flavor, as with so many pumpkin beers, is all spice and caramel with very minimal pumpkin meat. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, a little clingy, with moderate fizzy carbonation. Overall, nothing more than the average Pumpkin beer. Why are the good ones so rare?

12 oz. bonus from OldStyle Cub! Much thanks. Pours deep reddish orange. Aroma of pumpkin and allspice. tastes like a pumpkin pie, with notes of cinnamon and apple. Very smooth on the finish. Good for what it is.

12oz bonus from a recent trade. Pours orange and thick with a tan head. Nose is very pumpkinny and spicey. Nose is pretty nice overall. Taste has a bit of pumpkin but has nothing on the nose. Overall ok, not super anything.

Nice fully spiced seasonal. The spice compilation was very similar to good pumpkin pie, and I believe I taste some green apples in there too. Nice.

Its malt and hops are a tad on the tart side, the fruit is mopre of a raw pumpkin with some spices instead of cooked squash, I actually found this enjoyable.

12 oz, bottled J (July?) 07. Hazy, strong iced-tea colored, with a small but creamy and enduring head. Typical pumpkin pie spice aroma with maybe a tad more nutmeg. Spices are out front in the flavor, then maybe some pumpkin and slight grain peek through in the middle, and a turn back to the spices at the finish. Seems like clove and cardamom in the nice aftertaste. Light-medium body is kinda smooth, has a bit of a spice tingle, and a slight astringency. One of the best pumpkin ales out there.

I’m a sucker for these beers. The aroma has toasted malt, spices, (nutmeg, allspice, mace, cloves) and pumpkin. The appearance is light brown/amber with a small head. The flavor is like the aroma but it does not blend well for some reason. The palate is smooth and unremarkable with an acidic finish. Overall a fun beer but not a great beer. Still I would drink this again.

Aroma is strong but not overwhelming, rather pumpkin-like and with strong spice overtones, particularly cloves. Color is a nice dark reddish amber; head is off-white and fairly thick but does not persist. Flavor is smooth and malty with a solid pumpkin overtone and spicy hints, so it is almost like drinking a liquid pumpkin pie. Perfect for the holidays.