Cottonwood Pumpkin Spiced Ale

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

This is like pumpkin pie in a bottle! This should be the standard from which all other pumpkin ales are measured, IMHO! Poured a deep, pumpkin color into a pint glass. Not a great head, and minimal lacing. Very nice coloring. Aromas of pumpkin pie spice and fresh pumpkin. Allspice predominates with side notes of ginger and cloves. Not much in the way of hops or malts, but I wasn’t really expecting any of those aromas. Taste was exactly what I would think a pumpkin ale should taste like. Mild spiciness with pumpkin flavor, but not overly sweet or cloying. Just an overall nice flavor. Without a doubt the best pumpkin ale I have had. Light, slightly fizzy mouthfeel keeps this beer refreshing, yet it still has a rich, full body. A beer of this style could risk being slightly overpowering, but Cottonwood balances the flavors and mouthfeel perfectly, IMO. Very drinkable pumpkin ale. An excellent brew for the Fall when evenings start cooling down. I drank this with a bowl of beef stew and it was an excellent choice of beverage. Highly recommended.

THe best Pumpkin beer I have yet to taste. Tastes just like pumpkin pie. Cinnamon and nutmeg are very pronounced. It may be a bit too much for some folks, but most would like it.

This beer has a lingering, slightly off-white head over a cloudy body that seems to be just a tad more orange than amber. The palate on this beer was surprisingly thick, but pleasingly so. The flavor was a wonderful balance of spices and malts, very suggestive of a pumpkin pie, which was the idea, of course. Overall, this is one of the best seasonal beers I’ve had.

Thanks to Vcitor for this, by far the best pumpkin beer I’ve ever had tasted and smelled just like pumpkin pie, I loved this. Bottle shared at the First Annual Florida Ratebeer Gathering.

My god this was a damn good pumpkin ale! Definitely the best pumpkin ale I’ve ever had. The smell, the taste they’re so full, so strong. It really pulls you into a festive spirit, if you’re not there already. Try it out and enjoy the pumpkin and nutmeg joy of fall.

A- Hazy and reddish orange with a thin head that seems to dissapate quickly. Some carbonation bubbles visible through the haze. S- Deep pumkiny smell with a hint of spices. Smells like the canned pumpkin used to make pie. A bit understated but I like the fact that it smells more naturally pumpkiny than other ones I have tried. T- Tastes thick and full of pumpkin. Not as spicy as I was expecting. The taste seems a little bland and toned down but for me, with pumpkin ales, that is a good thing. So often people try to spice up their pumpkin beers and it leaves them tasting so "fake", this was not the case with this one. M- Crisp and of medium viscosity. This is where the beer really shines for me. I love how crisp it is without being overly carbonated. D- Pumpkin ales that I have had in general aren’t very drinkable but this one seems to be an exception. While I wouldn’t want more than one of two in a sitting every once in a while, it is definitely enjoyable. Thanks to brentk56 for the opportunity.

This one was surprisingly good. The aroma was clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, and of course pumpkin. Nice malty sweetness, and an assertive pumpkin flavor. I’m impressed that this comes across as a real beer and not just a flvoared alcohol drink, like a lot of fruit beers do.

I wasn’t expecting good, but I was impressed. Great balance of pumpkin, spice and the malt. Came across tasting a lot like a good pumpkin pie without getting too heavy, sweet or thick.