Four Peaks Pumpkin Porter

Brewed by Four Peaks Brewing Company
Style: Porter
Tempe, Arizona USA

Pours black from the tap at the brewery with a reddish tint and a fluffy brown head. Smells of pie spices (mostly nutmeg and cinnamon) and tastes of toasted malts, pumpkin, and caramel. Vanilla nad gingerbread are also apparent, but there’s an element of cream that seems missing. Regardless, this is a champ of a beer that way underrated.

Experienced opening night at the brewery. Pours almost black with no head. Aroma of strong all-spice/nutmeg with faint hints of pumpkin far in the background along with some roasted malt. Body is too thin to my taste, it allows the spices to overtake the malt and pumpkin background and become annoying. Pretty easy drinking, and definitely nice in the Fall. If the finishing gravity were a little higher and the spicing a little lower, this would be the ultimate pumpkin beer. I remember this being the greatest beer last year.

Fresh 2008 batch on tap at brewery. Pours a nice dark brown to black with a nice tan head. Aroma of sweet roasted malts, chocolate, spices, nutmeg, clove and pumpkin. Flavor is roasty malt, chocolate, pumpkin pie, spices and a bit creamy yet a little thin. Pumpkin is very subtle but melds well with this beer and it is very easy to drink and quite tasty.

Draft at Tempe brewery. Came in a pint glass, dark - almost black, thin tan head. Aroma is very faint, light roastiness, hint of cocoa, and lastly and very faintly some nutmeg. Flavor is far more bold than the aroma though still on the thinner side and leaning more towards porter than any sort of pumpkin beer I’ve ever had. Roasty malts dominate, mostly chocolate, some coffee, then you get a hint of pumpkin spice...in this case it seems mostly cinnamon and nutmeg though there might be some allspice in there however the spicing is so light it’s difficult to discern. There is no actual pumpkin flavors in here though. Finish is dry and very short and clean. Mouthfeel is creamy and smooth with a slight chalkiness, good for a porter in my opinion. As a pumpkin beer this falls short, as a seasonal porter it was lovely.

Scottsdale location. The beer pours to a really deep red body that looks black with a thin white head. The aroma is pumpkin, sweet black malts, light cinnamon and mace. The pumpkin and spices really works in this porter. The flavor is pumpkin, cinnamon, mace, pumpkin spices, and the porter base is nice. The palate is lightly acetic and acidic. Roasted. Medium body with a nice carbonation.

tap @ papago. pours dark brown with orange high lights and a thin tan head. very little aroma...dark malts, spiciness, some caramel and fresh pumpkin innards. flavor is definitely pumpkin pie...cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and a ton of sweetness and almost a whipped cream flavor on the finish. mediocre porter hiding behind it. thin body and mouth feel with high carbonation annoyingly sweet...if DR. pepper were a beer, this would be it....certainly unique. they get extra points for that...7/3/8/3/16=3.7

from tempe 2008 release. man, tempe smelled awesome while they were brewing this stuff!

this time around the aroma is of ginger bread and pumpkin pie. it’s much heartier than last years batch. the flavor on the other hand is quite subtle and far more restrained... the palate gets really creamy as it warms and gives it almost a full body.7/3/6/4/16=3.6

Dark, deep brown coloring, pours very nicely leaving a nice head and the pumpkin flavor is very mild making this beer very drinkable. I don’t usually like gimmicky beers but this is one exception I’ll make every fall.

Mahogony color w/ thin tan head. Faintly sweet pumkin aroma w/ caramelized malts and mild hops. Lightly bitter flavor of sweet light roasted malts. Well-balanced w/ easy slow finish and light carbonation.