New Holland Ichabod

Brewed by New Holland Brewing Company
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Holland, Michigan USA

12 oz. bottle from Ludlow Wines. Pours a nice clear amber with a small white head that dissipates quickly and leaves a small ring around the edges. Aroma of pumpkin spices- nutmeg mostly- with cinnamon, toasty malts, and floral and vegetal notes. Flavor of caramel malts, the same pumpkin spices, floral and vegetal notes, and brown sugar. Cinnamon, spice, and a little funk in the finish. Light bodied, with carbonation that provides a subtle bite. Not a bad pumpkin beer.

12 oz bottle. Pours a clear dark gold to light copper body with a small fizzy off-white head that fell to a wispy film. The nose is big cinnamon and nutmeg spicing with very light pumpkin meat. The flavor is much the same but a litte heavier on the nutmeg than in the nose. Not a whole lot of actual pumpkin flavor unfortunately. Finishes with a little caramel sweetness before the burn of cinnamon takes over. Medium bodied with a slight stickiness and fizzy prickly carbonation. Another over-spiced fizzy pumpkin brew.

12oz bottle-pours a thin rich off white head and gold color. Aroma is herbal, light malt, some musty. Taste is light/medium malt, herbal/spice hops.

Pours an orange color with a fizzy white head. The aroma is pretty prominent or maybe I just had let my beer warm for too long, aroma has got a kind or grassy aspect, along with a bunch of spice, smells kinda smoky, but not exactly. Overall, the aroma is very autumn oriented if that makes any sense. Got some hop bite to it, but not very much. Very slightly sweet. somewhat bitter. Easy drinking on the palate, as it is rather light bodied.

Pours orangish golden with a mostly receding off-white head. Notes of cinnamon, clove, pumpkin, and caramel. Medium bodied with soft carbonation. A very nice spiced ale.

Sample at Buckeye Beer Engine. Clear copper pour with a thin off-white head. Faint spice aroma with cinnamon and clove. Big spice flavor with cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and ginger. Could have used a more profound nose, but still decent.

A lighter body than I would have expected. Pale gold with a thin but clinging white head. There is more spice than pumpkin in the aroma. The clove stands out over anything else. Medium mouthfeel with some nice carbonation. The flavor is decent, but there are better pumpkin ales out tehre. Some malty sweetness up front gives way to the spices. Again, the clove dominates, although I can taste some cinnamon. Not bad.

THOUGHTS: I didn’t think this would be all that great, but it was nice. It had a nice start, but the finish was a little too heavy on the spices to be great. It became less enjoyable as time went by. There was just way too much spice without enough body. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a very clear, dark yellow to light orange with nice carbonation and a small to average, slightly off-white head that mostly diminished and left good lacing. The aroma was light caramel malt, pumpkin pie spices and a little pumpkin. The initial flavor was rather sweet and slightly bitter; while the finish was lightly sweet, slightly sour, lightly bitter and lightly acidic with an average duration. There was caramel malt, pumpkin pie spices, a little pumpkin and more spices. The light to medium body was a little watery and then fairly dry with fairly fizzy carbonation and a lightly astringent, slightly metallic and somewhat chalky finish.