Smoky Mountain Pumpkin Ale

Brewed by Smoky Mountain Brewery & Restaurant
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Gatlinburg, Tennessee USA

What can you say? The name says it all. It is definitely a pumpkin beer which to me, is a really weird taste in your beer.

And here I thought I would be the first to enter this beer…Well, you snooze, you loose. Pours a murky brown color. The aroma is a malty pumpkin like deal. The flavor was muddled malt with an odd flavoring which is believable as pumpkin and/or pumpkin like spices. Not very tasty. Adequate body. This was very unimpressive. Relatively non-descript.

on draught. Pours a brown hue with just a whispy white head. The aroma is pretty thin, but I could pick up some nutmeg and general malt sweetness. This is a fairly sweet beer, but definitely weak. A nutmeg flavor accompanies the malts more than any real pumpkin aspects. This is not a very exciting take on an what is supposed to be a break from the norm. score: 2.6
[October 31, 2007]
This is the most prime example of variance in the offerings from Smoky Mountain. The quality in the regular lineup at one single location is erratic, let alone considering the factors of the different locations and the seasonal brews. I can say with great certainty that the first time I had this beer it was tasty. I joined Ratebeer and sampled it again at a different location and entered in a rating of a not so good pumpkin beer. Today I had it again and was very, very surprised. Vast, vast improvement was noted. The color is a light orange with a fluffy white head. I was impressed with the fullness of the aroma which sported rich pumpkin, nutmeg, and mild papery hops. The flavor is dessert-like with sweet pie, genuine pumpkin, and enough nutmeg to keep things from being one dimensional. The only downside is that after a glass, it starts to resemble soda. I thought this was a well done example of a pumpkin beer and am very satisfied to have revisited it again.
[November 12, 2008]
On tap. Pours orange with a decent head. I sang the praises of this beer last year, it was very natural tasting with huge pumpkin flavor and was not too sweet. My sample started out that way, but quickly became pure soda. This batch is way too sweet. Imagine if Lindemann’s made a pumpkin "Lambic". It would probably taste like this.