Southern Tier Pumking

Brewed by Southern Tier Brewing Company
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Lakewood, New York USA

Copper pour with lively carbonation and a tight frothy white head that leaves quite the respectable lacing. Aroma is gingerbread, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, brown sugar, molasses, and bready yeast. Like a collection of freshly baked holiday cookies. Flavor is much of the spice noted in the aroma- comes through powerfully. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger prevail. Brown sugar sweetness and confection frosting make up the sweet malt profile. Pumpkin is noticeable but never overpowering or upstaging. Palate is silky, succulent and extremely clean. Quite the interesting brew.

Pours a transparent copper with a medium sized frothy head and good lacing. Aroma is rife with gingerbread, nutmeg, cinnamon, lots of brown sugar, and pumpkin bread. Flavor is quite similar to the aroma, with similar wintery spices and some concepts of pumpkin pie or some other similarly conceived baked good. An element of sugary cake frosting is also evident. Nothing too complex, but quite tasty. A really good spice/herb/veg, and a really solid beer for autumn.

Pours a deep orange caramel color with medium off-white head, minimal lacing. Aroma of pumpkin, nutmeg, cinnamon, and multiple other spices. Flavor matches well, but just doesn’t come together right. It ends up tasting lot a thin mess of a beer that doesn’t blend well. Not the biggest pumpkin beer fan, but this isn’t much of a pumpkin beer either.

Caramel pour with a thin white head. Aroma is sweet pumpkin pie, perhaps with the whipped cream included. There’s some nice ginger spice in there too. The flavor is sweet, which you’d expect from Southern Tier, but there’s plenty of cinnamon and nutmeg spice in there too. It’s not too overly sweet though, which is a bonus. Finish is with some pumpkin spice. A little thin is the biggest shortcoming. Otherwise, a good beer.

The Pumking is absoutely THE best pumpkin beer I have ever sampled! From start to finish, this beer provides it all. It tastes just like a slice of pumpkin pie. The beer pours a dark amber color with a very small white head. The sample that I had left no lacing around the glass. The nose was full of pumpkin and spices. The flavor was absoutely delicious, like I said, tasting just like a pumpkin pie. A lot of brewers use the pumpkin as a seasonal speciality, but none have come close to capturing the flavor and the character like Southern Tier did with beer. This was literally like drinking a slice of pumpkin pie. Absoutely outstanding!

On tap at Mahars. This is liquid carrot cake, there’s no way to say it’s anything else. No hops or malt, just carrots and spice, alcohol is well hidden.

Bottle. Pours clear tanned orange with a medium to large white head. Aromas of warm pie crust, pecans, pie spices – ginger, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon Flavors follow the nose, but lean a little more towards the spices, picking up a little meaty pumpkin flavor and heavy on the nuttiness and nutmeg. Finishes with a bit of a spicy feel on the gums, and some lingering pie spice. ABV is really well hidden.

Call me crazy, but after breathing this in for a good 2-3 minutes, I figured out the strange twist in the aroma...it’s butternut squash! Fresh bomber pours a light orange with a thick, creamy off-white head that lasts and laces well. The requisite pumpkin rind and nutmeg aromas are there, with cinnamon taking a very distant back seat. The caramel malt is quite obvious in the flavor, as is the roasted pumpkin (a bit different than the pumpkin in most brews). Hops make an appearance, but are blended in with nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, ginger, and that crazy squash flavor! This was my fourth and final pumpkin of the night, and it takes the cake as expected. Paired the "angel’s share" of the bomber with a fudge brownie, and it got even better! After "Pumpkin Night" at the homestead, it’s obvious that this style really fits the weather in Kansas City right now, and you can officially call me a fan.