Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale

Brewed by Weyerbacher Brewing Co.
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Easton, Pennsylvania USA

I haven’t had a Southern Tier Pumking yet this year, but from my memory, it is a little better than this beer. However, this beer is still quite a good pumpkin beer. It pours a clear bronze color with plenty of head and a brilliant body. Aroma is spicy and distinctly pumpkin-y...the dirty little secret of this style is that many pumpkin beers don’t contain pumpkin, just the spices that remind us of pumpkin pie. But I swear in this beer you can smell the pumpkin which it professes to contain. Flavor is similar; spice, pumpkin, and alcohol. Mouthfeel is dry and clean. Quite good. I would recommend this beer. While I think I like Pumking better, this is still an excellent pumpkin beer. I bought this 4-pack at Discount Liquor in Milwaukee.

On tap at Mellow Mushroom (Westchase, FL). Pours a darkish amber color with a thin off-white head. Aroma is spicy and pumpkiny with notes of sweet malt, nutmeg, other faint spices, and cinnamon. Flavor is much of the same with predominantly spice and pumpkin notes throughout.Generally medium body with slight phenol notes on the finish.

Pours copper, with yellowish head. Aroma of sweet pumpkin and spices. Taste is sweet, light caramel malt, pumpkin and spices (cinnnamon, nutmeg, etc). It actually surpasses many other pumpkin als out there. It does not bore you with the same evident spices and atually offers a real good balance between the spices and the pumkin.

Sampled side by side with Southern Tier Pumking and Dogfish Head Punkin. Deep copper colored pour with a small creamy light head that lasts. Aroma of spice, pumpkin, caramel and alcohol. Flavor is slightly sweet, with the spice and pumpkin both coming through right up front. Alcohol is definitely present on the finish, and this would probably benefit from some aging. Full bodied on the palate. Very good overall, though I enjoyed the Pumking just a bit more!

On tap at Andy’s Corner Bar. Amber/copper color with thin off-white head. Big pumpkin pie spice aroma. Malty profile with spices coming through in the flavor. Palate was full and comforting. A nice big pumpkin ale. A wee bit much for me on the spicing but this is as good a pumpkin spiced ale as I’ve had.

Many thanks to Blake for picking up one of these for me. I’ve been wanting to try this for awhile after hearing this was tagged as one of the best pumpkin ales out there.

12 ounce bottle. Pours a dark golden hue with a decent head. Typical pumpkin pie spices evident, but not nearly as intense as I was expecting. Flavour is the same, but with a good amount of fusel standing out. The caramel malt always blends well with this style and there’s a bit more than typical. A little green overall. I should’ve had this cellared for a good year to round out the rough edges here. Decent, but there’s easily better pumpkin ales out there.

Tap @ redlight redlight. Pours a clear pumpkin/amber with a small off-white head. Spicy pumpkin pie on the nose with some buttery malt. In flavor pumpkin pie, strong spice: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, which comes through heavily in the aftertaste. Alcohol is a little evident. Feels a little heavy in the mouth. Some definite real pumpkin here, lots of spices.

12oz. bottle: This one pours into the glass with a bit of a fizzy, off-white head that goes away almost instantly. It is a fairly clear amber color. This one definitely smells like a pumpkin pie: there is no mistaking it for anything else. The taste is quite good. The cinnamon and other pumpkin pie spices are fight upfront, but not overdone. Some sweetness coming up through the spices. It has a very clean taste, but not light. I like this one!