Post Road Pumpkin Ale – A Craft Beer Review
It’s officially Fall now and with the Autumnal season comes both Halloween and Thanksgiving, two great American holidays. While Halloween is all about Tricks or Treats and carving pumpkins, Thanksgiving is all about eating pumpkins in the form of pie. Both holidays include pumpkins and how better to celebrate the season than with a pumpkin ale? Beer comes in all flavors and pumpkin beer is just one of many that is either loved or hated by those who partake. I like all kinds of beer and will try just about anything so even though pumpkin pie may not be my favorite, craft beers are and pumpkin or not, I’m going to try any pumpkin beer I get my hands on.
So enough of the small talk. Let’s get to this week’s feature sampling. I’ve been able to find and sieze a reasonably $33.00 priced case of Post Road Pumpkin Ale. Post Road is essentially a spin-off of Garrett Oliver’s Brooklyn Brewery. If you are somewhat familiar with Garrett and his Brooklyn beers, you know that high quality, flavorful and innovative microbrews are what you’ll get in just about anything offered there. Here with Post Road is not all that much different.
I tasted this one first at about 55 degrees in a standard 16oz. pub glass, nothing fancy here. This brew ended up pouring out with a coppery/burnt orangy color with not a whole heck of a lot of head. I’d say about 3/4 finger and quickly extinct. Kinda disappointing right off the start there. Well, I’m here to drink it not to stare. Good thing for me.
Tasting it was just as pumpkin-ey (if that’s even a real word) as I thought and hoped it would be. Very, very good pumpkin flavor here in this craft beer. I liked it, I liked it very much. Just a twinge of nutmeg/cinnamon nudging out in the background. But overall, I could very easily tell this was a traditional pumpkin ale and not some holiday spice laden wannabe.
I really liked the way this one smelled. Overall, I thought that it essentially smelled as close to pumpkin pie as just about anything I’d ever tried (other than actual pumpkin pie that is). Sure it had some spicieness to the aroma but predominantly, I smelled pumpkin. So often in many pumpkin beer offerings from microbreweries, everything seems overwhelmed in spices, spices, spices. Pumpkin sometimes seems an afterthought. Not so with Post Road. Pumpkin rules the day here.
The carbonation seemed right on to me for the style. Drinkability is fair to good but I think this description doesn’t do justice because in my opinion, pumpkin/spiced ales just don’t have alot of high drinkability in many cases (meaning I’d probably try one and not want another, even if I liked it). Too much of a good thing to continue? Maybe, maybe just too rich for my taste.
Anyway, I really did like this beer and I think many looking for a good, true pumpkin flavored beer will enjoy this also. Again, you’ll probably try it, like it, maybe have another and that’s it. You’ll be done. It’s just not all that sessionable. But it’s good and I’ll have it again (I’ve got 23 more in my fridge now and only a week and a half til Thanksgiving to finish it!
One negative I will point out is that, for me, in the background, beneath the strong pumpkin sensation, I perceived this subtle taste that kept bugging me just a little. It reminded me of Yuengling lager. Yes, Yuengling lager. When I got that taste in my mouth, for whatever reason I got the idea imbedded in my brain that this was a beer, first and foremost, with pumpkin flavoring added. You know that whole “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts” thing? It just gave me a subtle impression that all in all, everything just didn’t result in a seamless integration of everything put into this beer.
My overall summary is, this beer is good. Above average I would say for the style (pumpkin ales being a niche style of their own). I did enjoy it. Very, very much…I would say no. But again, who’s going to sit down and drink pumpkin beer all day, even on Thanksgiving. Nobody me thinks. But it is a very good representation of the style, and very good for the price I paid. Whether the case is gone by Thanksgiving or not, I just don’t know, but I will continue to enjoy it, one Post Road Pumpkin Ale at a time.
My humble opinion will give this one 6.50 points out of 10 possible. Clocking in at just a bit above 5.0 alcohol by volume, this is a respectable pumpkin beer for the style and Post Road Pumpkin Ale is a beer that I’d recommend to someone who is already fond of microbrews and prefers trying something a little bit different (keeping in mind that pumpkin ales just aren’t everyone’s cup of tea) so I’d expect a widely varying range of agreement/disagreement amongst the masses).
Author: David James
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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