Things are pretty busy between work and home, and so again tonight, I thought I’d crack open another beer. We had a Halloween party a month or so ago, and my friend Steve brought a 6 pack of this beer. It’s a “Pumpkin Ale featuring cinnamon and habanero chili peppers for just the right amount of heat.” As you know, I’m a fan of pumpkin beers, so I was glad he left a couple of them so I could try it.
Location: Poured into a Sam Adams perfect pint glass at my home in Bloomington, IL.
Numbers: 6.4% ABV, 10 IBUs, % OG, 190 Calories
Ingredients: Malt: Pale Mena, Pale Rahr, Caramel, Munich; Hops: Nugget; Yeast: California Ale yeast; Adjuncts: Pumpkin, Habanero, Saigon Cinnamon
Appearance & Aroma: It’s bright golden in color with a slight orange-amber hue, and is extremely clear. It had a good sized creamy, white head that fell to a thin layer across the top after a few minutes. The aroma is mostly a warm cinnamon smell with pumpkin pie spices and a layer of graham and a light caramel with hints of peppers.
Taste & Feel: The body is medium and the mouthfeel is smooth with a little crispness. Up front, there’s a little bit of sweetness and pumpkin pie spiciness with a lot more cinnamon flavor than the other spices. In the middle, the sweetness picks up, but a bit of peppery spiciness comes in. The peppery spiciness picks up a bit in the finish, but so does the sweetness and pumpkin pie spices. In the aftertaste, the peppery and pumpkin pie spices mingle with a warmth that comes up the throat from the habanero.
Food Pairing: This is a flavorful beer and I think I’d try to pull out and complement the habanero burn with something like hot wings, and I think a chili would be the perfect pairing to pull out both the peppery flavors and pumpkin pie spices, as well as providing some additional hearty warmth on a cold fall day.
Overall Impression: This is definitely a different kind of pumpkin beer, and I never would have thought about putting habaneros with pumpkin. They found just the right level of peppery spiciness and heat, as it adds just a subtle warmth and the peppery spices contrast with the pumpkin pie spices. While it’s not a traditional pumpkin beer like I enjoy (like a slice of pumpkin pie), I give it a lot of credit for being a pretty original flavor combination. While I don’t think I’d have a lot of these, it’s definitely a nice one to mix into the fall beer rotation.
My Rating: 
Recent Comments