Tomorrow night is Halloween, so I thought I’d try to crack open another one of the pumpkin beers I bought when I was up in Chicago a few weeks ago. I’m always on the lookout for new pumpkin beers to add to my list, as it was one of the first styles that got me hooked on brewing my own beer and trying craft beer. The last beer I had – Wild Onion Pumpkin Ale – reminded me of a lager-style pumpkin beer, so I thought I’d actually try the pumpkin lager I bought.
Location: Poured into a pint glass at my home in Bloomington, IL.
Numbers: 5.8% ABV, ~150 Calories
Appearance & Aroma: It’s a hazy copper-orange color, and the head fell after a minute or so, completely disappearing after a couple minutes. The aroma was a mix of warm pumpkin pie spices.
Taste & Feel: The body is light medium, and the mouthfeel is lightly crisp. Up front, it’s crisp, with some slightly sharp pumpkin pie spices. In the middle, a pumpkin-like sweetness comes in and rises to match the pumpkin pie spices. The pumpkin sweetness overtakes spices in the finish, and lasts for a minute or two in the aftertaste with some lingering spices in the background.
Food Pairing: This beer has some sharp pumpkin pie spices up front, but it softens throughout the sip. Because of those big spices, I’d pair it with something light or bland, such as turkey and mashed potatoes or a lightly spiced pork.
Overall Impression: The lightness of the lager makes the spices a bit sharp initially, the pumpkin sweetness softens the spices later in each sip. I enjoyed the lightness and drinkability of the lager, but they made sure to add a good amount of spices and pumpkin sweetness to balance that lightness. Overall, I thought it was a pretty good pumpkin beer, especially for a lager, but I’m not quite sure it would make it into my top 10 pumpkin beer list.
My Rating: 
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