Review – Southern Tier Pumking

Pumking is Southern Tier in a bottle.  Southern Tier does not do flavor halfway.  Choklat was the most powerfully flavored beer in the Tournament of Stouts.  Pumking will absolutely be the most powerfully flavored beer in the Tournament of Pumpkins.  The nose is overpowering - in my opinion this is a wonderful thing.  I love to know how the beer tastes before it ever hits my lips.  The spices mostly hit on the sides of my tongue and bubble up in the aftertaste.  Mouthfeel on Pumking is smooth; bubbles are sparse in a properly settled pour.  There is a bitter aftertaste that isn't hoppy, but more a product of the spices infused in the beer. 

The color is actually a little on the light side of copper, but still well within the standard for this genre of beer.

It's been no secret that Pumking is one of my favorite pumpkin ales, and I think it has a very strong chance to go all the way in this tournament.  It may, however, fall prey to the same issue that Choklat ran into in the earlier tourney; the flavor is so intense that after a while you just want a break.  Unlike Choklat, though, I can actually drink a whole bottle (22 oz).  That's a bit dangerous, though, as Pumking is (like any truly good beer) a decently heavy hitter, clocking in at a mean 9.0% ABV.  The high ABV adds just a touch of sweet that does well to enhance the flavor.

Southern Tier is a craft brewery in Lakewood, NY, and they have a huge selection of seasonals.  I’m a fan of Choklat, Pumking, Heavy Weizen, and Krampus.  Check ‘em out if you like full-flavored beers.  Bud Light fans beware.

Review – Big Boss Harvest Time

Big Boss has an incredible nose - perhaps the best I've ever smelled in the pumpkin ale category.  It stands out in an entirely different direction from every other pumpkin ale I've tasted or reviewed.  It's the first time where the nutmeg, the cinnamon, the spices, and everything, all stand out over the pumpkin.  Somehow the nose is amplified when you take a sip, even as the taste just seems to fall short of the nose.  The taste doesn't impact you nearly as much as the nose. The aftertaste is light - it's a characteristic I'm used to from Big Boss beers in general; a very slightly bitter but fairly pleasant sensation at the back of your tongue as you take a sip.

Pumpkin is understated in Harvest time, but it is understated in a good way.  It's not that you don't know this is a pumpkin ale; you can't miss all the spices.  It's just that it doesn't hit you in the face with it, and for once I don't mean that as a complaint.

Big Boss Brewery is located right in my hometown of Raleigh, NC, and I’m very excited to be featuring the craft brewers closest to me in the tourney.  They have a quartet of regularly available beers and a handful of seasonals (Harvest time is a seasonal), all of which are pretty highly regarded.  I’m a fan of Aces & Ates (a coffee stout) and Hell’s Belle, a Belgian-style blond ale.  They also do a bitchin’ tour on the second Saturday of every month that nets you lots of free tastes.  (Blogger likes this)

Harvest Time has what it takes to make a splash in the tournament, but unfortunately their first round matchup is with Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale, which I see as the favorite to win it all.  I’m sticking with my prediction of a first round out, but I think Harvest Time will put up a valiant fight.  Bad luck in the draw, old boy.

Final Tournament Lineup

Earlier I posted a set of beers that were definitely in the tourney (coming this Saturday!), and others I was trying to get. I had win and fail in that; one of the definites is out, but the final list has come together nicely.  Rather than seeding by price, I’m seeding this tournament by Beeradvocate rating (in parenthesis below).

Without further ado, the beers:

1. Southern Tier – Pumking (4.04)
2. Dogfish Head  - Punkin (3.90)
3. Weyerbacher  - Imperial Pumpkin Ale (3.89)
4. Carolina Beer Company – Cottonwood Pumpkin Spiced Ale (3.83)
5. Heavy Seas - The Great Pumpkin (3.82)
6. Big Boss – Harvest Time (3.80)
7. Post Road – Pumpkin Ale (3.60)
8. Blue Moon – Harvest Moon (3.11)

Notably absent is Shipyard, which I ended up not being able to get enough of in time.  I wasn’t that high on Shipyard (as you might notice from its review, but I had hoped to get it in.  Apparently the good people of the greater Raleigh area were big fans and picked it all up while I hesitated.  Also absent is New Holland Ichabod, which I actually am holding as a reserve.  It’s BA rating is 3.45, well below the beer that replaced it (Post Road), so I’m sticking with that for now.  In the event that the only one of these beers not in my personal possession right this second (Heavy Seas) doesn’t make its way here for whatever reason, Ichabod is ready to go.

That puts the matchups as:

1. Southern Tier – Pumking
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8. Blue Moon – Harvest Moon

4. CBC – Cottonwood
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5. Heavy Seas – The Great Pumpkin

3. Weyerbacher – Imperial Pumkin Ale
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6. Big Boss – Harvest Time

2. Dogfish Head – Punkin
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7. Post Road – Pumpkin Ale

My predictions:

Pumking over Harvest Moon, The Great Pumpkin over Cottonwood, Weyerbacher over Big Boss, Punkin over Post Road.  I see Heavy Seas over Cottonwood and Post Road over Punkin as the most likely upsets of round 1.

That puts my projected round two brackets as:

1. Southern Tier – Pumking
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5. Heavy Seas – The Great Pumpkin

3. Weyerbacher – Imperial Pumkin Ale
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2. Dogfish Head – Punkin

I think Pumking takes the top bracket, and Weyerbacher wins narrowly at the bottom.  For the overall winner, my money is actually on the #3 seed, Weyerbacher.  I’d probably rate Pumking as the victor in a personal test, but Southern Tier has a way of flavoring their beers that I’ve seen wear out tasters in the past, which is absolutely what happened to Choklat in the tournament of stouts.  People liked it and then got sick of it.  Pumking is more drinkable than Choklat, though, so it might have what it takes to power it through.  Anyhow, this should be fun.  Can’t wait till Saturday!

Review - Heavy Seas The Great Pumpkin

The nose from Heavy Seas Great Pumpkin is deceptive; it's the weakest point of the beer.  On first whiff, I thought this one would end up more like New Holland's Ichabod, Blue Moon's Harvest Moon, or any of the other good-but-not great entries.  The taste, though, proved me wrong.  Spice is heavy at the start of my first sip; it overpowers the pumpkin by a wide margin in a good way.  The balance isn't as far in favor of the spices as Big Boss's Harvest Time, but they are definitively the dominating taste.  The sweetness of decently high alcohol (8%) is also noticeable, and pleasantly so, in this beer. This is officially labeled as an “Imperial Pumpkin Ale,” just as is Weyerbacher’s entry in the tourney, and it lives up to the challenge.

 
I've found Heavy Seas beers to be hit-and-miss in the past, but this is one of their highlights.  Heavy Seas is a craft brewer from Baltimore, and I saw a heavy helping of their beers around when I lived in Maryland.  They have a great variety, and I'd definitely recommend picking up anything they put out for a try.  Heavy Seas Holy Sheet (a self-declared Uber Abbey Ale) is a good one, but beware - it packs a mean (9%) punch.  Both are part of their Mutiny Fleet, a set of beers with high ABV (my favorite kind).

As far as predictions go, I’d label this one a potential dark horse winner.  It has all the right stuff, and it’s one of the few that I could see myself voting all the way through. 

A word of caution – Heavy Seas has two pumpkin beers, The Great Pumpkin, and The Greater Pumpkin.  The latter is bourbon barrel-aged and higher ABV (only 9%, so don’t get too worried).  I actually prefer the lower caliber beer, but The Greater Pumpkin is also quite good.