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.
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