Brewdog: Pumpkin Head (Scotland: Spice/Herb/Vegetable: 5.1% ABV)
Visual: Amber gold. Large custard touched froth head. Clear body with no evident carbonation.
Nose: Pumpkin and cinnamon. Paprika. Light bitterness.
Body: Pumpkin and dry fruit. Malt drinks. Light pineapple and kiwi. Frothy feel. Kumquat. Moderate bitterness. Peach.
Finish: Pumpkin. Light hop bitterness. Dry. Malt drinks. Light tangerine. Kiwi. Cinnamon. Peach.
Conclusion: Ok. It tastes of pumpkin. I will admit to not being a huge pumpkin expert, but even I managed to work that one out. It is quite dry, well attenuated and, well, pumpkin. Everything I say after this paragraph, and I mean absolutely everything (within the same review of course) comes second to that.
I mean they try very hard to push more out there, or maybe I am just searching so hard that I start seeing things. Either way, there is a slight pineapple tartness, and some soft peach sweetness amongst the other notes rounding it out. Those notes however, I had to go looking for. What is much more immediately obvious is the spiciness.
Lots of cinnamon, touches of paprika, you can almost feel the spice grains ground against the tongue. While pumpkin is the most obvious element, spice is by far the longest lasting.
Altogether, hmm, well I think I like the idea of pumpkin beers more than I like actual pumpkin beers- However, given that, this is not a bad wee ale.
The combined level of spice and dryness would normally be a beer fail state for me, as the two elements together tend to do horrid things to my tastebuds, but the very subtle side peach and fruit notes actually keep this just on the drinkable side. It is basically a pumpkin beer, but with a wink at you as if it has more.
Not one I’d have often, but I am surprised how much I am enjoying it, all things considered. I wasn’t expecting much, and now, at the end of the beer, I am still having fun. You can do a lot worse than that.
Background: It is absolutely nowhere near Halloween. Therefore it is the perfect time to drink Brewdog’s Halloween pumpkin beer. I’m sure that made sense in a universe somewhere. Anyway, yes pumpkin beer. You don’t see that many in the UK, but the craft beer movement seems to have brought the trend over. As always I am not an unbiased actor on Brewdog beers. Drunk while listening to some “Feed The Rhino” because when I find music I like I tend to stick with it for ages.