Smuttynose Brewing Co: Pumpkin Ale

The fall seasonals have arrived!

The last Smuttynose I'll review (at least for a while) is their Pumpkin Ale. Pumpkin Ales seem to be a common seasonal brew, especially on the East Coast (maybe I'll dig up one or two more). I think it probably presents a bit of a brewing challenge, because when you think of pumpkin you probably think both sweet and spicy, two flavors that you don't often find combined in a beer.

Smuttynose's take on the brew is interesting, and certainly pumpkiny, but it is a bit far out there for my tastes. First off, the "base" seems to be an amber ale, which lends this brew a pronounced hoppiness, which clashes a bit with the pumpkin's sweet flavors. The beer is a rollercoaster taste-wise, leading with a strong pumpkin-sweet-malt that deveops into an earthy spiciness before finally wholloping you with a pretty substantial dose of hops. The earth tones and the hops linger on your pallate for quite a while, giving the brew a very strong aftertaste. This is a bit of an issue, since the bitterness will probably still be lingering on the back of your tongue by the time you take your next sip, meaning you'll be simultaneously tasting the bitterness and the sweetness.

Overall, it's an interesting beer to be sure, but it will probably appeal to a narrow range of tastes. Maybe I'm just a big enough fan of pumkin pie or something...

Smuttynose Brewing Co: Old Brown Dog Ale

Back into the variety back we go...

And I have to say, this one is quite a find. Old Brown Dog is Smuttynose's take on a brown ale, and they do a damn good job of it. The predominant taste here is a sweet toasted maltiness that you taste immediately. It's followed by a quick, but balanced hop bitterness that slowly fades, leaving you with a pronounced (but not overpowering) sweet malty aftertaste. It's substantially lighter-bodied than most brown ales, though by no means watery. It's also got a very pleasant fizziness, making it one of the most drinkable brown ales I've had to date.

Old Brown Dog dispenses with any of the flavor accents you otherwise might find in a brown ale--e.g. coffee, chocolate, fruits, etc--in favor of focusing on the taste of malted grains. Nevertheless, it manages to pull off a very full and satsifying flavor, making it one of the mainstays of American browns. Furthermore, its hops and malts are very well balanced, which means that this brew probably will have wide appeal. This is a beer I would recommend to just about anybody.

Smuttynose Brewing Co: Shoals Pale Ale

Smuttynose is a fairly well-known brewery on the East Coast, especially as you move further towards New England. They have a full lineup of different brews, and I grabbed a variety pack, so hopefully I'll be posting on several different ones over the coming weeks. I'll start with their Pale.

The American Pale has diverged quite a bit from its roots in England (where it goes by the name of "Bitter"). Think Sierra Nevada: a bright hoppy flavor accented by a subtle citrus sweet maltiness. Smuttynose pulls back a bit from there, and while I wouldn't call it a traditional English style pale by any means, it definitely bears some similarities to its old-world predecessor. It has a much earthier malt than you usually find in an American brew, and the hops are notably dry. However, there are much more in the way of hops than you'd expect to find in an English brew, and it is also Americanesque in its level of carbonation. All in all, that leaves it with a decisively crisp and dry flavor that lingers on the tongue for quite a while.

While it doesn't qualify as a true English bitter, "bitter" is definitely the best word to describe this brew. So if you don't generally like bitter beers, you best stay away. But if you find yourself in the mood for something on the dry side and you like your hops, then this is definitely one to try.