New Holland Ichabod

Brewed By: New Holland Brewing Company in Holland, Michigan

Purchased: 12oz bottle from a 6-pack purchased at Jewel-Osco in IL; 2011

Style/ABV: Pumpkin Ale, 5.2% (seems like a variable ABV at the moment)

How is it that pumpkin and fall beers show up in the store around late July and early August? What the hell, beer industry. I want to dust off some wheat beers in late August, and not be reminded of the 9 months of cold, shitty cold that are on the horizon. It's bad enough that the fall of 2011 has opened up with rain and below-average temperatures. 

Try as I might to ignore them, fall beers have been glaring at me, so I finally broke down mid-September and picked some up. Pumpkin beers are already lining the shelves, and while I think pumpkins are mostly acceptable between October and November, I'll let late September slide. 

New Holland Brewing Company are local to the Midwest. Based out of Holland, Michigan, the brewery was founded in 1996 and make about 10,000 barrels annually. They have a handful of staples, including their Mad Hatter IPA and their The Poet Stout, and they also have a handful of seasonal offerings. They have recently bought into the Pumpkin Beer hype, and have rolled out their Ichabod Ale. According to their website, Ichabod combines malted barley with real pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Ichabod, or Ichabod Crane to be more exact, meets the Headless Horseman in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The imagery and the artwork is spectacular and completely Halloween-esque, but is this beer worthy?

Very cool artwork.

This beer pours with a hazy brown-orange color. The body is moderately carbonated, and the carbonation contributes to a moderately bubbly head. The body is slightly murky, and the head is tan-brown. This is a murky, Autumn-looking beer, so it sets the scene well.

The aroma is HUUUUUUUUUUUUGE nutmeg. I can smell club soda, carbonation, nutmeg and cinnamon, big big spices, gingerbread cookies, and spiced pumpkin cookies. The overwhelming aroma note is huge huge spice. And that spice is nutmeg.

The taste is very lagery, and finishes with some club soda bite. There are huge spice notes pulling at your palate, and they have a lot of synergy with the carbonation. The end result is a beer that is overwhelmingly nutmeg and cinnamon-forward. 

Interestingly enough, this is my third bottle of this stuff, and the first time I am detecting any noticeable malt or pumpkin notes. This is overwhelmingly spicy, and the giant nutmeg notes really overwhelm your palate. Once the nutmeg is done blasting your palate, you seem to develop an aversion to the spice, and you pick up on hints of malt and pumpkin. The pumpkin I am getting is really nice. To be frank, the notes that I am getting are more along the lines of pumpkin cookies, or gingerbread cookies.

In summary, what you can expect to taste in this beer is: nutmeg, cinnamon, manifestations of carbonation and spice such as club soda; once your palate adjusts to the huge nutmeg notes, you can pull out some spiced gingerbread or pumpkin cookies. There is a hint of malt, but it mostly softens the beer and rounds it out.

Murky and orange.

This is about as complex as nutmeg water. This beer has a medium body, and is too spicy to be refreshing. Despite being hugely spicy, this is drinkable with a nice carbonated mouthfeel. This beer has some depth: the front end of your palate gets blasted with a lagery feel, carbonation, and the beginning of the nutmeg storm. The middle is pretty spicy but rolls into some malt and pumpkin. The back end finishes by pinching your palate with that spice note, and leaving hints of pumpkin and gingerbread cookies. Anyone who uses lots of cinnamon or nutmeg will know what is up with this beer.

Rating: Average
Score: 74%

At first I was not impressed by this beer. This is a Pumpkin Ale after all. Not a nutmeg ale. The more of this I drink, the more I can start to home in on a legitimate pumpkin note. I would say this beer is a worthy October beer, and certainly a worthy spiced beer. If you don't like your pumpkin beers overly spiced, stay away from this beer. If you are looking for a more dominating pumpkin flavor, perhaps look elsewhere. At the end of the day, I could see trying this out, and I could certainly see myself picking this up again next October. 

New Holland's Ichabod won't blow your head off, but it is an acceptable choice for a October-Halloween beer. Especially if you enjoy nutmeg. You've been warned.