Purchased: 22oz bottle (Batch #63) bought at Binny's in IL; 2013
Style/ABV: Spice/Herb/Vegetable (Pumpkin Ale), 6.66%
Reported IBUs: ?
Happy Halloween! I wish I had more time to celebrate, but I've been busy. Tonight's beer seems completely appropriate for the occasion, so without further adieu, let's crack into this mother. About Spiteful:
This one pours into a surprisingly dark orange/brown body in lower light, and kicks up two fingers of thick, bready, sustaining, brown/caramel/tan head. In bright light, this beer takes on a hazy, super orange color. It's quite the looker. The head is soaking up the orange tones, and more than a finger is sustaining with authority. There is some lacing, and the beer has lots of carbonation in the form of tiny bubbles rising upwards.
The aroma on this beer is....rich chocolate and caramel malt. Wuuuut. There's some toast and coffee creamer as well. This beer smells a lot like a super malty Brown Ale or a Dunkler Bock. I'm getting a hint of roast on the nose as well, with lots of caramelized sugars...there's a dash of spice, and a dash of hops on the aroma as well.
This beer is very intriguing, in that I'm pretty sure they didn't use a ton of spices. Or any. There's deep layers of chocolaty, toasty, and roasted malts. I'm picking up a hint of floral/lemon hop bitterness in the mix, and there's some tannin kick to the body which suggested the addition of a fruit of vegetable. I do get lots of roast, and hints of sweet potato or cooked pumpkin, but it's not something I'd place in a blind tasting.
I'm a sucker for malty beers like this. True...this beer has zero spice, but there's a subtle roasted pumpkin/sweet potato thing going on, and I like it. The mouthfeel is bready and dense, and medium to medium-full. Palate depth is outstanding, while complexity is low. You get a dash of hops, followed by lots of malt sweetness, caramel, toast/roast, and chocolate; that rolls into more toast, some floral/lemon hop bitterness; the back end dials up more roast, hops, and hints of cooked sweet potato/pumpkin.
Rating: Above-Average (3.5/5.0 Untappd)
I'll toss this a Light Above-Average. This is more of a malt bomb than it is a Pumpkin Beer, but you know what? It kind of works out, if you ignore some of the hangups and expectations for this particular style of beer. Solid stuff here, and at around 8 or 9 bucks a bottle, I would pick this up to pair with a cold Autumn night, a nice hearty soup/stew, rich chocolate desserts, or even with some pumpkin pie.
Random Thought: I have never been more ready for the weekend.
Reported IBUs: ?
Happy Halloween! I wish I had more time to celebrate, but I've been busy. Tonight's beer seems completely appropriate for the occasion, so without further adieu, let's crack into this mother. About Spiteful:
Spiteful Brewing was founded in January 2010 by Brad Shaffer and Jason Klein. Like many brewers, the duo started out homebrewing. As of today, the brewery houses a 2.5 BBL Brewhouse and 5 BBL Fermenters. Currently, as a nanobrewery, Spiteful Brewing is hand delivering to stores and bars. For more info, check out Spiteful's website, or their Facebook or Twitter.With a big donkey on the bottle, and a quoted ABV of 6.66%, the bottle reads:
"Halloween, the one day out of the entire year when you are encouraged to dress up like a jackass. Want to dress up like a gorilla? Go ahead. A slutty nurse? No one will mind. This pumpkin ale was made with real pumpkins, home roasted to a caramelized goodness, then added to the mash. Enjoy this pumpkin ale while letting your inner jackass shine!"
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| Spiteful Jackass O' Lantern |
The aroma on this beer is....rich chocolate and caramel malt. Wuuuut. There's some toast and coffee creamer as well. This beer smells a lot like a super malty Brown Ale or a Dunkler Bock. I'm getting a hint of roast on the nose as well, with lots of caramelized sugars...there's a dash of spice, and a dash of hops on the aroma as well.
This beer is very intriguing, in that I'm pretty sure they didn't use a ton of spices. Or any. There's deep layers of chocolaty, toasty, and roasted malts. I'm picking up a hint of floral/lemon hop bitterness in the mix, and there's some tannin kick to the body which suggested the addition of a fruit of vegetable. I do get lots of roast, and hints of sweet potato or cooked pumpkin, but it's not something I'd place in a blind tasting.
I'm a sucker for malty beers like this. True...this beer has zero spice, but there's a subtle roasted pumpkin/sweet potato thing going on, and I like it. The mouthfeel is bready and dense, and medium to medium-full. Palate depth is outstanding, while complexity is low. You get a dash of hops, followed by lots of malt sweetness, caramel, toast/roast, and chocolate; that rolls into more toast, some floral/lemon hop bitterness; the back end dials up more roast, hops, and hints of cooked sweet potato/pumpkin.
Rating: Above-Average (3.5/5.0 Untappd)
I'll toss this a Light Above-Average. This is more of a malt bomb than it is a Pumpkin Beer, but you know what? It kind of works out, if you ignore some of the hangups and expectations for this particular style of beer. Solid stuff here, and at around 8 or 9 bucks a bottle, I would pick this up to pair with a cold Autumn night, a nice hearty soup/stew, rich chocolate desserts, or even with some pumpkin pie.
Random Thought: I have never been more ready for the weekend.
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