Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Beer Tastings: Tommyknocker Small Patch Pumpkin Harvest

It's time for another beer tasting. Today, we're going with another fall seasonal, Tommyknocker's Small Patch Pumpkin Ale.


I'm not going to mince words with this one. This is an odd Pumpkin Ale for a variety of reasons. You'll notice in the picture above that the color of this is much darker than the typical pumpkin ale. Usually, you're looking for something a little more orange in color, but this is borderline dark brown.

From a taste point of view Small Patch Pumpkin Ale throws another curveball your way. The pumpkin flavor, at least in regards to my palate, is basically non-existent. When drinking a pumpkin ale a lack of actual pumpkin flavor is pretty disappointing. In it's place is a very prominent molasses/caramel flavor. Now, that flavor has it's place in the world of beer but I'm not sure how it fits into the pumpkin ale realm. Even the traditional spices of cinnamon and nutmeg were underplayed here.

If I were judging this without having any idea what type of beer it was, I probably would have scored this as an above average beer (despite my dislike of molasses). But going in expecting a pumpkin ale and walking away with something completely different, I really don't see myself drinking a Small Patch Pumpkin Ale this fall.

Style: Pumpkin Ale
ABV: 5.0
IBU: 15

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