A seasonal treat from our friends in Nowra, NSW.
HopDog annually offer up a spiced pumpkin ale released around Halloween time for a little bit of festive cheer, and of all the pumpkin ales that are around at the time this one ranks pretty darn highly on my list. I’m sure you’re fascinated by which pumpkin ales I like, but that can be for another time.
This particular beer is a 7.3% ABV spiced Belgian ale with the seasonal addition of roasted pumpkin, sugars, spices and everything nices*.
It pours a marmaladey sort of brown with a striking white head on it and looks very pretty in the glass.
The aroma is a gentle mix of sweet sugar, faint pumpkin before the funk of the Belgian yeast takes over.
It’s clean and dry, very lightly sweet and the pumpkin and spice takes over with the esters of the yeast. The spice lingers on but overall the flavour is quite short, and this makes it a very easy drinker.
The ease that this one goes down makes it a little more dangerous, given it’s relatively high ABV but it also makes it a more appropriate for our Halloween in our climate, though not this year as the warmer months made something of a false start for us here in Victoria.
In my opinion these spiced pumpkin ales get a real benefit from some time behind it, so if you pick up a bottle or two and can trust yourself to leave it alone for a while then you’ll benefit with a tasty treat after six to eight months.
*Not everything nice, but everything I already stated in the body of the post.
