Pumking
Poured from 650 ml bottle into a Sam Adams perfect pint glass. Appearance: Bright, clear, and lively amber orange with lots of rising bubbles. About three fingers of off white head with decent retention. Moderate lacing around the glass. Smell: Wow. This is really sweet and spicy. Aroma of cinnamon, nutmeg, and a little clove with a good amount of pumpkin and a huge presence of caramel and toffee. Also some sugar that adds to the bready sweetness. It does smell a lot like pumpkin pie. Very sweet, much too sweet. Taste: A lot like the smell. A spicy mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove with a big healthy portion of pumpkin puree. Huge presence of caramel malts and toffee. Also a kick of sugar. Somewhat buttery. The sweetness is kind of overwhelming. A little too candy like for me. Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a moderate level of carbonation. Pretty smooth with no alcohol heat felt. Very sweet throughout. Overall: This is quite the wild and over sugared brew and it honestly surprises me that so many great reviews have been written on it. I don't get it. I love everything I've tasted from Southern Tier so far including their sweet chocolate stouts. This pretty much just tastes like sugary candy. If you have a big sweet tooth you might like this. I don't. I'm really struggling to finish this and I like most styles of beer.