Beer of the Weekend #502: Out of Your Gourd Pumpkin Porter

The beer tonight is Out of Your Gourd Pumpkin Porter, brewed by the Redhook Ale Brewery of Woodinville, Washington and Portsmouth, New Hampshire.


Serving type: 12-ounce bottle. The bottling date is barely readable: “JUL (day illegible) 13.”

Appearance: Poured into a pint glass. The color looks like black but it may be very deep brown; light passed through when I held it to a lamp. Two fingers of dense, buttery, tan head dissipates slowly with a divot in the middle and trails of lacing along the glass.

Smell: Lots of spice and pumpkin. The potency of the spice reminds me of winter warmer. Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and pumpkin. It is very much like aromatic pumpkin pie. As the beer warms, hints of caramel, milk chocolate, and roasted malts emerge.

Taste: Though the mouthfeel is decent, the flavors seem watered down and distant. Even the spices are not upfront where I expect them. Spice and roasted bitterness linger on the tongue for a second or two in the aftertaste, but cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and pumpkin all hang out in the background.

Drinkability: This is a decent beer, though I wish it were more flavorful. The aroma is solid and very enticing, but the flavor disappoints.

Fun facts about OoYGPP:

-Style: The beer is classified on BA as “Pumpkin Ale” but Redhook considers it a porter.

-Price: $1.79/bottle at John’s Grocery in Iowa City.

-Alcohol content: 5.8 percent ABV.

-Despite being a pumpkin ale fitting for October, especially given the jack-o-lantern and headless man on the label, the beer’s webpage says its “time frame” is August and September. I guess that means it cannot be my beer of the month for October.


The Quiet Man’s grade: C+.

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