Thanksgiving had been the real deadline for my Blazing Pumpkin Ale and it seemed to go over pretty well. While most of my family is a strictly Yuengling drinking crowd there were a few adventurous souls that gave it a try. Given that this is the first brew I've done all by myself I am proud of how it turned out but it is by no means perfect.
It turned out a little darker than I had hoped but held up to light it had a nice hazy burnt-orange color to it which is what I like my pumpkins to look like. It manged to have some good looking, off-white head that fades quickly leaving just a thin layer on top. I really liked the aroma I managed it get. Lots and lots of pumpkin and the standard spices really come out in the nose. The first few sips give off some very strong pumpkin flavors and then the cinnamon and nutmeg really take over. Then there is the finish which has some odd flavors going on. I couldn't quite tell if it was a diacetyl issues or what but something seemed off. It was much more noticeable in some bottles so maybe it was a sanitizing issue...I don't know. I did find that it was much more enjoyable after it had warmed up a little though. There was some very strong carbonation which bothered me because I thought it was distracting from the flavors. All in all, Blazing Pumpkin wasn't a rousing success but not an utter failure. I can enjoy having a couple bottles of this at night but don't think I really nailed this pumpkin ale. Perhaps I'll modify the recipe and give it another shot next year.
Cheers!
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