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Deep autumn and dark night, and a menacing wind cuts through the ashen trees surrounding the graveyard. Is that some far off bell tower that tolls ten, or is it this perilous pumpkin ale's ten percent alcohol that's taking its toll? Well, you can ponder those questions as you totter before that freshly-dug grave that sits ten feet deep, because the only thing between you and that ghastly pit is this powerful, deep amber pumpkin ale. Behold the toasty malt richness and complex caramels offering dark fruits and toffee before crashing upon you with pumpkin! Yes, and now you see that jack-o'-lantern flickering in the distance, luring you with bony fingers and the classic pumpkin pie spices of vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice-but be careful where you step-because it's witching hour in the cemetery, and that earthen pit might be for you!
John Pontolillo
Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2016
I first brewed this kit a year ago, and deviated somewhat from the printed instructions. 1. I added a little extra commercial pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon towards the end of the boil. 2. I added 3 times the recommended amount of canned pumpkin, straight into the boil, then I just filtered as I normally do with all my beers (the pumpkin made this quite difficult/time-consuming). This left a lot of pumpkin in, which translated to a lot of trub, and I ended up with only about 32 12 oz. bottles from the batch, which was disappointing. They also took about 4 weeks to carbonate because of the high ABV. The end result was out of this world. Honestly the best pumpkin beer I've ever tasted. Quite strong but very easy to drink. Too easy to drink for almost 10% ABV.Just used this kit again to make a batch for this year. I let it sit in the primary fermenter for about 2.5 weeks and 2 in the secondary. I feel like this helped let everything settle on the bottom and reduced the overall volume loss. I was able to get 43 12 oz. bottles. I also saved 2 bottles from last year and opened one to celebrate. Aged incredibly well over the past year, going from a nearly opaque orange/brown shade (much like the glass pictured) to a very clear ruby red, which I thought to be very interesting.Update: Just cracked open the first of the second batch, after 4 weeks of carbonating and 30 hours in the fridge (couldn't wait the optimal 48). Tastes as good if not better than the first batch initially did.I think letting it sit longer was definitely a good idea. It's a lot clearer and less viscous. This is definitely going to be a perennial brew for me.
user1
Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2014
Kit seemed high quality and instructions are nice. I haven't tried the finished product yet but when I added the tincture as directed and it simply floated on top of the beer for 3 days. Since the instructions said to only leave it one day after which all the particulate should sink to the bottom I decided I better rack out the beer and bottle. Tasting the bottoms of the bottling bucket I get a very light spice flavor which wouldn't be noticeable if you weren't looking for it. I am hoping those flavors become more pronounced after conditioning but I think that this is going to taste a lot more like a malty ale than a pumpkin ale. I am not sure if something happened to the tincture that cause it to not mix with the beer or not. I will update after conditioning
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