Beer Review: Avery Brewing Company Pump[KY]n

(more…)

Brewery: Milwaukee Brewing Company

ABV: 5.6%

This one is yet another I was able to grab out of Wisconsin. I've never had it but am quite excited to taste a concoction that supposedly introduces sweet potatoes. 

Appearance: This pours a deep red-brown color with a foamy chestnut head. This reduces to a fairly hefty surface coat that stays throughout the experience. There's some very light lacing.

Aroma: This has some fresh roasted pumpkin mixed in with some fruitiness. I'm not sure if it's the potato, or perhaps some cocoa. Either way, there's a vegetal quality to the aroma that's distinct and fresh smelling. Cinnamon and nutmeg seem to be mildly supplementing the pumpkin.

Taste: This has soft roasted porter qualities with a mild pumpkin undertone. There's some definite cinnamon and nutmeg involved but they never tend to drive the experience, which I like. This classic pumpkin porter front gives way to a back that introduces the potato aspect. It's light but present enough to take note. The pumpkin and sweet potato together make for a really earthy tasting experience. The spices remain subtle which allows for a seamless integration. The aftertaste allows the typical pumpkin porter qualities to linger on, carrying with them a lightly smoked pumpkin and potato taste.

Mouthfeel: This is a medium bodied option with enough carbonation to continue feeding the surface. It's a soft, roasty feel all around but it's fairly thin for a porter. The flavors play well on the palate and the porter qualities naturally sustain a pleasant texture.

Overall: Considering pumpkin porters might be my least favorite style of pumpkin, this one does a surprisingly fine job of balancing seasonal flavors without sacrificing traditional porter characteristics. It's earthy character is fresh and approachable. Both the pumpkin and sweet potato are present and never overrun, which is great. It's probably one of the better balanced porter options I've had, up there with 21st Amendment and Elysian "He Said" Baltic Porter. Try this one out, even if it's just for that hint of unique potato flavoring.

Score: 

So yeah. Fall in Utah simultaneously rocks and sucks. Rocks because its pretty and cool and not oppressively hot. Sucks because the weather changes crazy fast and that shit wreaks havoc on my sinuses, hence the no review last week. I was fairly certain I was going to have to go to the doctor with a sinus infection. But more importantly, my sense of taste was shot and how can I review the taste of a thing when I can't taste the thing.

Now you may notice that I changed up the formatting on this. There was a lot of science and math and other official sounding words that went into this decision. Though the major one is that I only have one bottle of this because it was a gift from a work buddy and I couldn't find another at the local liquor store. That ad the other beers in this series are a bit outside my price range since I am fairly certain I won't be getting paid on time because government shutdowns and such. Oh well.

So yeah, I got this from a buddy at work, because I told him how unimpressed I was with Wasatch's pumpkin ale and the topic was turned to Epic Brewing. He mentioned he was going to the brewery soon and said he'd bring me this because it is quite the lovely pumpkin beer. Yadda yadda blah blah, this was on my desk and I figured I would share my fortune with my readership. So here ya go. Beer. (BTW not doing a bottle tasting of this for reasons explained above).

Won't lie, this smells like I might die. Smokey and spicey. Like burned pumpkin pie. Or caramelized. Or like a pumpkin creme brulee as you take the torch to it. Yeah Mob M knows pastries and shit, whatcha gonna do about it. It actually smells a little (yes only a little) like coffee. So maybe it's like pumpkin pie coffee creme brulee. Thinking of an accurate metaphor for this so basically fuck it. It smeels like a porter with pumpkin pie spice in it. You want more adjectives, go on beer advocate . . . but you won't get my sunny personality if you do.

That largely tastes how you would expect it to. So my job is over. Time to drink this while you do whatever it is you do with your life after you read these . . .

Nvm, legal has told me that I need to keep talking about this due to loyalty to the readership or some shit I don't understand. Lawyers are weird. Anyway, on first drink you get a bit of that coffee acidity. It fades fairly quickly into a smoked malt sweetness backed up by what I can only assume is the taste of roasted pumpkin. There is a little bit of cinnamon in there as well, possibly nutmeg. Pretty good. Though I have been told this is better on the second glass. And since I only have one of these due to reasons, I won't be doing a bottle tasting. But I have calculated that I can get 3ish glasses out of this bottle and that I shall do. One thing I will comment on: don't  expect to drink this quickly. It's too rich for that by a lot. Might be a nice dinner brew though, for something hot and flavorful like a stew or for some kinda dessert. Though you make be hard pressed to find a dessert that didn't compete with the flavor profile of this beer (Which is boojie talk for don't drink this with cinnamon or chocolatey desserts cuz shit won't taste right). If I went for that kind of thing, this may be good as a vanilla ice cream beer float. But the idea of a beer float hurts me in ways.

The second glass opens this up a bit. Something about breathing and the chemistry of volatile compounds in air while changing temperatures and air bubble carbonation. Am I credible as a scientist now? Or do I need to bust out the physics? Cuz man there was some physics going on with your mom last night. Maturity.

Now you detect less with you olfactory organ (nose) because reasons you wouldn't understand, but you taste the smells better in this glass. This tastes a bit more like baked goods than coffee, but its still got that bitter sweet acid thing going on with cinnamon and tastiness. And your first couple exhales after finishing you sippings (read: guzzling that shit down) are almost like the taste of pumpkin bread. And since my mom was mean and only baked for me once while she was here and they were only brownies and not pumpkin pie and didn't make me fried chicken looks like I will have to go trick a kind single Mormon lady into making me pumpkin bread. Or brownies. Honestly I just want some baked goods. Or bacon. So yeah, I gotta say, if you are going to be drinking this you face a decision. Have something more aromatic, with more bitter porter tastiness, or have something less aromatic but (imo) smoother and more pleasing to the tongue. And the only difference is temperature. Either pull it out the fridge and drink, or pull it out the fridge and wait like 20 minutes. Tastes good either way.

Now I mentioned that this was rich earlier right? This is definitely true. That makes this beer fairly heavy in the guts. Luckily this isn't super carbonated so it doesn't compound the tummy troubles. Just really makes you hafta poop. And it will be a good poop. And I definitely wish I had another bottle of this, but I don't think my body could handle it. Other than that I have nothing bad to say about this. It's tasty . . . and heavy on that alcohol. My head is little bit spinny.

Tl;dr: This beer is rich and tastes like a porter with pumpkin and spices in it. That is the best way to describe it. It is a bit heavy and if you don't like the acidity in coffee you won't like this.