Elysian Dark O' the Moon Pumpkin Stout

Another bottle of beer I picked up from Al’s of Hampden is Elysian Dark O’ the Moon Pumpkin Stout. The beer pours a black color with a frothy tan colored head that leaves a little lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of chocolate, toasted malts, pumpkin, and cinnamon. The taste is bold and full of chocolate, toasted malts, vanilla, pumpkin, and cinnamon. On the finish, some nutmeg and allspice pokes through that is nicely dry. The alcohol content is 6.5% ABV. I really enjoyed the pumpkin accents in this wonderful toasted stout that has some excellent chocolate flavors.

Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale

At Al’s of Hampden, I picked up a bottle of Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale. The beer pours an orange-amber colored with lots of floating particles and a bubbly white colored head. The aroma consists of pumpkin, nutmeg, allspice, and caramel. The taste is light on pumpkin with some nutmeg and allspice dryness that takes over the mouth. A hint of caramel hides in the background and some cinnamon comes out on the finish. The alcohol content is 6.1% ABV. I’d say this was a nice pumpkin beer that was not quite as good as The Great Pumpkin from Elysian, but I’d definitely come back to this beer.

Elysian The Great Pumpkin

I picked up a bottle of Elysian The Great Pumpkin from Al’s of Hampden. The beer pours an orange-amber color with a bubbly white colored head. The aroma consists of pumpkin, alcohol, nutmeg, allspice, pumpkin, and graham cracker. The taste is boozy at first with a smooth pumpkin flavor. Hints of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice poke through with some graham cracker crust. The alcohol content is 8.1% ABV. This was a nice drinking pumpkin beer with a big and dry boozy presence that made itself known on the finish.

Elysian Peste Chocolate Chili Ale

I ordered a glass of Elysian Peste Chocolate Chili Ale when I went out to dinner at the new Sturges Speakeasy in Harrisburg. The beer pours a black.color with a thin frothy tan head. The  aroma consists of chocolate, vanilla, chili pepper, and toasted malts. The taste is spicy with a large chili pepper kick. A chocolate background and toasted malts are a bit subdued by the spice,and the beer finishes with a peppery flavor that warns the throat. The alcohol content is 7.5% ABV. I enjoyed the spiciness in this beer and thought it had a pretty solid backbone to withstand the amount of chili pepper in it.

Elysian Ruin Rosemary Agave IPA

My fiancee ordered a bottle of Elysian Ruin Rosemary Agave IPA while we were at Black Gryphon and gave me a glass to try. The beer pours a golden orange color with a frothy white colored head that leaves specks of head in the glass. The aroma consists of lemon, orange, agave, caramel, and pepper. The taste is dry with lots of rosemary on the front end, lemon, orange, and caramel. Pepper and spruce appear in the finish with left behind hop dryness. The alcohol content is 7.3% ABV. This beer was pretty decent with a lot going on the tongue and was one of the more enjoyable beers from the Apocalypse series. I am a huge fan of agave, and it balanced very well with the rosemary.

Elysian Prometheus IPA

My buddy Matt brought over a bottle of Elysian Prometheus IPA to share with friends. The beer pours a golden color with a bubbly white head. The aroma consists of caramel, malt, orange, and tangerine. The taste is dry and slightly bitter with lemon, tangerine, orange, pepper, and grass. There is a dry but toasted toffee sweet finish. The alcohol content is 6.7% ABV. This was somewhat of a middle of the road IPA and not too memorable for me. It wasn’t a terrible beer, but I’m not sure I would seek it out on a regular occasion.

Elysian Apocalypse Fallout Cardamom Pale Ale

My buddy Matt opened a bottle of Elysian Fallout Cardamom Pale Ale, one of the twelve beers of the apocalypse. The beer pours an orange tinted gold color with a bubbly white head. The aroma is floral with cardamom and has lemon accents aplenty. The taste is dry and floral that focuses on cardamom. Lemon, caramel, and pepper provide light background accents to the flowers. The alcohol content is 7.3% ABV. I liked the floral content in this beer, as it was extremely focused on that, and I believe it to be the intent of the beer.

Elysian Apocalypse Rapture Heather Ale

As always, I stop in to Fat Head’s when I am in Pittsburgh, and this time I ordered a glass of Elysian Apocalypse Rapture Heather Ale. The beer pours a golden color with a bubbly white head. The aroma is bready and has lemon, pepper, and caramel mixed in as well. The taste is round and smooth with a bready mouth feel. Lemon, pepper, and caramel come out on the finish. This beer is lightly carbonated on the tongue, and the alcohol does show through the flavors. The alcohol content is 7.0% ABV. I can’t say this beer was very memorable, so was it worth the price paid. All of the flavors work well together, but they just don’t dazzle the tongue.

Elyisan Bete Blanche Belgian-style Triple

My buddy Matt pulled out a bottle of Elysian Bete Blanche Belgian-style Triple to share at New Year’s Eve. The beer pours a golden color with a bubbly white head. The aroma consists of banana, pepper, and coriander. The taste is smooth and sweet with banana on the front end. Hay comes alive in the dry finish and the beer leaves behind a peppercorn after taste. The alcohol content is 7.5% ABV. This was a solid triple with a nice dry finish. It doesn’t stand out among the best, but it was a quality beer that I would drink again.

Elysian Mr. Yuck Sour Pumpkin Ale

At Falling Rock Tap House, Elysian was tapping several of their pumpkin beer, 10 in total. The one beer that stood out to me on the menu was the Mr. Yuck Sour Pumpkin Ale due to both my love of sour beers and Pittsburgh (the Mr. Yuck sticker was created in Pittsburgh). The beer pours an apple cider color with a thin white head. The aroma is big on pumpkin with some sour lemon accents, yeast, cinnamon, and nutmeg. The taste is dry and focused on the spices which was rather surprising to me. The sour pumpkin flavor is also prevalent, but it does not appear until the finish of the beer with some vinegar and lemon. The alcohol content is not available online, but I would estimate it to be about 5.0% ABV. This was a great sour beer with lots of spices taking the focus. I would say another home run for an Elysian pumpkin beer.

Iron Hill's Gathering of the Gourds

I went to the Gathering of the Gourds at Iron Hill in West Chester and the following are the beers I tried:

Iron Hill Ichabod Imperial Belgian Pumpkin Ale

The first beer I had was Iron Hill's Ichabod Imperial Belgian Pumpkin Ale. The beer is orange amber in color with a thin film head. It smells sweet and with allspice accents. The taste is sweet with an excellent accent of spices including cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. The alcohol content is 9.5% ABV. I thought that this beer was an excellent start to the evening. The pumpkin flavor was excellent and there was a caramel accent.

Iron Hill Punktoberfest

The second beer I tried was Iron Hill's Punktoberfest. The beer is golden orange in color with a white frothy head. It smells of cinnamon. The taste consists of ginger and cinnamon with light accents on pumpkin and vanilla. The cinnamon is powerful and overriding, but it is a welcome variation to pumpkin beers. The alcohol content is 7.0% ABV. After trying all of the beers for the night, this ended up being my second favorite. I thought that the cinnamon accents in this beer was an excellent balance to the pumpkin flavor.

Iron Hill Boom Sticke Pumpkin Alt

The third beer I had was Iron Hill's Boom Sticke Pumpkin Alt. The beer is dark brown with not much head. The beer smells nutty, which is not what I was expecting from a pumpkin beer. The taste is nutty with slight sweet pumpkin undertone, but it doesn't hint too much on the pumpkin. The alcohol content is 7.5% ABV. I was not too impressed with this beer as a pumpkin beer, but it was a decent brown ale, hinting on caramel and graham cracker tastes.

Iron Hill Bruce Camp-Ale

The fourth beer I tried was Iron Hill's Bruce Camp-Ale. The beer is orange amber in color with no head. The beer smells of ginger, vanilla and pumpkin. The beer has an excellent pumpkin taste. The Bruce Camp-Ale is the Ichabod Imperial Belgian Pumpkin Ale aged in bourbon barrels, and the bourbon mellowed the spices from the Ichabod. The alcohol content is 9.5% ABV, the same as the Ichabod. I thought that the bourbon aging brought out the pumpkin flavor in the beer and mellowed the spices.

Stewart's Mischief Night Pumpkin

The fifth beer that I had at Iron Hill was Stewart's Mischief Night Pumpkin Ale. The beer is orange in color with no head. The beer smells of pumpkin and vanilla. It tastes light on pumpkin with slight cinnamon and ginger accents. The beer finishes dry due to the cinnamon and nutmeg in it. The alcohol content is 6.0% ABV. I thought that this beer was a solid pumpkin beer, but it was not too daring. The goal of this beer seems to be to make a great pumpkin flavored beer without too much else, and it succeeded.

Iron Hill Ichabod Imperial Belgian Pumpkin Ale Tap

The greatest moment of the night was the tapping of the large pumpkin filled with Ichabod Imperial Belgian Pumpkin Ale. The biggest difference is that this version is much more packed with pumpkin flavor. I thought that aging it in the pumpkin really gave it more pumpkin flavor and completely enjoyable.

Elysian's The Great Pumpkin

The final beer I had for the night was Elysian's The Great Pumpkin. The beer is orange in color with a light head. It has a cinnamon and pumpkin aroma. The taste is sweet and consists of pumpkin and nutmeg. It has a slight cinnamon and ginger finish. The alcohol content is 7.2% ABV. This was my favorite beer of the night, as I thought that the pumpkin flavors and spices were delicately and perfectly balanced. The pumpkin taste lingered on the tongue long enough before being replaced with the other spices. This is a must try.