The Sounds Inside My Mind

Clipper City Heavy Seas The Great’er Pumpkin
An Imperial Pumpkin Ale aged in Bourbon barrels

A / 4.3
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | drink: 4

Poured from a cellar temperature bottle into a Smuttynose Big Beer Series goblet. The beer has a translucent orange color, with notes of brown to give it a slightly tarnished look. A bubbly tan head settled to a skim with a ring of large bubbles at the edges. Tiny carbonation bubbles can be seen within.

This beer smells very good to me. Woodsy bourbon and oak are present, but so is warm pumpkin fruit. There is just a hint of spice mixed in as well. A touch of hot alcohol gives away this aroma as belonging to a strong beer, but otherwise it smells like an appealing pumpkin dish. This is by far the best pumpkin beer aroma I’ve come across.

This beer has an interesting blend of flavors. It’s hard to tell where the pumpkin ends and the bourbon begins. The pumpkin does feel stronger as I first sip, with bold fruit flavors present here. Smokey bourbon and oak move forward as I swallow. Some alcohol burn is present here. Pumpkin spice lingers on after I swallow.

Great’er Pumpkin is a smooth, full bodied beer without too much carbonation. A decent coat is left behind. It has a pumpkin flavor and gives off alcoholic vapors. This warmth is similar to how a sip of bourbon feels going down.

It won’t be difficult for me to finish my glass of this imperial beer. I wouldn’t want to have too many glasses of this in a session, simply because it is so strong. I would like to pick up a few bottles of this next fall to spread out across the season. It’s a very enjoyable beverage. Who would have thought bourbon aging a pumpkin ale would work so well?