Alpine Beer Company Ichabod Ale

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

2008 Release; Sampled November 2008
A fairly gentle pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces a three-finger thick, somewhat large bubbled, darkly browned head. The beer is almost black in color and doesn't pass any color when held up to the light, but does pick up a touch of amber color. The aroma smells of grassy grain, some clove, roasted grain, lots of toasted grain notes, and some light spice notes that add a perceived sweetness (cinnamon and a touch of nutmeg). I like that the spices are nice and soft here, this smells more like pumpkin pie (or something like that) than of any individual spice components.

Fairly dry tasting and it finishes with a significant toasted grain component as well as a touch of burnt grain that tends to get magnified as it lingers on in the palate. This is quite light bodied (at least for a holiday brew). There is a slight squash like note here that faintly contributes towards the middle here and the spices contribute a subdued, note towards the finish where the nutmeg seems to intermingle with the roast grain. This has a very subdued, to non-existent Weizen character; makes me wonder if a traditional Weizen yeast was used, if it was the roast grain pretty much over-powers most of the other flavors, including any Weizen notes. The roast character is nice though, not too overpowering and it has a nice mix of flavors with toasted, whole grain bread notes, a touch of roast coffee notes and a bit of burnt acidity in the finish. The dark grain character is definitely on the smooth side.

A tasty beer, but a bit of a disappointment; I would have loved to have seen either more of the traditional Weizen flavors here, or perhaps a richer beer with more pumpkin character (heck both might even have worked quite nicely). As it is this seems like a nice, quaffable, wheat-porter with a hint of spices.

Purchased: South Bay Drugs, Imperial Beach CA

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

Had a taste of this at O'Brien's. Tasty. So when me and the guys stopped into the Alpine Beer Company last Saturday to load up on some growlers, and saw that this was just freshly released in bottles (maybe coming to a Henry's near you?), I knew that I'd regret not getting at least one bomber.

Slightly reddish-amber in appearence, though not a lot in the way of head retention or lacing to speak of.

Said to be made with some 100 pounds of pumpkins in each 350 gallon, I'm still not so sure I pick up on the "pumpkin-ness" of this pumpkin. That having been said, I still think this is pretty tasty, overall.

Nice even-handed blending of spices. Not nearly as "jack-boot upside the head" that other spice beer brewers feel the need to crank out every Fall Season. Hoppy enough to matter, no more. As such, this is quite nice (slightly drying) in the mouth, and quite easy going down.

I seem to remember this being a bit heavier and more viscious off the tap, but I think that I actually prefer this slightly less visigothic version of this beer from the bottle.

Definately on the better pumpkin ales I've had in a long time. Recommended.
//TB

Aroma: 4 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 4

Yes, this is a spiced ale with a spicy aroma, but t he flavor wasn’t too good. I was disappointed. Had it on draft at O’Brien’s.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 3 | Overall: 4

This brew pours with a deep amber body topped by a medium thick head with a good amount of lacing. The aroma and flavor are sweet and spicy as hell, full of nutmeg, cinamon and allspice. Damn, way to spicy for me. Medium bodied and smooth.