Nothing like drinking a pumpkin ale while you carve a pumpkin!

Pumpkin ales are always popular this time of year. This fall I tried a couple I hadn't before. The first was Albuquerque's own Chama River Brewing Co's pumpkin ale. Now that I write this I can't remember what it was called, but I do remember that it was
delicious. I also tried a pumpkin ale from Buffalo Bill's brewery. I saw a six pack of it when I was browsing Kelly's seasonal selection. It was ok, but not the best I've had.


Chama River Brewing Co - Pumpkin Ale -

As to be expected it poured a medium mahogany color, I had it out of a glass at the Chama River restaurant. Definitely hints of pumpkin in the smell, with a little bit of spice. When I got to tasting it this characteristic stayed true. The pumpkin and spice taste is kind of subdued, but not in a bad way. Very pleasant and reasonably easy on the mouth, not too carbonated but not too smooth. Overall I'd give this one a B+/A-.


Buffalo Bills Brewery Pumpkin Ale - I drank this one out of a bottle. Had the same smell characteristics as the Chama River brew. The first thing I noticed about this pumpkin ale was that the mouthfeel was very, very light. Almost frothy. That caught me off guard a little bit. There was only a light amount of pumpkin and spice taste, barely noticeable toward the end of a swallow. I'll give Buffalo Bills Pumpkin Ale a C+ and write it down as one I'll have to try again. Kind of disappointing to have so little taste for such a specialized brew.

Sam Adams Coastal Wheat

When I was browsing the grocery store the other day I came upon a six pack of Coastal Wheat. I had seen it in this summers Sam Adams variety packs but had not tasted it yet. The beer is so new, in fact, that the Sam Adams website has yet to add it.

Thinking that this beer sounded kind of good I picked up a six pack and took it home. Unfortunately I was sorely disappointed!

I drank it out of a glass. It pours like a wheat beer would, orange and cloudy. The first thing I noticed when smelling the beer was the lemon scent. Very dominant. Besides that I picked up some other fragrant notes. But the lemon stood out. The taste confirms the dominance of the lemon in the beer. The lemon is everpresent and really strong. I guess if you love lemons then maybe you will favor this beer. The lemon tastes like it was poured out of a bottle of lemon flavoring, it has a distinct "artificialness" to it, and this negatively affects the taste for me. As for the mouthfeel, it was also par with most wheat beers. It may have been heavy on the carbonation, but otherwise is close to your run of the mill wheats.

I always like to suggest that people try a beer for themselves, and this is still the case here. But I would not recommend it.

The perfect pour!

All beer drinkers should know how to pour a beer. If you pour it wrong the results are pretty palpable. A bad pour can result in a loss of just about every characteristic in a beer. From experience, a bad pour flattens the beer and seems to .. thin I guess is the word I'm looking for .. the taste. Overall a bad pour basically wastes the beer.

For a while there were some commercials, Bud Light I think, where they said to pour straight down the middle. I tried this and again, it pretty much turned the mouthfeel of the beer into water and whatever taste Bud Light has was lost.

So, without anymore delay, the perfect pour, courtesy of BeerAdvocate!

Blue Moon in a Bud Light bottle?

First Budweiser takes a swipe at what was the ever growing amber ale market with their American Ale, now they're moving in on the wheat beer market. I don't know how long they've been running their commercials, but this weekend was the first time I saw one and it got my interest. Bud Light Wheat Beer is set for distribution on October 5th and seeks to claim a spot next to the popular Blue Moon. Early reviews of the beer, from those who attended the sneak peek sessions at the various Anheuser-Busch breweries, don't seem too high on the beer, with most noting that the taste is weak. I'll be sure to have a taste as soon as possible. I still have yet to try the American Ale, as most people told me to avoid it, but I think I'll give this venture a try.

The Sam Adams Beer Glass

I actually had no idea this glass existed until a few months ago when my brother received a four glass set for his birthday. My dad, who is not a beer drinker per se, asked a lot of questions about them and seemed to have heard about these specific glasses. But I hadn't! So I went online to Sam Adams and read up. There's actually a really nice article over atReal Beer about the glass. After trying a few different brews out of the glass I have to say that it truly does allow for a different drinking experience. The flavor of the beer is what I feel is really enhanced by the glass. Just last night I had a Sam Adams Summer Ale (one of my favorites) out of one of these glasses and the flavor just exploded. The glasses are a bit pricey at about $25 or $30 per set (last I saw) but may be worth it!

Tasting at O'Niells

One of me and my friends favorite places to go is O'Niells Irish Pub on Central and Washington. The food is pretty good and the selection of brews is solid. It's a place to sit back, have a few and catch up on the week with your friends. We went this weekend to have dinner and ended up trying a couple beers we hadn't tried before.


The first was Young's Double Chocolate Stout. I've had a few chocolate stouts but I would say this is the most chocolaty out of the bunch I've had. It went down really smooth with no real detectable carbonation and was pretty light. The smell was as wonderful as the taste, with a strong dark chocolate scent which was complemented with a roasted nut smell.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a to mix things up in their regular beer lineup.


The second beer was Wexfords Irish Style Cream Ale. This one disappointed a bit. It was smooth and light, which I expected, but finished with a kind of sour note after a decent caramel taste. The smell was faint and took a few sniffs to decipher anything. Even then it was a little hard to figure out, my notes say caramely, buttery, with a hint of floral. But that may be reaching.

I'm gonna give this one a second try. Most of the other reviews I've read online are similar to mine in terms of the disappointment. I didn't see anything about a sour note though, so I may just need to give this one another chance.

Octoberfest has arrived!

Sam Adams Ocotberfest is by far one of my, and my friends and family's, favorite beers. It's a seasonal offering from Sam Adams. Over the last week I started seeing it on the shelves and even on tap in some places. The Sam Adams website describes it as "a delicious harmony of sweet flavors including caramel and toffee."

I'll probably be getting my hands on some this weekend and will be posting a review. I really can't wait!