Doctor Duvel

I'm like a sommelier, but for beer.

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Location: Upstate New York, United States

Favorite Beers: Orval, Samuel Smith, Duvel, Hennepin, Oude Gueze, Chimay, Dogfish Head, Anchor Steam, and anything made by Trappist monks.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Pumpkin Evaluation

Comparing my pumpkin ale to the Smuttynose model again; I did this once before and decided the spice level in mine was too low and added further spice directly to the keg. Something like 6 cloves plus cinnamon and nutmeg to the tune of a scant .2 oz total. Gotta get a scale that converts to grams for stuff like this...

My beer is a big loser in visuals. I put pumpkin right into the primary and this created a serious haze. Honestly I don't care though.

Other than that, the beers are really close in quality. Both have big, full spice noses. Being bottled, the Smutty has pricklier carbonation, whereas mine has a softer draft feel (probably a plus for this style actually). The spice flavor is underlain by a fairly solid malt foundation, with a delicate carameliness. The Smutty is a little bit more firmly hopped. If I were going to do a bottled version and drink it off and on for a year or more, it'd make sense to give it 8-10 more IBU's.

Overall, that was encouraging...