Pumpkin Ale - Shooting Creek Farm Brewery

DarthMalt

Virginia

4.25/5  rDev +6.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Peter, Peter pumpkin beer geek,
Had a beer that ran out last week;
He thought he was in pumpkin hell
But Shooting Creek is just as swell.

Just when you thought you were out of good Pumpkin Ale, along comes a micro in your back yard that does just the same trick.

Pours deep amber, almost red, with a dense foam that maintains a lovely espresso 'crema' all the way down. Great musty aroma. Smooth and clean with an expertly integrated spice/hop interweave culminating in an accented, spicy bitter at midtaste. The must breaks sideways and down leaving a great aftertaste of fall flavors.

Delicious.

To paraphrase the Bros.
- This aint no pumpkin soda beer!

Serving type: bottle

11-06-2010 01:00:34 | More by DarthMalt

Rhettroactive

Virginia

4.05/5  rDev +1.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

From bottle purchased at Vintage Cellar to shaker glass

A suprise hit, as it was not something I was looking for.

Nice head, but nothing substantial.

The nose was just killer, I'd put it up against some of the best in-style, though it's certainly not Pumking.

The taste was spot-on. One of the most authentic pumkin ales I've had. Not over the top and not too all-spicy. Just right and even better as it warmed.

The mouthfeel and drinkability were just fine, though I wouldn't want to down more then one or two in a sitting.

Overall this is a killer pumpkin ale. I love stumbling across beers like this - ones I had no prior knowledge of and blow me away. Cheers to Shooting Creek on a job well done!

Serving type: bottle

11-09-2010 20:48:12 | More by Rhettroactive

StoutCream

Virginia

3.45/5  rDev -13.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Just got 2010 bottling. Cellar temperature into a small wine glass.

A: Amber-red with a khaki, creamy head that skims fast. Lacing settles quickly and swirling doesn't bring it back to life.

S: Like a sachet of 'Fall'. A touch of squash and spice gives way to fallen leaves and crisp, dry autumn air with a whiff of potpourri.

T: Intense pureed peppered pumpkin (say that 5X). The sweetness is buried under vegetable bitterness. Green and earthy at the same time. Grass on the finish.

M: Lightly carbonated with a subtle creaminess and slight puckering effect. Tingles the gums and warms the throat.

D: The smell is the best part for me. This beer is missing a lot of malt and hop characteristics that make beer enjoyable for me, as evident from their absence from this review. A true vegetable beer. Squash a few, but try others.

Serving type: bottle

10-29-2010 17:55:47 | More by StoutCream

msubulldog25

Oregon

4.03/5  rDev +0.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

12 oz. bottle, poured to a pint glass. Another taste from Shooting Creek, courtesy of VA's Finest, Metalmonk.

Attractive orange label, adorned with a...pumpkin! From the side: "Flavored Ale... A traditional Autumn Ale made exceptional with hops and heirloom pumpkins". Let the 'exceptional' commence...

A: Really gorgeous deep auburn, shades of crimson, a slight haziness with few bubbles rising.. A crown of dusty tan, builds to almost 2-fingers before a lazy ebb, leaving delicate strands of lacing. Creamy ring holds fast, surrounding a thin swirl of film.

S: A cakey pumpkin spice, muffins and baked bread without being too sweetened.

T: Big bready malt, a dark rye-spice. Gingerbread, dusty nutmeg: both are built around a 'pumpkin' base of starchy butteriness and earthy gourd. Mildest citrus (orange), cinnamon stick/bark in the finish. I like the 'roughness' of this beer, a sorta dirty/edgy rendition.

M: Pretty crisp, a busy swarm of carbonation and a prickly spiciness. Medium body, lingering bitter spices. Even the burps are tasty!

D: Very nice pumpkin beer, one of the better versions of a style I lack best when the spices are hearty and dry and the semblance to 'pie' is downplayed. I'll look forward to having this next fall; thanks, Jeff!

Serving type: bottle

12-06-2009 21:42:48 | More by msubulldog25

Metalmonk

North Carolina

4.25/5  rDev +6.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

From the label: "made exceptional with...heirloom pumpkins. Enjoy cold or at cellar temperature." I guess this sample is somewhere between cold and cellar temp, as I took it out of the fridge and let it sit about 20 minutes before opening.

Rusty red-orange color with a modest head that thins to a skim quickly. Head color is somewhere in the off-white to tan area. Lace dots left here and there on the glass. A quick swirl brings a creamy head back to life.

Smell is wonderful, and exactly how I like a pumpkin ale to smell: pie spices, whipped cream, and, yes, pumpkiny! A big, robust nose with all those elements in equal measure.

Flavor is exactly as the nose promises, not too spicy, plenty of the holiday squash in there, slightly bitter and with a nice offsetting milky sweetness. Only reason I didn't give it a 4.5 for Taste is the flavor succumbs quickly to a dry, grassy, unripe vegetable bitterness that carries into the finish. Found a similar problem with Shooting Creek's Snapping Turtle IPA, but there it was much more pronounced.

Awesome mouthfeel, having the round, slick and very creamy texture that I like in a pumpkin ale.

Shooting Creek's best beer yet. Can't wait to see if they improve it next year, as that could be mindblowing. A must-try for aficionados of the style.

Serving type: bottle

11-17-2009 23:08:46 | More by Metalmonk

VaTechHopHead

California

3.98/5  rDev -0.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A - Deep brown/reddish in color, little head and lacing, but has a nice hazy appearance to it.

S - Huge spices and pumpkins upfront. Hints of brown sugar, maple syrup, and candied pecan.

T - Pumpkin flavors explode at first taste but then the palate gets overwhelmed from spices...cinnamon, brown sugar, nuts. Nice bitter flavor from the pumpkin but not much hop presence.

M/D - Medium body, not much carbonation, very smooth.

For such a small brewery this is a very impressive pumpkin ale!

Serving type: bottle

11-01-2009 00:29:28 | More by VaTechHopHead