Headless Horseman - The Merchant Ale House Restaurant & Brewpub

BrewSomerville

Ontario (Canada)

3.5/5  rDev +1.4%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

Aroma: Faint smell. Not much hop influence. Spices (can't pinpoint which ones though).

Looks: Hazy, cloudy. Orange/ copper. Small white head. Average head retention. No lace.

Taste: Pumpkin pie! ...Ginger? Good acidity (i feel it on the sides of my tongue).Ginger, nutmeg. Cracker like malt.

Mouthfeel: Too fizzy (this batch) in my opinion, but I'll forgive that on it's other merits. Medium bodied.

I look forward to it every year.

Serving type: on-tap

10-14-2007 01:37:08 | More by BrewSomerville

hopsolutely

Ontario (Canada)

3.5/5  rDev +1.4%

12-30-2011 19:31:23 | More by hopsolutely

kwjd

Ontario (Canada)

3.45/5  rDev 0%
look: 2.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3.5

I was surprised to still see a pumpkin beer on tap at the end of December, but I'll never pass up a pumpkin beer if I see one. On tap at the Merchant Ale House in St Catharines. Pours a bright orange colour with absolutely no head or lacing. Smells of nice pumpkin spicing. Carbonation is lacking in this beer, but the flavour is there.

Serving type: on-tap

12-29-2010 00:17:04 | More by kwjd

biegaman

Ontario (Canada)

3.35/5  rDev -2.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Merchant Ale House Pumpkin Ale poured a dead on pumpkin orange. Some minimal head, which would leave equally little residue as lacing. A pungent aomra of pumpkin, basically like sniffing the inside of a pumpkin after you first carve it and pull out the seeds. Body has a slimy texture, carbonation ended up a little too high for the style in my opinion. There was great deal of fresh, unprocessed character, very agreeable. However a lack of spices, left a rather hasty, one dimensional flavour profile, heavily dominated by pumpkin. I would suggest a deeper use of spices to mellow out the pumpkin which is just too harsh to stay palateable. A little more spice could lively up the texture too. I really enjoyed having this, but a small sample was ample.
I was more than pleased to see an offering from this brewpub - one I wasn't aware existed until then. Furthermore, I was happy to see someone leading by example, an Ontario brewpub trying to be innovative, daring, and brewing a product that clearly is NOT for everyone. This is a special style, a great fall time treat, but not intended to appeal to everyone and obviously won't. I did enjoy the beer, but moreover, it was refreshing to see someone breaking the mold that seems to be cast on almost all Ontario brewers at this time and brew something easily assumed unappealing by many - but crafty and unconventional. Keep up the good work guys!

Serving type: on-tap

10-31-2006 18:21:20 | More by biegaman