Good Gourd Almighty Bourbon Barrel-aged
Cigar City Brewing

Reviewed from (very) long-standing notes. Poured from a 750 mL bottle into an El Catador Barrel-Aged glass. Consumed on 10/10/16.

A: Pours a dark brown that's very hazy but remains a bit translucent. Forms a thin off-white head with average retention atop a good amount of visible carbonation.

S: Bourbon and vanilla, with more nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice. Oak and pumpkin pie filling. Toasted brown malts, impressively with none of the "cardboardy" smell I sometimes get from brown ales. Mild notes of sweet toffee and dark fruit in the background.

T: Bourbon and pumpkin and sweet malts in balance. Then vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg, plus some cloves I didn’t really get on the nose. Sweet moderately-toasted malts, toffee, and oak tannins. Sweet pumpkin pie and bourbon sweetness in the hang.

M: Heavy-bodied as compared to most pumpkin beers (at least those not mixed with stout or porters). Good carbonation sensation, and the alcohol is fairly obvious but nicely balanced with the other flavors.

O: This was good. A nice balance of flavors – not over-spiced, not over-bourboned. A beer that still may not be my personal preference, and I don’t like this one as well as I remember liking the Rum Barrel-Aged GG from back in the day. Still, quite good.

 

 

 

 

 

Good beer. The barrel aging takes away from the pumpkin spice flavors in my opinion. Still a great beer, though in comparison, I prefer the non-barrel aged.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hate pumpkin beers. However, like the rum, this is one of the better pumpkins I've had. The rum was sweeter and more butterscotch than pumpkin. The bourbon bottle was pumpkin and a hint of booze/oak/vanillian. Very good. Once a year it's worth it.