Pinchy Jeek Barl - Bourbon Barrel-Aged
Anderson Valley Brewing Company

Got a free bottle of this to take home with me when I was getting a great tour of the brewery from my best friend Jon Passow, who is Barrel Operations Manager at Anderson Valley when I was visiting him and his wife in Mendocino County, CA back in July of this year. I knew I was going to wait until October to drink this beer because it is now in season for this type/style of beer. Poured out of a 22 oz bomber into one of my pint glasses, this beer pours a very dark amber brown color with some deep ruby highlights when held up to the light. Has a slightly tan/off-white head that is about an inch thick when first poured that settles quickly to a nice thick surface film layer of foam along with a thick ring lining the inside of the glass. Has decent lacing. Excellent aromas of bourbon, roasted caramel malts, and pumpkin are all certainly present. The taste pretty much follows suit, with roasted caramel malt sweetness along with bourbon goodness and strong pumpkin notes that are all rounded out with a slight touch of hop bitterness. All the flavors work very well together and really compliment each other and balance out quite nicely as the beer sits and warms up a bit. Has a fairly crisp, slightly prickly and chewy, also somewhat smooth, medium bodied mouthfeel with a nice clean finish. This is quite a unique and excellent take on this beer style. Certainly worth a try if you can get your hands on it.

Eric

 

Appearance: A murky brown body is surmounted by a small, finely-beaded light tan head with good retention. A thick, slightly irregular, but unbroken ring adorns the glass wall. Before a strong light, the body is a medium amber. Clouds of minute bubbles drift lazily to the surface.

Aroma: Cloves and pink bubble gum are quite prominent, as well as sweet alcohol and, as another reviewer mentioned, a note of Coca-Cola. As it warms, the pumpkin pie spice notes become more evident.

Taste: Tasting presents an assertive, but pleasant wave of pumpkin pie spices, soon followed by spicy, warming alcohol. Midway through the taste, the bourbon and wood notes ascend. The finish i dark caramel and wood, with an undercurrent of pumpkin pie spices.

Mouthfeel: Fairly full, perhaps not as full las it could be, but pleasant, with a bit of zesty carbonation.

Drinkability/notes: Really quite good. As a long-term "cellar dweller", three years, I believe, it held up very well. Storage in the back of the refrigerator works wonders. Alas, I'll likely never have this again, a Thanksgiving-themed beer on Thanksgiving.

Presentation: Packaged in a standard twenty-two ounce brown glass bomber, with a pry-off crown, served in a La Fin du Monde tulip.

 

**
Various

Update of Pumpkin Beer from 2013-2019 Blind Tastings.

**

 

Ordered off the tap from American Taproom in Singapore for the price of a high ABV import beer. Have I complained about the price of alcohol in Singapore yet? I should.

Alcohol is really expensive in Singapore.

L: Served in a flute with a fluffy white head. Almost looks like nicely beaten egg whites. Sadly, unlike beaten egg whites, it doesn't hold it's shape for very long. Dissipates down the glass with very light lacing. If you like it thick and bubbly you might have to look elsewhere - like at the large smiling lady at the end of the bar. It's a dark beer - almost opaque, but with a bit of light, you can appreciate the amber-red glow of the beer. It's like a really thick tea - amber-red, clear and, equally effervescent.

S: The description says coconut, vanilla, and oak. I smell blackcurrants. Or specifically: blackcurrant cordial. Or even more specifically: Ribena, which is a blackcurrant cordial. Which, looking back, tastes a bit like slightly sour, dried coconut and vanilla. There's a little bit of something else there. Like some Asian herb - it's pleasantly woody and reminds me of something my mom made me drink when I was a kid.

Now that I think about it, coconut, vanilla, and oak really does fit the description. Damn...

T: Down the hatch. A BBA. But not really. It's got the bourbon barrel-ness, and it's ale-y with pleasant hoppy spiciness. But it's too easy on the palate - I'm on edge here. Come on beer... surprise me with some complex depth... And yep. There it is. At the back of the mouth. Something different: Pumpkin. Which is what it says on the label. So maybe I'm not THAT surprised. But at least it's something. Caramel? Yeah, it's all in there, but I was going in expecting rich dark fruit and complex malt profiles. I didn't get much of that. I guess I need to keep my expectations in check. I'm taking another sip now and it's warm - room temperature. And there it is - hints of dark fruit, and biscuit, and creamed pumpkin. Jeek, it took you long enough to surprise me.

M: It says smooth and rounded in the info. It started crisp and sharp. It's almost like the copywriters barely got a taste of this drin... and it's warmed up now. And it's smooth. And it's rounded. There's still a slight snap to it, but if the past 20 or so minutes are a thing, I'll find out that that changes too. Pinchy Jeek, why are you such a blueballer... Was I rushing in to this too quick?

O: It's not the best BBA out there by a long shot. But it's a pretty safe segue into the style. It's not hard, it's not complex, it's not esoteric. It's a good, safe ale that beginner drinkers can lose their BBA virginities to. For the rest of us, it's like that one person we all know that blueballs us to hell and the let's us get off to the most vanilla of vanilla-coconut-pumpkin orgasms.

Rating:
Awkward first time getting it on.

 

Ruby orange with little carbonation, clean filtered with a half finger of beige head.

Smells of pumpkin, caramel, and coke bourbon.

Tastes of bourbon, pumpkin, caramel, toffee and a tannic, bitter finish.

Medium body with a slightly sticky feel and moderate carbonation.

Got this in Redding, where I am enjoying it Sept 14th, 2018.

 

There were three warning signs. First, the barrels are prominently advertised as Wild Turkey, which I only know as cheap whiskey from college. Second, it was $7, which is the cheapest beer I've seen that has been aged in barrels. Third, what is a pumpkin beer doing on a supermarket shelf at the end of March? What I learned is that there's a reason barrel aged beers are expensive. This beer has a light brown body, harsh nose, a very flat mouth feel. I thought the beer had a chance, like it could be a a nice deep pumpkin, but no I'm going to get it over with quickly.