Bourbon Barrel Pumpkin Ale
West Sixth Brewing Company

 

Diving into fall, the affinity for pumpkin spice and bourbon seem like a perfect marriage at least for Kentucky beer drinkers. West Sixth employs the aid of Bulleit bourbon makers for a unique, spicy and gumptious way to enter the fall season

Bright copper with only a hint of haze. Its near-bright clarity allows for tawny golden highlights to gleam. Frothy with a cottony sheet of foam, a sweet caramel, cashew and praline sweet scent kicks off with a spicy perfume. To taste, an initial sweetness of emulation of pumpkin pie that really takes hold- in dessert-life fashion, the caramelized sugars, pumpkin fluff starchiness and soft, buttery nutty flavors that round into a creamy-sweet early palate.

As the middle palate unfolds, a quick rise of those unmistakable pumpkin pie spices entice the nose with cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg all pull together with the sweetness and spices of Bulleitbourbon booziness. The charred wood, spicy alcohol and calming vanilla scent is the ideal intangibles that makes the nose so captivating. Finishing with those wood spices and alcohol for balance, we get a peppery aid from the spice rack- that blend of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice work in equal parts and give the beer a creamy-sweet dryness to finish.

Again, the beer's texture is creamy and moderate with supportive sweetness and embedded carbonation that keeps the beer sweet and spicy well into finish. That's when the caramel linger is met with light spice astringency and a powdery wood finish. Bourbon warmth slices right through the malt and warms the throat in its long, sweet finish.