Autumn Nugget
Black Hog Brewing Co.

From the 16 fl. oz. can with no visible date. Sampled on December 7, 2019.

The appearance is medium amber-orange with moderate clarity and a lacing-leaving off-white head.

Pleasant aroma of white bread, grain, spices, some vanilla, and light pepper.

The mouthfeel is medium and smooth.

A sweet start in the taste with a more notable peppery finish. Mild to moderate bitterness.

 

 

Can from the sharing table at the meeting last night, thanks to whomever brought it. Deep amber with a creamy off white head that persists. Rich bready light caramel malt and then too many spices.

Poured into a becher pint glass, the appearance was a nice looking pale amber color with a slim cap of a little white foamy head that slid off at a decent pace. Not much lace but seemed somewhat messy for what was there.
The aroma had nutmeg, woodiness, cinnamon, light vanilla extract, crush black pepper and a little bit of grassy hoppy bitter ends.
The flavor was moderately spicy with the woodiness clipping the nutmeg and cinnamon in a semi-earthy manner. Light aftertaste of the nutmeg, vanilla and earthiness.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied with a fair sessionability about it. Carbonation felt fine. ABV felt on par. Nice and clean on the spicy harshness, not overbearing.
Overall, works for me as an Autumn pale ale. I'd have again if I could get it again.

A: crystal clear; deep gold in color; 1 finger ivory head that receded to a splotchy cap; nice lacing;

S: vanilla, nutmeg, spice from the pepper, and cinnamon;

T: nutmeg first, followed immediately by vanilla and cinnamon; slight heat from the peppercorns comes in at the middle and fades by the finish; mild bitterness at the end;

M: medium bodied; moderate carbonation; lightly dry finish;

O: flavor combination works nicely;

Tall can, w/o canning/dating info.

Pours a nice looking shade of amber, medium khaki cap leaves a thicker film, and great looking ringed and splattered gits of fine lacing...nice looking brew

I get the advertised cinnamon and vanilla on the nose...nice clean and flavorful

Tasty APA with again a hint of cinnamon and underlying malty goodness, very tasty and enjoyable brew, balanced, freshly flavorful, complex, this one checks a bunch of boxes

 

 

I've only had a few other Black Hog beers, but this one jumped out at me on the shelves today at my local Craft Beer Cellar due to its weird adjunct ingredients. At first, though, I honestly just saw that it was a wet-hopped ale and was already ready to grab it, but seeing "with whole vanilla bean, pink peppercorn, nutmeg and cinnamon" catapulted this into my haul as quickly as possible. You see, unlike many BAs, I'm a sucker for a good spiced ale (emphasis on "GOOD," of course), especially as the weather starts to turn a bit colder. A spiced Autumn ale combined with some wet hop goodness...? I'm all ears... err, tongues? Nah, that's not okay. Whatever.

Pours an 85% clear light-to-medium amber color with a slightly-building yet highly-retentive off-white head that leaves behind some solid sticky lace as it sips. Hazy surface that doesn't seem to clear at all... decent legs on the foam here. The 15% clarity lost above seems to be due to the spices, hops and other ingredients that give some texture to the proceedings... luckily, they're pretty much reduced entirely to mere specks in my glass, even when held under extreme scrutiny. Weird looking beer... and the weirdness doesn't end there...

A bit soapy on the nose with some cinnamon and nutmeg spice along with some vestiges of sweet vanilla. Woodsy Nugget hops combine with the unique spice blend to bring out surprisingly Autumnal elements from seemingly nowhere. Not much in the way of malt at all, however, and the whole thing feels like I've experienced all it has to offer right at the beginning. Wish there were some more complex hop notes, as I can see this succeeding more even with just some wet Cascades to bring out some balancing citrus. As it stands, this is quite herbal and spice-forward in the nose.

Vanilla bean on the tongue with some spice, light bitter orange peel, moderate caramel and biscuity malt elements and some sharp nutmeg/cinnamon. Wish it were a bit less sweet toward the finish, as the vanilla seems to take over, leaving even the peppercorn in the proverbial dust. The Autumnal spicing is pretty strong here, though the bitterness from the wet Nugget hops supports the tongue somewhat weakly by comparison.

Feel is slick and satisfying, however, with a solid carbonation aspect and good balance between the malty, (lightly-)hoppy and spicy side of things. A pretty good drink here... could probably be refined a little bit, but it's not bad by any means. I'd like to see this improved upon next year, with perhaps a melange of wet hops instead of Nugget alone. I think BH can succeed with this idea. Why not? It's harvest time, so it's the perfect time to marry wet hops with various autumnal styles!