Samhain Pumpkin Ale
The White Hag Irish Brewing Company

gifted to me by a friend who bought two for himself but disliked it so much he gave the other to me... not the best start but sure we’ll give it a go

look: one finger rocky white head with nice retention, beer is a nice amber to brown colour, lightly hazy with good levels of carbonation.

smell: that is a lovely aroma, its so autumnal and cozy, pumpkin aroma is there of course, but the primary aroma for me is raisin, fruit cake, spice, cherry, apricot, some brown bread malt, caramel, quite sweet, really inviting.

taste: yeah that’s quite nice alright, back to my friend, he said that it was way too sweet for him, and i get it, this is sweet, but nice sweet, fruit cake all the way, pumpkin pie, it’s almost like drinking stollen (german fruited bread), autumnal and wintery i suppose, marzipan, caramel, cherry, apricot, clove, spice, lingering sweet fruit flavour and spice on the finish, no bitterness really.

feel: medium bodied, light to medium carbonation, sticky but reasonably drinkable

overall: a sweet fruity beer that apparently divides opinion hehehe, i think it’s quite nice, sweet enough, not exactly a session beer anyway, but with the howling wind and rain outside on a mid november night in dublin, this is a nice beer to have.