Reluctant Pumpkin
Molly Pitcher Brewing Company

I am working nights six (6) days a week, ten (10) hours a day at the local Post Office Processing & Distribution Center & as some of my whiny coworkers like to bi**h, we are in the building every day (for at least an hour). I get off at 0930 on Friday & do not have to be back until 2300 on Saturday, so I generally do my beer shopping right after work or on Saturday late-morning/early-afternoon. Last week, it was Hallowe'en Eve & I stopped in at Rieker Bottle Works for some Crowlers to advance The CANQuest (tm). This was one of them!

From the Crowler/CAN: "10/30".

I have Otterbein United Methodist Church directly across the street from me & I CANnot be happier about it! It is in a gothic style & very reminiscent of Pitt's Cathedral of Learning, where I did my undergraduate studies. Once a month, on the seCANd Saturday, the ladies host "Attic Treasures", a rummage sale of varying quality. I usually troll for glassware, although I will pick up other odds & sods, and last month, I hit upon a tall Pitt Panthers (my alma mater) glass, which I am using for this beer. #H2P

I am usually overly cautious with Crowlers since they have a tendency to dribble, but what with this "new" glass, I Crack!ed open the vent & let 'er rip! That reminds me - I need to stop in at the tailor's later, before they close. ;=) I got a finger or so of rolling, roiling, fizzy, tawny head from my C-Line Glug, but I was still down with it. Why? It smelled really groovy, like a pumpkin spice-scented CANdle had been lit! I don't dig such things as they irritate my sinuses & set off my asthma so this was the next best thing. Also, the color was a far out Deep-Amber/Light-Copper to Copper (SRM = > 13, < 17) with NE-quality clarity & burnished copper highlights. Yow! Mouthfeel was thin-to-medium, not watery, but not far beyond it. 8=( No real matter, though, as I was after the pumpkin spice flavor, which it had in spades, as well as the coffee reluctCANce. Oh, did I not mention that it was aged on coffee beans? Whoops! Gotta get those Notes up to date. This was just the sort of thing that I really wanted on an Indian Summer morning in early-November! I just had a cuppa Jittery Joe's joe & this made for a mos cool segue. Pumpkin spice & coffee. Mmm. I was grateful that they held the ABV in check as I do have to work tonight & sobriety is for the better, especially around moving machinery. Finish was dry, as any spice-driven beer should be expected to be. I was enthused, but not enthusiastic, overall. I felt like they had held back in terms of its coffee aging & I wanted more of a presence. Oh well. YMMV.