Ghoulschip
Allagash Brewing Company

4.21/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
by Rug from Massachusetts

Bottled August 2021

This is a bottle I came across recently that really piqued my interest. A coolshipped Pumpkin Beer? Sign me up! When I came to the beer’s BA page, I realized that I had it as a want for years and forgot all about it, so I’m very happy to have just stumbled upon it. Let’s pop it open and see what it’s all about

Pours a cloudy pale gold with 2 fingers of creamy white head that slowly fades to a thin cap and leaves minimal lacing

Shockingly, it is not very pumpkin-forward in the nose, more funky than anything, but the pumpkin plays a nice supporting role. I’m picking up on aromas of wet hay, lemon yogurt, sharp oak, old leather, cooked pumpkin, light cinnamon, vanilla, and tannic white wine

There’s more of a pumpkin bite in taste, but I still wouldn’t call it prominent. On the front end of the sip I’m tasting lemon juice, brown sugar, white wine, straw, pumpkin seed, and light leather. The swallow is more interesting, bringing notes of lemon yogurt, vanilla, roasted pumpkin, pumpkin seed, toasted oak, and a touch of molasses

A medium body pairs with moderate carbonation, resulting in a sharp and tart beer. Finishes mostly dry but coats the mouth. Still, it drinks well below its abv

This is awesome stuff. More subtle than I would have expected, but masterfully done nonetheless

Apr 26, 2022

4.24/5  rDev +1.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
by lordofthewiens from New Mexico

The beer is a hazy dark orange color with a large, long-lasting white head. There is a bit of lace.
Nice aroma. Fruit, spice, vanilla.
Taste of apple, apricot, pumpkin spice, vanilla. Tart.
Crisp, dry finish.
Very nice.

Jun 27, 2021

3.03/5  rDev -27.7%
look: 4 | smell: 2.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3
by stephs281 from Massachusetts

If a pumpkin chugged a case of natty light, then relived its dysentery symptoms into an oak barrel while a jar of molasses whispered words of encouragement, then you get ghoulship.

Oaky!!Has a good head. Definitely a sour with a unique taste. Barely got a taste of the pumpkin or molasses. The oak came through very strong. Felt like I was just drinking an oak sour.

Nov 07, 2020

3.77/5  rDev -10%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.25
by VelvetExtract from Massachusetts

Bottle. Been dying to try this brew for years and years. The beer pours a dark hazy orange/amber color. Like the dim glow of a jack-o-lantern. Giant head that holds up. Two full fingers. The truly spooky aspect of this beer is the large chunks of detritus that float are dance within the beer. Yikes. Smells acidic, sour, tangy, and woody. A vanilla element is noticeable to me as well. Some spices found in pumpkin pie, too. A really unique aroma. Flavor is also not exactly like any other beer I have had. Still get that vanilla. Also the spices aren't too bold but noticeable enough. Reminds me of some of HaandBryggeriet's sours actually. I do get some pumpkin/yam/sweet potato. It sorta tastes like a sour slice of pumpkin pie. This is very oaky. The sourness is wrapped in a sweetness and they are married throughout. This is one of those beers thats 'yuck' during a sip then 'yum' during another. Carbonation is very soft. Alcohol is masked well. More of a hot mess than I was expecting but I have been waiting to try this strange, strange beer for almost a decade so I am pleasantly pleased by the sheer oddity of it.

Oct 15, 2020

4.75/5  rDev +13.4%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
by SaisonMaker from Massachusetts

Awesome stuff like all of their coolship beers. I don't like over the top spiced or sweet pumpkin beers but I wish this one had more spice. Really great. Allagash makes world class beer.

Aug 30, 2020

4.46/5  rDev +6.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
by REVZEB from Illinois

Hazy burnt orange body with a white head. The easiest way to explain this beer is a traditionally soured pumpkin ale, really neat. Smell has the pumpkin spices intermingling with the molasses, oak, green apple, pear, caramel, and slight barnyard funk, the mixture is very alluring. Taste adds vanilla to the molasses and oak, a citrus flair and subtle hay to the orchard fruit, and the spices finish the beer well within the yeast, earth, and slight funk. It somehow manages to bridge the wildness of the wild ale, and the spices of the pumpkin ale, though nose is more powerful the taste is more complex. Body is a little on the heavier side, decently carbonated, with yeast and spices textures to carry the load. This is was fun one to try, unlike anything I have ever had before

Oct 24, 2019

4.47/5  rDev +6.7%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
by Gatch from Massachusetts

Bottled Aug. 7, 2019 and picked up at the brewery on Oct. 12. Great to finally visit and got lucky with the timing, because it was on a day when they released this beer as well as James & Julie.

Love the color. Super funky and woody in the nose. Almost bourbon, but that’s the heavy oak treatment. Similar with the flavor; wild and oaky with plenty of autumn character. It’s a stretch to say the pumpkin is discernible but this isn’t a pumpkin beer; it’s a wild ale with fall flavors added to make it completely unique while retaining the delicious qualities of their base coolship beers. Properly dry, tart, and carbonated. Really well done.

Beers like these are better because of the story and the process that go into making them. Allagash crafts a story better than almost any other brewery in the country.

Oct 14, 2019

4.04/5  rDev -3.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
by JDavidRice from Connecticut

Smells like apple juice. Not tasting any pumpkin or molasses. Thin head, very little lacing. Effervescent mouthfeel, and very sour at first but that quickly fades to a dry, clean finish.

Aug 01, 2019

4.49/5  rDev +7.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
by GreesyFizeek from New York

On tap at The Publick House in Brookline, MA.

This one pours a light clear orange-ish color, with a small head, and a little bit of lacing.

I don't get much actual pumpkin here, but I do get some spiciness and molasses in the aroma, along with big notes of creamy stone fruit, caramel, lemon, white wine, and oak. This smells incredible.

This is an oaky and spicy delight, with a great caramel and molasses malt backbone, with vanilla and oak playing off the sour apricot and lemon. As with most Allagash beers, the funk is well expressed and clean, with no crazy off-flavors at all. I love how much oak I get off of this, it almost adds a cinnamon spice sort of flavor.

This is light bodied and very clean, and very drinkable, with an acidity that doesn't linger all that long.

For almost any other breweriy, a semi-spontaneously fermented pumpkin wild ale would be a pure and unmitigated disaster. Luckily, Allagash is not like most other breweries.

Feb 04, 2019

4.02/5  rDev -4.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
by JohnnyHopps from Indiana

Appearance - The beer poured a golden orange color with visible carbonation and a white head.

Smell - The beer smelled like an average sour but with hints dryness in back.

Taste - At the front, candy sugar collaborated with brown sugar. There was not much pumpkin or pumpkin seed amid the sourness, but it dried out in back. With each aftertaste, I wanted to drink more.

Mouthfeel - With fairly aggressive sourness came aggressive carbonation.

Overall - It was a good sour, but I did not get what the label promised.

Jan 27, 2019

3.65/5  rDev -12.9%
look: 5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
by wisrarebeer from Wisconsin

Bottled 24 Sep 2015. Thanks Tim!

Amber, clear color with great puffy head. Medium nose with characteristic American sour style. Traditional American-style sour, not as unbalanced and sour as others, but still more sour than balanced.

Nov 18, 2018

4.23/5  rDev +1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
by WOLFGANG from South Carolina

Draught

Apr 23, 2018

4.15/5  rDev -1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
by ManapuaMan from Massachusetts

Sour, crisp, complex. Picked up a couple bottles from the brewery - enjoyed one within a couple weeks and the other a few months down the road (properly stored). I'm sure continued aging would impact the flavor profile but, as it stands, there's no noticeable difference between the two. Copper- burnt orange hue with a thin, puffy head. Aroma is pear, green apple, musty cellar and oak. I can't pick up any pumpkin on the nose. Taste follows right along with pear, dried apricot, roasted pumpkin seeds and green apple. The pumpkin seeds come into play by way of a light toasted-ness in the body but there's no pumpkin flesh. Cheek tingling-sour that's more restrained than pronounced, musty and funky but not spicy. Outstanding beer that drinks crisp and finishes dry.

Apr 24, 2017