Gourd's Gone Wild
Tampa Bay Brewing Co.

 

The aroma is busting with pumpkin pie spice and caramel. There is also some pumpkin in there as well as root beer. The appearance is amber with a small head. The taste is like the aroma with super sweetness up front and a bitter finish. The palate is thin. Overall an interesting seasonal but not my favorite.

Note: I am in the process of moving all of my ratings from other beer sites to here, so that all of my ratings are consolidated in one place. The review below is an exact copy of my original RateBeer review from 09/15/2023.


16 oz. can, 6.0% ABV, CANNED ON: 07/18/23

AROMA: Sweet with moderate scents of brown sugar, pumpkin, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice. As the beer warms, I am finding that the scent of vanilla is becoming very predominant. And not in a bad way.

APPEARANCE: Pours a clear dark-copper with a whisper-thin, tan head, that dissipates fairly quickly and has almost no lacing. It's a shame that the head wasn't more present because, otherwise, this beer looks great in a clear Pilsner glass.

TASTE: Moderately sweet with the predominant flavors being pumpkin, nutmeg, and clove. After that, there are mild flavors of brown sugar and vanilla, with the vanilla really starting to shine during the finish. It's an odd transition between the flavors. But it's one that I am finding quite pleasing.

MOUTHFEEL: Medium-bodied with a slightly creamy texture and a little above-average carbonation. Not a bad mouthfeel, but if I had my druthers, I would prefer the texture to be a skosh creamier.

OVERALL: I can't say that I've ever had a pumpkin beer that tastes quite like this one. Usually, they fall in one of 2 camps, the pumpkin-pie-in-a-bottle camp, or the squash-in-a-bottle camp. The first, tends to be very sweet and very spiced (i.e. cloves, nutmeg, etc,). The second, tends to try and showcase the flavor of just the pumpkin and then maybe add a touch of sweetness. This beer seems to fall somewhere in the middle of those 2 camps. You get some sweetness with some spice flavor, but you also get a nice amount of pumpkin flavor. And none of the flavors really dominate. Instead, there is a nice balance between all them.

Every year, I try a handful of new pumpkin beers, and in all the years I've tried them, I have only found 2 or 3 that I like enough to put on my "must buy" list (i.e. I make sure to buy them each and every year). But, I have to say, I think I'll be adding this one to the list.

 

Beautiful head which contains tons of pumpkin vanilla flavor. Extremely smooth, sweet but not overly sweet, is very well crafted and has a lovely punch but nothing too strong abv wise, very drinkable and something that would age well. Had it within 3 weeks of brew date, would highly recommend getting this baby fresh.

Very yummy. Not as sweet as some other pumpkin beers (and that's a good thing.) Only 200cal 4g of carbs, so there's less guilt in drinking it over others.

 

 

Dark brown in color with a fingernail of beige around the rim and covering the majority of the top. The body is a bit murky. I smell nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon. I’m tasting nutmeg, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. The mouth is busy with spices and moderately carbonated.

 

Pours a deep orange pumpkin body with a quickly disappearing head of tiny bubbles.
Aromas of cinnamon, allspice, clove qnd brown sugar.
Taste is sweet but not cloying with all the spices you get on the nose.
Mouthfeel is a little thin and slick, almost an oily feel left on tue tongue.
Overall, a tasty pumpkin beer perfect for the fall holdays, Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Look – Dark copper in color with some decent haze and a hefty 2-3 fingers of off-white head

Aroma – Woah! There is an absurd…ABSURD amount of vanilla and cinnamon on the nose. Wow! I’m even getting big caramel notes too. Mild pumpkin is here. It smells a lot like marshmallow-covered yams. The base brown ale’s bready, nutty character is great too. It’s a real treat.

Taste – Up front the cinnamon is just as big as it was on the aroma. That vanilla bomb has stepped back just a little bit, but not by too much Absent from the aroma, but big here, is a big graham cracker crust flavor. The pumpkin has taken a step forward too, but the most noticeable thing is the malty brown ale is what finishes big and it lingers on every sip. Some good diversity and complexity on this one.

Mouthfeel – Body is medium with decent carbonation. For such a noticeable malt presence I was expecting this to finish noticeably dry, but that (thankfully) is not the case.

Overall – Superb aroma with a taste nearly as big to support it. For a 6% pumpkin beer it has incredible complexity while retaining high drinkability. Some beers claim to be liquid pumpkin pie, but this so far has come the closest to recreating that experience.

 

Dated 9/1/20, a little over 4 weeks since canning.

Pours a nearly clear dark amber in the glass with two fingers of rocky yellow/tan head. Nose of caramel malt, nutmeg, toasted almond, whipped cream and yams w/ marshmallows. Aromas were not wafting, kind of hard to pull out. Taste has emphasis on the marshmallowy sugary yams, followed by caramelized bread, slight cinnamon and nutmeg. You know what? After a few sips the "mashmallowiness" I was getting tastes EXACTLY like the marshmallows from Lucky Charms, kind of artificial, intensely sweet. Body is a medium- a little watery, but a little creamy while the head is still there. Low, prickly carbonation. High sweetness, bordering on artificial. If you're really in to yams with tons of marshmallows in them, during Thanksgiving, this is your brew, if not, I don't think this ones for you.

Four ounces served from an can into an Erdinger Oktoberfest stein during my second decennial pumpkin beer tasting.

Light nose aroma, but a big swirl reveals a peculiar aroma of stewed greens. With that in mind the cream soda taste that followed was a surprise, light presence of vanilla, pumpkin, cinnamon and sweetness. Interesting flavor. Light Cream ale mouthfeel and malty finish.

I'm not a big pumpkin guy, but I gave this a try. Poured nicely with a decent head and had the pumpkin and spice aroma. However, the taste. Not there for me. It tasted very much like cream soda. Drain pour after about 6 ounces.

 

Popping the top I get cinnamon and allspice. Pours to a deep orange with a beige orange head. Taste is all spice and cinnamon And a touch of clove with a nice malty backbone. Not overly sweet. Exactly like a liquid pumpkin pie with some breadyness for crust. I like it a lot.