First Pumpkin Beer of the Season Flops

 Last night I cracked open my first Pumpkin Beer of the season and I've got to say, I was less than impressed. I'd been excited about Cape Ann Fisherman's Pumpkin Stout since I heard about it from TJ Peckham, a rep for the brewery, at the Newburyport Yankee Homecoming Beer Festival this past July. He'd mentioned to me that their seasonal fall offering was hitting stores on August 1st, and when I finally came across it a couple weeks ago, I gleefully snatched up a six-pack. Here I was, all excited: I thought I couldn't go wrong with a pumpkin stout. How could I? I love stouts, love the combination of chocolate and pumpkin.... I honestly thought there was no way that a pumpkin stout could do me wrong. But it did. It did me real wrong, and here's why: 

 First of all, Fisherman's Pumpkin Stout pours completely flat. While this isn't exactly an unheard of occurrence in stouts, what a beer lacks in carbonation, it typically makes up for in thickness. Fisherman's apparently missed this memo. If there is one pet peeve I have about stouts, it's in regards to mouthfeel: I like my dark beers creamy, chewy, smooth and even syrupy on occasion. I do not,  on the other hand, like them to feel like under-carbonated Bud Light in my mouth; I just don't go for that. For me, undesirable and inappropriate (as fits the style) mouthfeel can ruin a beer. It's hard to convey the taste of roasted malts, rich chocolate and coffee, the typical flavors put forth by stouts, for example, via a thin, watery consistency. This principle definitely applies to Fisherman's Pumpkin Stout, with the mouthfeel detracting from the flavor.... though, to be honest, I'm not sure the flavor was doing too well on it's own anyways. Throughout the course of my glass I tried to pick up whatever subtle flavors and nuances I could out of this beer, but they were just that - extremely subtle. Pumpkin and fall spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.) were hinted at, and possibly could have married well with the stout style, had any of the characteristics of a stout been present. I was hoping to find the dark richness of malts and chocolate in my glass, but what I actually got was a very weak interpretation. Overall, the best thing I can say about this beer was that it didn't attack you with fake, cloying pumpkin and overwhelm with cinnamon spiciness, as some pumpkin style beers can do. Going the stout route is certainly an interesting and not overdone way of putting pumpkin into beer; unfortunately, while intentions were good, the delivery just fell flat. 


Have you tried Cape Ann Brewing Co.'s Fisherman's Pumpkin Stout? If so, what did you think? For everyone else, what's your favorite pumpkin beer? Maybe your suggestion will wind up in my glass next!