Pumpkin Ale

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

My family and I love pumpkin. We love pumpkin pie, pumpkin coffee, and even pumpkin beer. Bier Brewery has released their Pumpkin Ale. The pumpkin ale is 5.3% abv and 14.1 IBUs. They are limiting customers to one growler per person, per visit. Get in and try it while you can.

The beer pours out a golden color with head that goes away fast. It smells like pumpkin with a nice breadiness (almost like an unbaked pumpkin pie). It has a nice light mouth feel with just a bit of sticky sweetness.

The beer itself tasted like an Oktoberfest that had been poured through a pumpkin. The pumpkin was the dominant flavor, taking over most of the beer taste. There was basically no hops. I understand that its beer, it has hops, but no real bitterness. Although that may sound right up my alley, it allowed the pumpkin flavor and the sweetness to run wild. Normally with a pumpkin you get a bit more spiciness and that comes predominately from the hops. 

I wish there would have been a little bit more complexity. It tasted a bit like a mouthful of pie filling.

I didn't hate it, but it is not my favorite pumpkin beer. 

As you can see there are three beers poured in the picture above, and my wife loved it. 

I give it a 2.

Professor Beer:

I really enjoyed Bier's Pumpkin Ale.  It was more of a pumpkin pie beer than a pumpkin beer.  It had a strong cinnamon/spice flavor, but it was well balanced with the pumpkin and not overpowering.  Also, it didn't make the mistake of being too sweet, like many pumpkin beers do.  I found it to be an excellent pumpkin beer, and I will definitely be having a few more this month.

Autumn Marzen

I like Oktobefest beers. I would drink them throughout the year if it were allowed or easily done, but maybe then they wouldn't be as special.

Bier has put together their Autumn Marzen, which is a mostly traditional Bavarian Oktoberfest. It has 6.6% abv and 19.4 IBUs.

The beer pours an amber color with a fine line of white head that stays around the edge of the glass throughout your drinking experience. It has a fruity smell with just a little bit of hops and breadiness. It reminds me of my mothers home made raisin nut bread. Damn, I like her raisin nut bread, now I'm hungry. There is a light mouth feel, which surprised me because of how red the beer was.

The beer starts off with a fruity sweetness. There is a hint of caramel and cinnamon flavor to the malts. It has a crisp hoppy flavor at the end that tingles the tongue just enough that you know it is there. Sweetness and spice are expertly balanced, leaving enough of the beer flavor to keep me super happy.

This is one of my favorite Oktoberfests I have had this year. I give it a 4.

The Scene: Bier Brewery

Bier Brewery and Taproom is one of my favorite places to stop on a Friday. They open at 3, so by the time I am off there are always a couple people bellied up to the bar sampling the beer.

5133 East 65th Street
Indianapolis, IN 46220

The best part about Bier, is that they are releasing new beers every week. When you get to the tasting room  you can belly up to a standard bar or sit at one of their tables, and ask them to line you up. (this is the best part, see the picture below) Then they line up one of everything for you to try all of their great new creations. The staff is incredibly knowledgeable and always happy to talk shop. For people new to the beer scene, I would recommend they stop here first and try and get a little bit of an education. You get a warm personal touch from the guys and gals at Bier.

Their flagship beer is PDG (pretty damn good) IPA. They change the styles that they produce with the season, so you can expect a constantly changing menu with a ton of variety.

Everyweek the board is new and they have cards describing each of their unique beers for the week. This gives you abv, ibu and some descriptions. They really do a lot to help educate their customers.

   

Bier also hosts a variety of events. They have a great parking lot area and always have a food truck or two outside. Grab a bit and a beer.

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Two Pull

Granite City's Two Pull is a blend of their Northern Light Lager (4.50% ABV) and their Brother Benedict's Bock (5.10% ABV).

It is a light amber color, with a thin, off-white head.  The head settles quickly, with no significant lacing.  The Two Pull is well balanced, with a sweet malty taste and a slight hoppy flavor.  It was very crisp, with nice carbonation and a light body.

I found the Two Pull to be a very drinkable beer.  The combination of the Northern Light Lager and the Brother Benedict's Bock is, surprisingly, better than the sum of its parts.  While not the flashiest or most flavorful beer I've had, this is a nice, easily drinkable that I'll be happy to sit down and have a pint (or, more likely, a 25oz mug since I'm a Mug Club member) of anytime.

Oktoberfest - Thr3e Wisemen

Thr3e Wisemen made one hell of a Oktoberfest. Sadly, I take a shitty picture when I have been drinking. My bad.

This beer came out with a nice golden brown color, darker than a lot of Oktobefests I've had this season, and a snow white head that stuck around throughout the entire pint.

This Oktoberfest was maltier than most Oktoberfests I've had this year. It had a great caramel malty flavor in the body of it with some nice fall spices. The spices were accented by the hops which gave it a robust all around good taste. With all the maltiness, I was impressed that they were able to keep the sweetness more subdued. This helped keep it from just becoming a sweet beer with nothing else. There was a great sweetness upfront with a really crisp dry backbone. I could drink this all night, in fact...

I had a couple of pitchers, and the last pint was going down just as smoothly as the first.

I give this Oktobefest a 4.