Three things immediately leaped out to me about this beer, other than the miner that looks a bit like a goblin.
- With a name like Tommyknocker it’s gotta be good right?
- Colorado Mountain Town Craft Beer… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyNTdqMa5-A
- Molasses?! Well that’s special, all spicy, semisweet, and rich… this could work with pumpkin!
So, does Tommyknocker Small Batch Pumpkin Harvest Ale work well with the molasses, or do they fight like a bunch of drunken miners?
Sight: There’s a certain deep brown molasses color to this beer. Completely different than most pumpkin beers. Nearly zero head.
Smell: The first thought was somewhere between soy sauce and fish sauce. The next thoughts were molasses, and light pumpkin. If there are any spices, the molasses overwhelms them.
Sip: The molasses carries through, and the pumpkin flirts in and out, but the molasses is just overwhelming. The mouth feel is firm, and slightly chewy. The beer is rather smooth, but a bit on the bitter side. [A.B.V. 5%]
Savor: Slightly nutmeg tinged molasses. It fades fast.
Overall, Tommyknocker Small Batch Pumpkin Harvest Ale is just too much molasses. Any semblance of pumpkin flavor that it may have started out with gets overwhelmed. That said, this concept seems totally rockable, but the amount of molasses should be reduced, crank up the nutmeg and cinnamon, and avoid clove or excess hops. Next year could be awesome then.
P.S. I don’t want to mean, but this is oppressively molasses laced. There are some things I’d rather drink than this (and would not be caught in public with, think Genny), but the concept of this beer is really not a bad one.
Verdict: Hasn’t struck gold yet.
Price: $1.89 / 12 oz
Idaho Springs, Colorado
http://tommyknocker.com/