Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale & Great Pumpkin Imperial Pumpkin Ale

Seldom do I combine multiple beers in one review, but there's a very good reason for this: other than both Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale and Great Pumpkin Imperial Pumpkin Ale having slightly different ABVs, they are essentially the same beer. Night Owl's ABV is 6.7%, while Great Pumpkin's is a measly 8.4%. Each of these pumpkin ales is pretty good, even an excellent sample of the seasonal style, but I'd expect an imperial anything to have a higher alcohol and/or hop content. Now this is the odd thing: on Elysian's website the notes for Great Pumpkin indicate that it has 0 IBUs...no hops! I don't know if you can even call it beer if there aren't any hops. If this is true, there is no detectable difference between Night Owl, at 18 IBUs (very mild hop bitterness) and Great Pumpkin at an alleged no IBUs. 

These pumpkin ales pour a distinctive hue - just like a pumpkin pie, with a scanty tan head. The spices are a perfect blend of cinnamon (which holds a prominent place in the spice pantheon), allspice, nutmeg and ginger. Both versions have a smooth consistency, and even the lower ABV version has a whiskey-like quality to it. Very smooth. I'd recommend either of these beers for anyone's Autumn beer drinking!

 

Elysian Puncuccino Coffee Pumpkin Ale

The second of four, Puncuccino is a pumpkin ale with added coffee flavoring. I was a it suspicious of this one - I wasn't sure of the two favors would go together - I like some pumpkin creamer in my coffee, but I hadn't considered how they would complement the beer. I'm not sure what the base beer was, it poured a dark, almost black, brown, suggesting a stout or a porter, but the consistency wasn't as creamy as one would expect from a stout. Maybe the base is a dunkel. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised at how the coffee and the pumpkin pie spice complemented the taste of the beer. The spices (allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger) are all pretty strong, but the coffee notes are quite subdued, yet you know that they're there. Kind of a fun ale to kick off the Autumn beer season. 
 

Elysian Dark O' The Moon Pumpkin Stout

One of the things that I love about the autumn season is pumpkin spice flavored...everything. And of course, there's the stouts and porters that go down so well during the cooler evenings. Tonight I picked up a 12-pack of Elysian pumpkin beers and tried out two of them. The first is Dark O' The Moon, a pumpkin stout. 

Before I even start commenting on the pumpkin-ness, I have to say that the flavoring aside, this is a really good stout. Thick and creamy, with a smooth layer of chocolatey goodness. Not too hoppy. When it comes to the spices, they're all there: nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and maybe a hint of vanilla and caramel. The spice and the underlying stoutness balance perfectly; the strong stout base needed (and received) strong spices to make it all come together. 

Highly recommended for fans of pumpkin stouts or porters.