United Nations of Beer

Kennebunkport Pumpkin Ale

by Bret
(Las Vegas, NV)

Kennebunkport Pumpkin Ale (4.7% ABV)
Kennebunkport Brewing, Portland, ME, USA
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Every now and then I go to Trader Joe's to see what new and interesting beers they may have. I have found some winners and I have found some losers, this one was a dog.

By far, this was the worst of the pumpkin beers I have tried so far. The aroma of this beer smells of beer, I mean it smells like drinking a Bud or Coors or something nondescript. There is no real aroma of malt, hops or anything to do with pumpkin. No hop bitterness or earthiness is present. I couldn't sense any yeast esters or real malt sweetness. As the beer warms, nothing changes, it just smells of warm beer.

Kennebunkport's appearance was a light gold or straw color with no haze or cloudiness. It had a thin foamy head which vanished like something from a David Copperfield magic trick, my beer hadn’t even settled yet and it was gone. Excellent amount of carbonation, very champagne type bubbles coming from the bottom of the glass, and that was the high point.

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There was a light pumpkin pie flavor which gave way to some malt and hop bitterness, followed by some mild yeast sweetness. Great combination of pumpkin pie spices but no pumpkin flavor or characteristics. The taste lingers on the tongue for a little while but it ends there. There was a slight cinnamon and nutmeg aftertaste but nothing that resembles pumpkin.

The mouthfeel was crisp in texture, very refreshing and mildly spiced. A very mild bodied beer with good palatability but nothing special.

Overall, this was an extremely poorly spiced pumpkin flavored ale. I think I could get by without this one. If I really wanted to try this beer again, I would just poor some pumpkin pie spice into my glass and top it with a standard commercial American Lager.