Cigar City Brewing Good Gourd Imperial Pumpkin Ale

Hello beer lovers and welcome to another edition of the NorCal Beer Blog's brew review.

Tonight’s featured beer is Cigar City Brewing Good Gourd Imperial Pumpkin Ale - ale with pumpkin and spices added.

From the Cigar City Brewing website: “Legend has it that when a pumpkin comes into the world it is possessed by either a good or an evil spirit. Ours got all the good baby! Bursting with real pumpkin flavor and yummy pumpkin spices including Ceylon cinnamon, Jamaican all-spice, Zanzibar cloves and nutmeg, Good Gourd is a celebration of Fall and that spookiest of holidays, Halloween. Pair Good Gourd with pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie and costume parties.”

Let’s get started!

Appearance: Pours a dark reddish orange with a thin off-white head and almost zero lacing.

Aroma: Roasted pumpkin, graham cracker, pie crust, bready, vanilla, sweet caramel, cinnamon, clove, all-spice and nutmeg.

Taste: Roasted pumpkin, caramel, pumpkin pie spices - cinnamon, clove, all-spice and nutmeg , vanilla, bready-graham cracker goodness and a touch of alcohol heat in the finish.

Overall: Full bodied and absolutely worth the hype Cigar City Brewing Good Gourd Imperial Pumpkin Ale is one of the best pumpkin beers I’ve ever had.  This 8.5% ABV offering isn’t over the top spiced like some pumpkin beers and I was left wanting more…a lot more. Super creamy, balanced and not over the top sweet, if you find a bottle or several of this beer and you like the style grab as many as you can.

Cheers!

Mark Harvey

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