Archive for the 'Pyramid' category
Buffalo Bill’s Brewery Pumpkin Ale
Okay, this is the 2nd day of some brewery pretending to be someone else. In this case, Pyramid Brewing out of Seattle has decided to be Buffalo Bill’s Brewing Company for this Pumpkin ale. I mean, I understand the idea, but these days I associate this too much with Anheuser-Busch and all of their craft-beer wannabes. Did it work out that well for them? Do you really need to do it? Pyramid? Really? You’re a pretty well respected brewery, and I’m not sure that this is necessary. At any rate, I’ll review it…
So, it’s the first pumpkin ale of the year for me, and it pours the expected dark golden color with a bit of amber thrown in. In the nose this is, well, quite pumpkin-y. It’s actually more along the pumpkin pie line, with heavy notes of cinnamon and holiday spice. In the mouth, this beer is just what it claims to be – full o’ pumpkin. Again, it contains a lot of cinnamon and spice that places this squarely in the pumpkin pie category. In fact, the spice is pronounced enough that I don’t get much else from this beer. It’s hard to say how I feel about this. It is a tasty beer, without a doubt. And, when you consider that it claims to be a pumpkin beer, we can’t fault it for having so much pumpkin flavor. However, I do feel like there are pumpkin ales out there that are altogether tastier and more refined, although they may contain less of the actual pumpkin flavor. So, I don’t know. If you like a pumpkin pie, and you want a beer that tastes just like pumpkin pie, then you’ll love this. However, if you’re into subtlety and want just a touch of pumpkin in your pumpkin beer, then steer clear of this one…
Magic Hat and Pyramid merging?
Pyramid Imperial Hefewezien
Official time is 12:10 so I have been 27 for 10 minutes now and thus it is time for yet another stellar review from yours truly. This beer comes to you from one of my original favorite breweries. Pyramid is very accessible, even to the novice good beer drinker, and I fell in love with their regular hefe before I knew what a “good” beer was. I found this beer at Sam’s Blue Light today and was stoked that they ventured out past their typical four varietals of the hefe, the curveball, the apricot, and the thunderhead. I’ve never actually had their amber so I can’t comment on it but their snowcap ale is always a safe winter seasonal. The imperial hefe is the first 22oz I’ve seen from them so I’m very excited to find out what it has to offer…
It has the very opaque yellow hue of a typical wheat beer but the smell is quite contrary to what I expected. I smells more like a domestic lager, almost like a bud or busch light. I haven’t actually tasted it to this point and right now I am very saddened by what may “lie” ahead, pun intended. As Ben said it doesn’t give away any of its characteristics through the aroma. After the first taste I can’t help but turn my nose up to this beer. I tastes like a “regular” beer with little to no outstanding flavor. There is nothing that I would consider a hefe quality and quite frankly the only thing that separates it from a typical domestic is it’s apparent alcohol size. There is a milky undertone that wants to be a hefe but the bitter, skunkiness takes center stage and makes this beer quite a disappointment. I know the folks at pyramid tried to make a big beer but this tastes more like a malt liquor than a quality high gravity brew. I love the pyramid brand but i can’t recommend this in any way shape or form. I had high hops for the Imperial Hefewezien but alas it has fallen short. thanks for making my first beer of my 27th year on this earth a terrible one!
