Southern Tier Pumking Review

Name: Southern Tier Pumking
Style: Pumpkin Beer
ABV: 8.6%
IBUs: 25

Ever have one of those times where you could've sworn you did something and convince yourself that actually did it....when in all reality you didn't? Well that's the case with Southern Tier Pumking. You see a couple years back when I was living in Duluth, I reviewed a wide array of beers and in that whirlwind of fermented goodness, some beers fell through the cracks.

During the Fall of 2013, I had Pumking a couple times in the form of a bottle and I recall taking notes on this beer. However for reasons I cannot explain, those notes and the photo I thought I took of this beer vanished completely. Whatever the case, Pumking usually comes out right around the changing of the guard of the summer and fall seasons. It's also an incredibly strong beer, coming in at 8.6% ABV.

Appearance - Fairly clear orange color with a mild amount of visible carbonation. There really isn't too much in terms of a head through after the initial pour, with it briefly taking on a fizzy white appearance and there is no lacing left behind.

Aroma - Pie crusts, pumpkin spice, candy corn with some light floral notes and a hefty amount of toffee maltiness. I guess I've never noticed this before but it reminds me of a homebrew I had a couple years back that was actually made with pumpkin pie.

Taste - Strong pumpkin spice and pie crusts upfront. Getting some more of that candy corn and some cinnamon and nutmeg, which is more in the middle. In the end, it's more cinnamon, potent vanilla, light floral hops and a solid toffee malt backbone.

It may not be the most aesthetically pleasing beer out there but it more than makes up for it in the flavor and aroma. There are many pumpkin beers that come out every year but it's easy to see why this continues to be a crowd favorite amongst beer drinkers out there. Some will be turned off by the sheer sweetness of this beer, but I like this beer and you probably should too.

Southern Tier Pumking - 9/10

Southern Tier Krampus Review

Name: Southern Tier Krampus
Style: Imperial Helles Lager
ABV: 9%

In honor of the upcoming holidays, I will be looking at Krampus from Southern Tier Brewing, which is their winter seasonal release. What's a Krampus, you ask? According the German tradition, the Krampus is the counterpart to St. Nicholas and is described as being half-goat/half-demon.

While St. Nicholas rewards good children with presents, the Krampus rewards the bad children by whipping them with rods and rusty chains. According to legend, the Krampus will sometimes kidnap, eat and/or take the really bad children with him to hell. And you thought a lump of coal was scary idea as a kid.

Krampus pours a dark orange color with some mild visible carbonation. The head takes on a nice, white foamy appearance with some pretty good lacing.

Starting out in the aroma, I'm getting some fairly strong pale maltiness which is paired with an almost-as-strong hop profile of citrus & bitter hops. I'm also picking up on some boozy notes here too.

As for the taste, there is some fairly prominent pale malt and toffee sweetness up front. This is followed up by some mild roasted barley notes & strong bitter and citra hoppiness. The aftertaste is made of a bitter hoppiness and light booziness.

I think Krampus is a pretty good beer and a nice change of pace compared to other seasonal styles out on the market during the winter season. On top of that, it's very reasonably priced so be sure to pick this up should you get the chance.

Southern Tier Krampus - 8.5/10

Southern Tier 2X Steam Review

Name: Southern Tier 2X Steam
Style: California Common
ABV: 8.0%

I have to say that I've never encountered a California Common-style quite like Southern Tier's 2X Steam. Why is that, you ask? Because much like Leinenkugel's Uber-Oktoberfest, it's stronger interpretation of a beer style that is generally lower in terms of ABV level.

Much like the Big Eddy series, the 2X line-up consists of stronger offerings by Southern Tier. Needless to say I've never had an ”Imperial California Common” before so this will be interesting to try out.

2X Steam pours a darker orange color with a slight haze. The head has a thin, soapy appearance with some decent lacing. There is also no visible carbontion activity.

The aroma has very bready and yeasty characteristics up front, which isn't too surprising. I'm also getting some mild floral hop, roasted barley and pale malt notes in here as well

The flavor also doesn't deviate from the nose except for one key difference: The booziness. The booziness in the flavor is strong enough to the point where it tastes like rubbing alcohol! This to me, totally offsets any other flavors present.

The body is very light weight and with no carbonation, so it's a pretty easy to drink...provided that you don't take the flavor into consideration.

If you haven't already figured it out yet, I'm not really a fan of this beer. It's too boozy for it's own good and is probably my least favorite beer from Southern Tier. I love the brewery but I don't like this beer.

Southern Tier 2X Steam - 4/10

Southern Tier Live Review

Name: Southern Tier Live
Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 5.5%

Southern Tier is best known for their stronger interpretations of traditional beers (pumpkin, helles, etc.) but it seems that this offering is more traditional in terms of style. Named "Live" for it's.......liveliness or something, is an American Pale Ale, which according to the brewery, has strong citrus hops balanced with malt breadiness.

Live pours a darker hazy yellow color with a foamy head. The lacing retention is good and the carbonation is mild in appearance.

Bready yeasts permeate the nose along with lemon zest, citrus & piney hops, and pale malts. There's a bit of a Pilsner influence in the aroma that's pretty easy to distinguish.

Flavor-wise, it's got a surprisingly potent floral hoppiness and lemon-zest. This is all followed up by yeasts, barley and pale malts. It's a bit earthy overall and the citrus hops are mysteriously absent.

The carbonation is somewhat moderate in intensity but the overall weight is rather light, giving it a nice crisp feeling.

Though it lacks the citrus hoppiness touted in the commercial description, Southern Tier Live is still a good American Pale Ale. Check it out if you see it!

Southern Tier Live - 8/10

Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout Review

Southern Tier Brewing just released their Creme Brulee Stout this week, or Crème Brûlée if you want to be fancy. It's classified as an American Double/Imperial Stout, though Southern Tier calls it an Imperial Milk Stout with an ABV of 9.6%.

Creme Brulee is a french custard desert topped with caramelizd sugar and flavored with vanilla. The closest thing I've had to an actual Creme Brulee was a Frostop Creme Brulee-flavored Root Beer when I was in high school; It was an....interesting flavor but it really didn't mix well together.

To start off, it pours a pitch black color with a off-white head that has a slightly brown color to it. You can also make out some mild carbonation rising up along the sides of the glass.

The nose is a surprisingly vibrant mashup of Vanilla, Cheesecake, Chocolate Malts, Amaretto and Caramel Marciato. The aroma is truly unique amongst other stouts which I have tried out; It smells kinda like an Iced Coffee/Milk drink that one would get from Starbucks.

For the flavor you have Vanilla, Butterscotch, Cheesecake Milk Chocolate, Caramel Marciato and Roasted Malts; Which all become more noticeable as it warms up. It finishes with a bittersweet dark chocolate aftertaste.

Body is in the middle in terms of weight and the carbonation is a couple steps below that, allowing that extra dimension of the flavor to shine through.

I've had a couple of Southern Tier's offering before and thought they were decent, but I was very impressed by this. The flavor is pretty unique and reminds me of eating a slice of Chocolate Cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory, but at the same time it's still very much an Imperial Stout. It costs around $8.99 in my area for a bomber, but it was well worth the price of admission.

Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout - 9.25/10