Ballast Point Pumpkin Down Review

Name: Ballast Point Pumpkin Down
Style: Scottish Ale
ABV: 5.8%
IBUs: 22

A caveat before we start this review, I've received quite a few emails regarding my Oktoberfest op-ed article. Sure enough, I gotten some "All Oktoberfests aren't alike, so try *random Oktoberfest beer*" emails and tweets. Rest assured I will get around to reviewing them when I have the chance, there are some other beers I have to review first plus this week is rather busy for myself as you will see later one.

With that said, let's look at the other style of fall beers: Pumpkin Ales. This one is from Ballast Point and it's actually a variation of their Piper Down Scottish Ale, which I have sadly not had as of yet. It's called Pumpkin Down, and it's their Piper Down but made with pumpkin..and is pretty much stating the obvious at this point.

Appearance - Mildly hazy dark amber color with no visible carbonation. The head is rather thin but there's a good amount of lacing left along the sides of the glass.

Aroma - Getting some moderate pumpkin spice & roasted barley notes followed by some chocolate malts and light hints of toffee.

Taste - Not terribly different from the nose. You've got those fairly potent pumpkin spice notes that linger throughout the palate with some chocolate malts & roasted barley to back it up. The key difference here is that I'm picking up on some mild bitter hoppiness primarily towards the middle.

While I can't speak for the original Piper Down, this rendition of it is quite good! The pumpkin spice is complimentary to the overall dark flavor of the beer and, in ways I can't put my finger on, it just works. I know I've been a fairly harsh critic of Ballast Point in the past mainly because of their price vs. quality, this one is very good and worth checking out should you come across it.

Ballast Point Pumpkin Down - 9/10