New Holland Brewing - Ichabod Pumpkin Ale

Today I'll be drinking Ichabod Pumpkin Ale from New Holland Brewing in Holland, MI.  I've had my fill of pumpkin beers for the season and I'm starting to get sick of them, so I can safely say this will be my last pumpkin beer of 2011.  Earlier this month I reviewed the Pumking by Southern Tier, which was truely pumpkin pie in a bottle....and that type of beer just isn't my mug 'o beer.  But, it's important to avoid bias and keep an open mind, especially when it comes to beer, because you never know when something can catch you by surprise and rock your face off with deliciousness.

This beer is brewed with real pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and is 5.2% alcohol.  The label depicts a mounted headless horseman, holding his pumpkin head in his arms.  Anyone ever read Washington Irving?  Halloween 101 - he wrote the short story The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow - Ichabod Crane is the schoolteacher who gets murderized by the headless horseman on the bridge.  Awesome Halloween-styled label, very catchy.  The beer is a dull rusty-brown color with a thin layer of tan-colored head forming after a rough pour.  The nose starts with a faint sour note, with nutmeg and pumpkin paste behind it.  When I come back again, cinnamon also comes through.  The flavor starts off with caramel malts.  Chalky, dry hints of spices including that nutmeg and maybe cinnamon?  The malts and the spices all mesh together into a big blob of blandness.  It tastes like an old, over-aged Marzen brew.  Nothing else there to describe! 

Overall Rating:   Hmmm, is this really a pumpkin ale?  Where's the pumpkin?  Normally, a muted pumpkin flavor would be a good thing, but in this case, there aren't any other positives to prop this beer up.  It's bland and watered-down, the only real distinctive flavor in there is nutmeg, and trust me that gets old after a couple sips.  D

New Holland Brewing - Imperial Hatter Imperial IPA

Today I'm going to try a brew from New Holland's High Gravity Series, the Imperial Hatter DIPA.  This is a red-headed step child of their perennial IPA, with a hefty 9.4% ABV behind the curtains.  There isn't much information available about the brew on their website, but they do include a cartoon drawing of the Imperial Hatter, and it looks just like my buddy Zikra (I'll let you decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing).

I'm pouring this 12oz brew into my ale glass.  The bottle states this is a 2010 vintage, no indication of exactly when it was bottled though.  The beer is a hazy dark golden hue, almost velvety in color, with a light white head the falls away quickly.  The aroma is pungent, malty, and loaded with boozy herbal citrus.  Also some honey sweentess present in there.

The taste starts off with a gritty, earthy bitterness on top of a blast of citrus.  Mostly grapefruits and some orange peels.  Immediately after that first wave of bitterness comes a lingering, astringent, very unpleasant alcohol burn that takes this beer off the rails.  It's almost got a rotten-sour-apple flavor to it, not good.  The malt backbone is noticeable and nice, with some of that honey sweetness coming through, but I just can't make it past this acidic booziness.  The body is heavy and creamy, and the carbonation is relatively light, fitting nicely in the style. 

Overall Rating:  It's hard for me to call this a bad beer...it's definitely not bad, there are some positive qualities to it including the citrusy hops and the nice malt characteristics.  However, I just couldn't overcome that sour booze flavor in the middle...  C-

New Holland Brewing - Rye Hatter

As Steve mentioned yesterday, we had one hell of a weekend.  Friends came to Minneapolis from all over the country, and lots of good times were had.  You should see some photos from our 4th of July excursion on Lake Minnetonka later this week...

Tonight I'm going to break out this 22oz bottle of Rye Hatter Rye Pale Ale.  This is New Holland's Pale Ale on Rye-roids....rye typically adds a level of spiciness and creaminess to beer that compliments other flavors, especially in an IPA.  There is very little information available on this brew on the website - I know I've commented on this before, but New Holland's website sucks!  There is very little actual information, and those tidbits of actual information are difficult to find among all the clutter.  A website overhaul might not be a bad idea, New Holland!  Shoddy website design always grinds my gears. 

Now for the fun part - beer!  This brew is a dark orange-amber color with a slight haze and less than an inch of creme head the hangs around for the duration of the drink.  The aroma is faint, with toasted rye bread, caramel malts, and some citrus fruits.  The flavor is FULL of spiciness up front, complimented by citrusy lemon rind bitterness.  These two flavors ride on the palate from start to finish and for a while after.  In the middle, caramel sweetness comes in and out of existence, always fleeting.  The mouthfeel is medium, creamy, with heavy carbonation. 

Overall Rating:  This is a nice Rye PA, lots of spiciness, but not overwhelming.  If you like this style, then this is definitely worth a try.  B+

New Holland - The Poet Oatmeal Stout

Today was a long day at work....last night returned home from a bachelor party trip to Las Vegas....so as you can imagine, it's a bit difficult to re-acclimate to normal human life.  That is a crazy town full of crazy people - definitely the best people-watching town out there.  I had a chance to try Stone Ruination IPA and Squatter's Hop Rising IPA, both phenomenal brews that aren't available in MN.  That was definitely a highlight of the trip for me ; ).

This Oatmeal Stout is brewed by New Holland Brewing, located in Holland, Michigan.  After fumbling my way through their clunky website, I was finally able to find a description of this brew.  I have to say, that website needs a serious overhaul - it's a disaster.  Anyway, The Poet is a year-round offering that comes in at 5.2%ABV.

The label depicts a crow in front of a full moon - cool design for an oatmeal stout.  I think the legend goes, that every time a crow caws, someone in the world has died.  I heard that in a movie...so it must be true.  This beer is nearly pitch black with a nice layer of sticky tan head - good retention.  The aroma is creamy coffee, burnt wood, and a hint of sweet chocolate.  The drink starts off with a crisp dark chocolate roasty flavor, along with some burnt wood and coffee grinds.  Very mild hop bitterness in the middle, and the finish is creamy and smooth.  The mouthfeel is a tad light for a stout, but nothing to complain about.

Overall Rating:  (4.2 out of 6.0)  This was an easy-drinking Oatmeal Stout.  The body was a little thin, but the flavors were nice and I didn't have any problem finishing this glass.  Nice winter session brew.