November 13, 2022

BeerBazaar Scary Pumpkin arrives for the season

BeerBazaar Scary Pumpkin for 2022:
Pumpkin and spice and all things nice.

The BeerBazaar Brewery in Kiryat Gat (with pubs and retail outlets in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv) has once again brought out its seasonal Scary Pumpkin Ale.  (The Hebrew name is closer to "Wicked Pumpkin," but whatever.)  This beer comes out in time for the North American pumpkin-eating season of Halloween-Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin ales have a huge following in the U.S.  There are those who await the fall avalanche of these beers with great anticipation, while others cringe at the very name.  I myself am a tepid fan.  Pumpkin and/or pumpkin pie spices in a beer can be quite enjoyable, certainly more so than many other flavored beers.  

This year's Scary Pumpkin was just that.  The taste of the earlier version (or versions) has long evaporated from my memory, but going by my notes, it wasn't much different from the 2022 edition.

(Read about the first BeerBazaar Scary Pumpkin here.)

The beer is brewed with pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice: About the same ingredients my wife uses to bake her pumpkin pie.  The pie has 0% alcohol; Scary Pumpkin has 5.8%.  

I'm not afraid of no Scary Pumpkin!

It's a hazy golden amber, the color of fall and pumpkins, with a thin, fizzy head.  You get aromatics of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, along with a solid malt background.

With the first sip, you taste sweet pumpkin spice, but this soon balances out with the hop bitterness.  Cinnamon and nutmeg are also prevalent, with some light cookie dough.  Cooked pumpkin has a very mild taste and I was unable to detect it amidst all the other spices.  Even with all the pumpkin pie flavors, Scary Pumpkin holds its own with real beer parameters: Malt, hops and yeast.

So if you're looking for a beer that delivers on the autumn pumpkin pie flavors, this is a good one.         

1 comment:

Thanks for your comment. L'chayim!