Saint Arnold Pumpkinator:
Hello one and all and welcome back to a very special episode of “What the hell is he drinking now?”   Today we look at one of the rarer beers out there, one brewed by our friends at Saint Arnold's and is one of the more sought after beers in the region (I learned this week that St. Arnolds distributes to not only Texas but our good friends to the East): Pumpkinator.  Now any special edition beer from Saint Arnold's is sought after by one and all but this beer has been special since it was first brewed as a Divine Reserve No. 9 batch (we sampled No. 12 this year just to give you perspective) and became their “answer to how pumpkin beer ought to taste” and I totally agree with that philosophy.  This is an imperial pumpkin stout with is a pretty rare beer in it’s own right since most pumpkin brews are more lager like then anything and by allowing this beer to be a stout, it helps develop flavors that aren’t easy to come by in any ole pumpkin beer.  The beer pours a rich black color with a nice mud colored head that settles down to a good film on the surface and great lacing on the interior of the glass and all of this and a nose of fresh baked pumpkin pie too!  Sorry, got excited there for a moment.  The initial taste is like taking a bite of whipped cream laden pumpkin pie and take that flavor and as it rolls through your palate with a strong alcohol under tone and you understand just how this beer tastes.  The after taste is a light roasted pumpkin flavor that is sans the sweetness and the a touch of malts does show up with the exhale.  A silver medal winner this year in the World Beer Cup competition (Field Beer or Pumpkin Beer), this beer may be floating around at an out of the way beer store but your best bet at finding it is on tap at a bar somewhere here in Texas or Louisiana (my apologies to the other 48 states).  Probably the best pumpkin beer I’ve had this year and yes, that mean’s it’s better then the Dogfish Head Punkin.  Let the sky fall on that news.