Fegley's Brewworks The Devious Pumpkin

So I grabbed this little brew on a recent trip back to PA to visit my folks, the Devious Imperial Pumpkin from Fegley's BrewWorks. The BrewWorks has a couple of brewpubs in the Allentown/Bethlehem area that I call home, so I'm looking forward to this one. Plus, I've got a few old friends that work there, as well as a number of family members that consider themselves regulars. So let's see how it stacks up, shall we?

Pours out a really dark shade of orange, like a dark rust or mahogany color. I think this is one of the darker pumpkin beers I've seen this year. The foam is really lively, with a full two-fingers of head, in a creamy, off-white color. The head retention isn't long though, it subsides fairly quickly, leaving behind a mild lacing on the glass.

The aromas are nice, but mild. There's a little bit of pumpkin, but it's barely noticeable. The spices stand out a little stronger, but are also not as evident as the spices in some other brews this year.

Taking a sip I'm, well, disappointed a little. The spices are not as present on the palate as they were on the nose, and I'm not really getting a ton of pumpkin flavors. As the beer warms up, I'm getting a bit more pumpkin, but even less on the spice-side of things. Don't get me wrong, the Devious Pumpkin is quite drinkable, and I'm sure many people would enjoy it. But I set my standards for pumpkin beer pretty high, and this isn't quite hitting the same mark that's been set this year.

Now, I've heard a few rumors that maybe I've got a bottle from last year's batch. There's no "best by" or "bottled on" date anywhere on the bottle, so I can't quite be sure. And I picked this bottle up at a Wegman's the latter part of August. Due to the kinda flat flavors, I'm hoping this is a leftover from last year. But for the sake of Wegman's stocking practices, I hope they didn't put last year's Devious Pumpkin out on the shelf at the same time as this year's Pumking, that's just bad karma.

I've also had several of my old friends tell me that the Devious Pumpkin is significantly better on tap. Unfortunately, I probably won't make it back to PA while they're still serving it, so my comparison will probably have to wait till next year.

Fegley's BrewWorks

Devious Imperial Pumpkin

TCSH Rating: 7.5/10

Aka - Worth a try, but not my favorite

Eli

Bibo Ergo Sum