Wild Onion Pumpkin Ale

Whenever I go to a beer store that has a mix-a-six section, I usually see some leftover seasonal beers that are on sale. This beer is leftover from pumpkin beer season, which now seems to run from July to September, so I know this beer is not the most fresh, but I’ve never seen it before, so I decided to give it a shot. It’s available in six-packs and on draft.

ABV: 5.4%

Style: Pumpkin Ale

Trivia: According to the brewery website, “Celebrate the harvest season with our classic autumnal brew. This crisp ale brewed with spices has hints of pumpkin pie and a rich, malty aroma.”

Random: Seasonal creep is beyond irritating in beer. It’s resulted in me having less and less pumpkin beer every year.

This brew poured with half a finger of white head that dissipated instantly and left no lacing on the glass. The body was a clear, amber color with moderate carbonation. The nose had a lot of nutmeg and cinnamon, almost too much. There was also ginger and clove. There was no sweetness to back up all of this spice. The taste started with a note of bitterness, which I’m not used to in pumpkin beers, and it was definitely not pleasant. It had a musty pumpkin taste next and then went into muted clove and nutmeg. Cinnamon came through next. The body was on the light side with light carbonation. The finish was thankfully quick with lots of spice. A can of this was $1.50 ($.12 per ounce). This beer was not balanced and the musty note made this difficult to drink. This isn’t worth a try.

Untappd Rating: 3.0/5.0

Wild Onion Misfit

Another day, another beer. I’ve been seeing a lot more beers from Wild Onion and they’re usually in the mix-a-six section, which tends to mean that it’s not very popular. Hopefully, I’m pleasantly surprised.

ABV: 6.5%

Style: American IPA

Trivia: According to the brewery website, “A velvety, chewy IPA with the perfect blend of hop bitterness, aroma, and malt body. Centennial and Citra hops give Misfit a pleasantly bitter kick, along with a hint of citrus.”

Random: The can art on this is very unique and inviting. The only thing that I’m not a fan of, is the fact that there seems to be no theme from beer to beer with the brewery.

This beer poured with a half a finger of cream color head that dissipated quickly. It left no lacing on the glass. It did leave a crown on top of the body. The body was very cloudy and was a dark orange with no visible carbonation. The nose had some bright citrus zest and tangerine flesh. It quickly went into sweet, cereal malt. The taste started with a juicy citrus note, again tangerine, but also mango. Grapefruit and pine came through too with some fresh squeezed orange juice. The malt that came through next was more cereal-like than caramel, but gave the beer some balance. It had a medium thick body with high carbonation. The finish was quick with the same citrus. A can of this was $1.50, which came to $.12 per ounce. I expected this beer to be lacking in flavor, given the other beers I’ve had from the brewery, but this was a pleasant surprise.

Untappd Rating: 4.0/5.0

Wild Onion Faux Pas

There is a lot of talk in the beer world about session beer. This beer is billed as a session, although it’s 6.5% ABV, which is way above the session mark for me (and in doing some research, most people would agree). I don’t know if they were trying to capitalize on the “session beer” popularity, but the label is just plain confusing. Now that I’m off my soapbox, let’s see if it was any good.

ABV: 6.5%

Style: Belgian IPA

Trivia: According to the brewery website, “A ‘Session IPA’ that balances the distinct aromas and flavors of our Belgian Wit yeast strain with the tropical, vibrant Citra hop. The name comes from the French term for mistake-a few years ago a mishap in the brew house became one of our favorite seasonal releases.”

Random: I think Val got this for me at Canals…or maybe it was Pennington Buy Rite?

This beer poured with a one finger, cream-colored head. It dissipated slowly, but did not leave any lacing on the glass. Instead, it left a crown on top of the very cloudy, bright orange body. It had some visible detritus floating in it as well. The nose had grass, orange segments, clove and some cracker as well. The taste had more clove than the nose. Then, some cracker came through. Orange segments and orange pith came next. It was more towards the Belgian side of Belgian IPA. The body was light with high carbonation. The finish was lengthy with orange and clove. This beer was pretty good and had nice flavor. A single can set me back $1.55 ($.13 per ounce). I wish it had a bit more balance, other than that, I have no complaints.

Untappd Rating: 4.0/5.0

Wild Onion Phat Chance

One of the kittens found a furniture pad, you know, the little felt pads that have a sticky side and a fuzzy side. I’m not quite sure what he thought it was, but he went nuts over it. Simcoe, unlike his brother, Citra, is going to be the hunter. His brother is much more into relaxing on soft, warm things. Now that you’ve heard about the feline dynamics of the kittens, let’s talk about beer.

ABV: 5.2%

Style: American Blonde Ale

Trivia: According to the brewery website, “A uniquely satisfying ale, brewed exclusively with Canadian 2-Row Pale Malt and Centennial hops. The use of only two ingredients highlights the fruity/citrus-like character of the Centennial hop, one of our favorite varieties from the Pacific Northwest.”

Random: One of the things that craft beer tends to point out about big beer is how they use women to sell beer. This can seems to embrace that as well…just saying.

This brew poured with a one finger, white head that dissipated slowly and left some lacing on the glass. The body was a hazy orange color with no visible carbonation because of how cloudy the beer was. The nose had grain, wheat and yeast. There was nothing else to the nose. The taste was not good. It had light, grassy hops and then transitioned into grain and this weird note of tin. It had bread at the end. The body was watery and thin with moderate carbonation. The finish was thankfully quick with bread and the same tin taste. A can of this will run you $1.49 ($.12 per ounce). Despite the affordability of the beer, I found it unpleasant and one that I would avoid having again. It’s almost a drain pour.

Untappd Rating: 2.0/5.0

Wild Onion Jack Stout

Today was just a rough day at work. I didn’t get home until late and the other half managed to get home even later than me. We’re now lounged out on the couch watching “So You Think You Can Dance,” which the other half really likes and I have to admit, I’ve really gotten into as well. Anyways, onto yet another brew that you can’t get in Jersey. Let’s see how it went.

ABV: 6%

Style: Oatmeal Stout

Trivia: According to the brewery website, “A very full-bodied oatmeal stout with five different roasted malts and a thick, creamy texture. Served on nitrogen, this ale is truly a meal in a glass.”

Random: Spain managed to get eliminated from the World Cup today. How the mighty have fallen.

This brew poured with a one finger, relatively thick tan head that dissipated very quickly and left no lacing on the glass. The body was black with no visible carbonation due to the color. The nose had notes of black coffee and chocolate and oats. The first thing that hit me about the taste was how thin the beer was. I was expecting something with a bit more body. Once I got over how thin the beer was, I got notes of milk chocolate and coffee with some oat softness. The flavors were well-balanced and the oats were pretty prominent, which was nice. It had high carbonation as well. The finish was really short with milk chocolate and coffee. Despite the fact I thought the beer was a touch too thin, it was flavorful and went down easily. It’s not the best of the style I’ve ever had, but worth a shot.

Untappd Rating: 3.5/5.0

Wild Onion Paddy Pale Ale

I was exhausted today, for no real reason. Work was really busy too, so at least the day went by quickly. I headed off to the gym after work and had a pretty good workout. I think that I pulled my hamstring, so I had to take it easy on cardio, but otherwise a solid workout. I came home figuring that there would be no power since we had crazy storms, but I was lucky to find out that we had plenty of power. Onto tonight’s brew, yet another selection from the Massachusetts stash.

ABV: 5.6%

Style: American Pale Ale

Trivia: According to the brewery website, “This American-style pale ale is our flagship brand and celebrates the blending of intense hop character and crisp, malty mouthful. 5.4% ABV.”

Random: I love that the Phillies game is blacked out on ESPN because it thinks that I’m in a Philly market and don’t get the game because I don’t get all the Philly channels. Seriously?

This poured with a one finger white head that dissipated quickly and left no lacing on the glass. The body was a dark, hazy orange color with moderate visible carbonation on it. The nose had lots of fresh grapefruit on it. This smelled yummy. The taste…not so wonderful. I was expecting a bit of fresh grapefruit to jump out at me, and it just didn’t. The citrus was pretty muted and it transitioned quickly into an almost metallic taste (and I doubt it was because this came out of a can). There was also a bit of biscuit to it. The body was really thin and the carbonation was a bit flat. I don’t know if this was an old beer that was past its prime or what, but this really was not a great beer. The finish was a bit on the bitter side and unfortunately lingered for awhile. I wouldn’t have this beer again. Or, if I did, I’d check the freshness date (if the can had one).

Untappd Rating: 1.0/5.0