2021 Halloween Beers

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Elysian Brewing Company, Halloween, Oakholm Brewing Company, Pumpkins, Spencer Trappist Brewery

Hello friends!  It has certainly been awhile since I last posted here but the Halloween season inspired me to share some of my most notable beers from the past month.  I know pumpkin brews haven’t been my thing in the past, but for some reason this month I’ve really been into them.

Pumpkin Carver – Oakholm Brewing Company (5.7%)

Beer number one I came across at a farm before picking apples.  The brewery was pouring two beers that day and being in the fall spirit I opted for the pumpkin brew (on the right).  It had a slightly sweet and mildly roasted malt base that took on notes of fresh pumpkin around midsip and  combined into a clean, well blended finish.  Silencing the purist in me I went for the caramel and cinnamon rim and honestly pretty happy I did.  The beer didn’t need the embellishment, but it did compliment the flavors very nicely.

The Munkster Mash – Spencer Brewing (5.2%)

My next beer poured a very appealing golden orange body topped by a thin layer of white foam.  It had a very approachable and easy going smooth light malt taste upfront accentuated by hints of yeast and subtle notes of pumpkin and spice.  The medium-plus body carrier these flavors near perfectly into a clean, subtle finish.  This was a truly good beer that was a real pleasure to enjoy outdoors on a beautiful fall day.

Dark O’ The Moon – Elysian Brewing Company (7.5%)

Now for something a little different, this brew poured dark with not even a hint of lacing.  It’s distinct cinnamon and chocolate aromas were picked up immediately on the front end taste.  It picked up some extra spice notes on the backend but the creaminess of the base stout kept them in check which j definitely appreciated.  Another solid brew.

Night Owl – Elysian Brewing Company (6.7%)

My next pumpkin ale poured to a dark copper body with some slight off-white lacing.  The taste and smell both featured fairly prominent vegetal pumpkin, sweet malt, and spices though fortunately the spice element wasn’t as potent as the scent suggested.  A very nice pumpkin beer that approached my spice limit without surpassing it

The Great Pumpkin – Elysian Brewing Company (8.0%)

This next brew was labeled as an imperial pumpkin ale.  It started out innocently enough by pouring to a festively murky orangish amber body, but unfortunately things took a downward turn from there.  The smell was sweet with a noticeable spice presence.  On the sip I got some doughy pumpkin pie notes that were quickly got overpowered by an unbalanced blast of nutmeg and allspice.  The finish was boozy and unexpectedly tart.  This was a miss for me.

Punkuccino – Elysian Brewing Company (6.0%)

My final beer for this post poured a dark coffee color with some minimal off-white lacing around the edges.  Tastewise creamy light roast coffee mixed with hints of chocolate cinnamon and nutmeg in the background in roughly that order. I could nitpick and suggest that this could do with a bit more body, but overall this was another one that I really enjoyed.

And that’s it for now.  Until next time, Happy Halloween!

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Halloween Double Feature: Lord Hobo Brewing Company – Doom Sauce

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Halloween, Lord Hobo Brewing Company, October

Hello and welcome to the after dark edition of my annual Halloween double feature!  Hope everyone is having a safe and enjoyable night so far.  Let’s take a quick look at my featured beverage this evening!

Beer Name: Doom Sauce

Brewery: Lord Hobo Brewing Company (Woburn, MA)

Style: Black Double IPA

ABV: 7.8%

Description: A darker take on the brewery’s popular Boom Sauce NEIPA, 

Appearance: It poured to a deep black body topped by a bubbly light tan foam.

Smell: Light roasted malt with hints of citrusy bitterness.

Taste: Creamy, smooth dark mark swirled with citrus and tropical notes upfront.  Keeps the malt backbone through mid-sip and ends with a lightly toasty and moderately hoppy finish

Mouthfeel: Medium, pleasantly smooth body with moderate carbonation

Hype: None.  I didn’t even know this existed until a friend brought it over a few days ago.  Talk about a pleasant surprise!

Overall: I really liked this one.  It is everything one could want from the style and super smooth to drink.  Black IPAs were kind of my thing when I first got into beer years ago and since the style has been out of favor for some time now, finding a really good one is a nice treat indeed.  Grab this if you can!

Halloween Double Feature: Book Review: The Barrow Will Send What it May, Margaret Killjoy (Book Two in the Danielle Cain Series)

Tags

Anarchists, Book, Book Review, Halloween, Margaret Killjoy, October, Reading

Good morning and Happy Halloween!  It’s time again for my annual double feature pairing a spooky story with a Halloween-themed beverage.  Tradition has the book going first and I see no reason to change that now.  Getting the honors this year is Margaret Killjoy’s The Barrow Will Send What it May, the second novella following the adventures of a young woman named Danielle Cain and a group of anarchist drifters turned demon hunters.

We talked about friends in common who weren’t dead or missing. The state of the anarchist movement and its role in fighting the rise of fascism and nationalism globally. Then, more interesting to me, the state of magic.

The story picks up almost immediately after the end of book one, with our heroes on the road and looking to quickly put some distance between themselves and the multitude of dead law enforcement officers left behind by their encounter with the demon Uliksi back in Freedom, Iowa.  They are headed west and debating whether it’s best to lay low or look for ways to further their understanding of magic and the occult.  That decision, however, soon gets made for them when they hitch a ride with a woman who claims to have been returned from the dead.  She drops them off in the town of Pendleton, Montana where they learn a bit more of her story from some like-minded folks squatting in/running the town library.  From that point on, it’s only a matter of time until they cross paths with the local necromancer and find themselves once again involved with some very powerful magic.

Coming in at a crisp 104 pages, I flew through this story completely entertained throughout.  It had a lot of great energy, mixing in elements of mystery, suspense, humor, and politics (in particular examinations of power and gender) into a bundle of eerie fun.  While the story was perhaps a bit episodic, it successfully provided some much anticipated character development and world expansion.  While in retrospect the supernatural elements were a bit cliche this time around, I didn’t so much mind as the strength of these stories so far is really in the characters.  The cast is quite diverse, with a variety of races and orientations well represented and welcomed throughout the story.  My favorite characters at this point are probably the white female lead Danielle, for her witty and honest internal monologues and Vulture, a black trans man with a slight obsession with Instagram an anarchist exploits.  Overall, though, I enjoyed them all individually and collectively and liked seeing how the various companions, friends, lovers, and those somewhere in between get along with each other and react to the unusual direction their lives have gone.  They just seem like good people and are now officially in the running as one of my top literary crews.

My only regret about this story is that the series hasn’t continued on yet.  Given some of the possibilities left open by certain developments there needs to be at least another novella of two!  I absolutely love my time with these characters and am eagerly awaiting another chance to go on an adventure with them.

Allagash Brewing Company – Haunted House

Tags

Allagash Brewing Company, Beer, Beer Review, Fall, Halloween, Maine, New England, October

With Halloween right around the corner, at last the time is right to unveil my final pickup from Allagash Brewing Company last month!

Beer Name: Haunted House

Brewery: Allagash Brewing Company

Style: Hoppy Dark Ale

ABV: 6.66%

Description: Inspired by the brewers’ love of porters and their own House beer, a low-ABV Belgian pale ale.

Appearance: Black body with about a finger’s worth of tan head

Smell: Not entirely unlike a Belgian pale ale mixed with a toasty porter.

Taste: It opened with notes of light roast coffee, dark chocolate and creamy dark malt upfront.  Midsip it took on some more grainy, pale malt tastes.  It closed with a well balanced blend of Belgian yeast, earthy hops, and roast coffee.

Mouthfeel: Smooth medium body with slightly below moderate carbonation.

Hype: I had some higher than usual excitement about this one.  It had eluded me in years past so I was happy to finally track it down.

Overall: Smooth and easy drinking despite the rather interesting blend of tastes.  An excellent Halloween treat!

Random Tag Tuesday: Hallotober Tag

Tags

Fall, Halloween, October, Random Tag Tuesday

Dusting off another one of my favorite prompts, it is time to welcome back Random Tag Tuesday!  For those that don’t remember, the name of this series is a throwback to my college days when Tuesdays were the day for, well, random adventures.  It should come as no surprise that this week I am taking on a very timely tag about one of my favorite times of year.

What’s your favorite thing about October?

It’s a combination of the weather and outdoor activities.  Between the cooling temperatures and beautiful foliage how could you not want to go outside this time of year?  Walks in the woods and visits to farms are particular favorites.

Are you a big celebrator of Halloween?

Yes!  Pre-child my wife and I would meet up with friends in Salem, MA to wander about town (in costume of course) and attend various events.  Post-child things have calmed down a little bit, but we do still decorate and find family activities to take part in.

What’s your favorite horror movie?

So I’ll let you all in on a not so well kept secret: I don’t really like horror movies!

Would you rather a cozy night in watching horrors or a big night out in a costume?

In case you couldn’t figure it out from the last two questions: a big night out!  Halloween is probably the one night out of the year I’d pick that.

Which has been your most favorite costume to date?

I have a particular affinity towards my Mega Man hoodie, but I think my steampunk ensemble is probably the best overall.

Bobbing for apples or pin the hat on the witch?

I’m not sure I’ve actually ever bobbed for apples, so maybe that.

How do you celebrate Halloween?

These days it’s all about showing the kid a good time.  Be it children’s party, trick or treating, or dressing up as Rainbow Dash I’m in it for him.

What’s your least favorite horror?

Gore.  It’s not for me and probably why I’m not that into horror movies.

Do you have a favorite trick or treating memory?

I have so many good memories of this that’s hard to really choose one.  My vivid memory of being terrified of my neighbors house as a small child is up there, as is the time as a teenager I almost got a police wagon ride.  (That latter story is much more innocent than it sounds – my friends and I were playing football in a park when someone drove by and set off a whole lot of fireworks.  Neighbors must have called the cops, but luckily they realized it wasn’t us pretty quickly.  “Cancel the wagon” was a popular refrain for a few weeks after that.)

What’s your favorite thing about Halloween?

The feeling of fun and adventure.  If you’re in the right spot with the right people there’s just an awesome energy about the evening.  It’s something I’ve just felt at every age, though not always in the same way.

Scary costume or Silly costume?

I suppose my costumes are more on the silly end of that spectrum, but I don’t think I’d necessarily call them that.

What’s your favorite Halloween candy?

Peanut butter cups, in whatever shape they may come in.  Basically whatever delivers chocolate and peanut butter to my face.

What is your favorite haunted attraction or location?

It has long been the downtown area of Salem, MA (which I am pretty fond of at other times too) so I am kind of bummed out we won’t be visiting it at all this season.  I just don’t want anything to do with crowds, especially with a young child to keep track of.  I am looking forward to attending the Jack-o’-lantern Spectacular at the Rhode Island Zoo which is becoming a new tradition.

Music Monday: Halloween Playlist, Part Four

Tags

Halloween, Music Monday, October

Even though I haven’t been posting as much as usual lately, there was no way I was going to miss out on doing something festive for Halloween!  Since one of the things I love the most about Halloween is all the great music, let’s start the celebration with my first Music Monday post of the year.  Yup, it is time again to share some more tracks from my ever growing Halloween playlist.  While you’re at it, make sure you check out my previous entries as well:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

As always, a giant THANK YOU to the folks whose videos I link to.

Her Ghost and the Fog, Cradle of Filth

I’ve had some mixed feelings about selecting bands like Cradle of Filth in the past since pretty much every song by them fits the theme but I wanted to make the list a bit heavier this year.  It was the music video that gave this song the edge over other tracks like Cthulhu Dawn and Dusk and Her Embrace.

I Reject, Bile

Let’s keep things loud.  Here’s a track from the much better than it had any right to be (and previous Music Monday topic) Mortal Kombat Soundtrack.

Apple of Sodom, Marilyn Manson

Honestly I’m not sure what to say about this one other than it’s both strange and creepy AF.

Strange, REM

And now for something completely different.  This song is from the band’s 1987 album Document which has a somewhat incongruous place in my all time top five.

Phantom of the Opera, Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies

Now to pick up the energy a bit while still keeping things light-hearted.  I credit my wife with introducing me to this punk cover of a musical classic.

Knights of Shame, AWOL Nation

And I’ll close with a big finish.  It’s a long song, but definitely a good one.  Just hang in there for a little bit and you’ll see why it made the list.

Halloween Double Feature: Evil Genius Beer Company – Trick or Treat

Tags

13 Days of Halloween, Beer, Beer Review, Evil Genius Beer Company, Halloween, October

Welcome to the evening edition of my annual Halloween Double Feature!  I know I went through some dark and scary brews leading up to this moment, but when examining my beer haul for the month, how could I not pick this as my main event Halloween brew?

Beer Name: Trick or Treat

Brewery: Evil Genius Beer Company (Philadelphia, PA)

Style: Chocolate Pumpkin Porter

ABV: 7.8%

Description: The Brewers started out with a “rich, robust porter” and then spiced it up with seasonal go-tos cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg.  For good measure they added in a bunch of chocolate post fermentation. Read all about it here.

Appearance: It poured a thick, dark brown body with absolutely no head to speak of.

Smell: Rather sweet, with spices notes lingering in the background.

Taste: Spice, mainly nutmeg, upfront followed by a brief period of sweetness.  From there comes a bitter chocolate and moderate roast finish starts building, with hints of cinnamon popping up along the way.  The tastes were a little disjointed when first poured, but came together a bit more as the beer was allowed to sit for a few minutes.

Mouthfeel: Medium-plus with low carbonation.

Hype: This brewery has come through for me before in backing up their gimmicky names, so I was somewhat hopeful going into this.  This is the main event review after all!

Overall: On the whole this wasn’t really my ideal flavor profile, but I suppose I should have known what I was getting into.  I will say, however, that when paired with chocolate candy this beer took on an entirely new life. It felt smoother, with a more cohesive and muted spice blend.  And for that it gets bonus points in my book!

Have a happy, fun, and safe Halloween night everyone!!!

Halloween Double Feature: The Haunting of Tram Car 015, by P. Djeli Clark

Tags

13 Days of Halloween, Book, Book Review, Fantasy, Halloween, Horror, P. Djeli Clark, Reading

Good morning and Happy Halloween!  Welcome to part one of my annual Halloween Double Feature.  My first post of the day is a review of a spooky sounding novella I’ve been saving for this occasion.  Published in February 2019, it was also yet another read that I’d really been looking forward throughout the year.

The story is set in an alternate version of Cairo, Egypt in the year 1912.  In this world, Djinn and other supernatural natural entities have come to live openly alongside humans, transforming the city into a modern, prosperous metropolis.  Among their most prominent achievements is a system of magically endowed tram cars that offer a means of clean, efficient travel high above the busy streets. When one of these cars becomes the scene of some unusual happenings, however, it is up to Agent Hamed Nasr and his rookie partner Onsi Youssef of the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities to investigate and restore order.

I had a lot of fun reading this as pretty much everything about the novella hit the right notes for me.  There was just a certain energy to the world that I found captivating, and I enjoyed the ways in which steampunk elements existed side by side with the magical to create something truly interesting.  It also helps that I tend to like a good detective story and watching this one play out in this setting was simply amazing to behold. That the action also occurred against the backdrop of preparations for  a massive Women’s Suffrage demonstration brought the story up to yet another level while at the same time making it feel more grounded and real. What brought it all home for me though was the rapport between the more cynical Hamed and the overly enthusiastic Onsi.  Their relationship managed to feel fresh and authentic despite being sounding like a pretty common pairing and gave the reader excellent eyes through which to encounter these events. Add in the other characters, particularly Superintendent Bashir, an uninspiring Tram official with a sweet tooth, and Abla, a shockingly well-connected waitress, and you have all the makings of an impressive novel packed into 100 or so pages.

I really don’t want to give away any bit of this story, so I’ll close by saying again what a pleasure this was to read.  This was easily one of my favorites of the year and I give it my highest recommendations. Being a novella, however, it went by entirely too fast so make sure you have more from the author in queue for when you finish!

13 Days of Halloween – Day Ten (Music Monday): Halloween Playlist (Part 3)

Tags

13 Days of Halloween, Halloween, Music, Music Monday, Nightmare Before Christmas, Oingo Boingo, Rockwell, Screamin Jay Hawkins, Voltaire

One more playlist coming at you on the final Music Monday before Halloween!  Here are five more of my favorites presented once again in no particular order.  As always, thank you to the original posters.

Somebody’s Watching Me, by Rockwell (1983)

I’ve been hearing this song everywhere this year!  Although I was momentarily tempted to go with the Beatfreakz cover as the more Halloween-y version, I quickly decided that I needed to stick with the original after re-watching the video.

Oogie Boogie’s Song, by Ken Page (1993)

My son has been super into The Nightmare Before Christmas this year so I had to include at least one song from the movie.  This one is probably his second favorite, right after This is Halloween (featured last year).

Dead Man’s Party, by Oingo Boingo (1985)

I’m including this one at the risk of leaning a little too heavy on the Danny Elfman stuff this year.  The song, however, is such a Halloween party staple that I couldn’t leave it off.

I Put a Spell on You, by Various Artists

Pick your version, Nina Simone, Marilyn Manson, Anne Lenox, Creedence Clearwater Revival, etc.  The list goes on and on. This song is awesome and it’s been covered so many times you’re sure to find a version to suit your mood.  For this post I’m going with Screamin’ Jay Hawkins.  It think it was the laughing and screams that did it for me.

Cannibal Buffet, by Voltaire (2007)

Ahh…Voltaire.  It seems only appropriate that I end this list with some silly dark humor.  Happy Halloween, folks!

13 Days of Halloween – Day Six: Avery Brewing Company – Mephistopheles (2016)

Tags

13 Days of Halloween, Avery Brewing Company, Beer, Beer Review, Demons of Ale, Halloween

Lurking deep within the confines of a basement closet, this next beer was something of an unexpected treat.  It was a Christmas gift a few years back that to t put away for a special occasion and, well, I put it away too well.  It emerges now, however, to help me celebrate the season for which it was brewed.

Beer Name: Mephistopheles

Brewery: Avery Brewing Company (Boulder, CO)

Style: Imperial Stout

ABV: 14.6%

Description: Taken from the bottle, this Imperial Stout was brewed with “Rocky mountain water, malted barley, turbinado sugar, hops, and a hellion of a Belgian yeast strain.  It is also part of the brewery’s Demons of Ale series and takes its name from “the crafty shapeshifter, the second fallen angel; he who does not love light.”. This particular bottle was dated October 2016 and part of the Batch 12 run.

Appearance: Dark brown/black looking body with a short lived layer of thin tan foam.

Smell: Assertively sweet and slightly boozy.

Taste: An even bolder assertion of the smell. Sweet rich dark malts and chocolate notes upfront take on a slight creaminess as the sip progresses. From there it took on some sugary notes before turning hot and boozy.  A mild roast and hint of yeast appear on the finish to add extra dimensions to the pleasing kick this beer packs at the end.

Mouthfeel: Full, thick body with low carbonation.

Hype: Perhaps not as hyped as it should be, though people tend to discount that which they can buy off the shelf.  I, however, have come to expect great things from the brewery’s special releases.

Overall: Whoa!  I knew I was stepping up to a big brew, but this one still managed to surprise me.  This was a HUGE beer but one that I really enjoyed on account of its decadent sweetness and warming punch.  Between the deep, dark color and the heat if this beer, I would say it definitely represents its namesake.