Brewery: Badger (Hall & Woodhouse)
Location: Dorset, England
ABV: 4.6%
Version: 500ml bottle

Hallowe’en is coming and the goose is getting….blah, blah, blah. I know I should have saved drinking this one until Friday but then I couldn’t have reviewed it in time for you to go out and get some for yourselves, if the notion took you.

Released in a limited batch specifically for this time of year the label states this ale comes with “hints of roast pumpkin, cloves and peat”. I’m not exactly a fan of pumpkin itself, tried it once and was thoroughly underwhelmed, but Badger usually get good results with their odd experiments so thought I’d give it a try anyway.

The ale pours a golden amber colour with loads of bubbles running through it initally. The aroma is very much of winter vegetables (did I detect carrot in there somewhere?) with a hint of malt. Didn’t pick up much in the way of peat though, or cloves. The taste is very much at the sweet and fruity end of the scale, with a touch of bitterness coming through in those bubbles. I found the carbonation a bit too much to be honest and had to leave the glass to sit for a short while to give the fizz some time to calm down. Overall however, the recipe works better than it should but it’s a bit too sweet for an all-nighter. Would I get it again? Probably not, but it was worth sampling.