REVIEW: Paranormal by Flying Monkey Craft Brewery – Barrie, ON
Hello all you Ghouls and Ghosts, it is time to put on your best scary face and drink some pumpkin beer! Dan Crocker, A.K.A. booze reviews, is the king of beer reviews. Continue reading to find out what he thought of Flying Monkey’s Paranormal Imperial Pumpkin Ale. Is it the perfect beer for Halloween? Or just straight up scary?
By Dan Crocker on Oct. 30, 2016
Now last year I found only a few beers that were pumpkin beers. This year, there is a lot of them. However I can only cover a few. So I put my best liver forward and chose a few to drink and review. Tonight’s drink of choice is from Flying Monkeys and it is an Imperial Pumpkin Ale.
Now I have had a few of Flying Monkey’s Limited Edition beers and all of them, yes ALL, have been fan-freaking-tastic! This one is might be right up there with them, from the Brown Town Sour Brown to the Chocolate Manifesto, I have enjoyed them as they are top notch and on their game for beers.
Now the Paranormal Imperial Pumpkin Ale… does it match up? Uhhh…. YES! This beer is a work of art!
Speaking of art let’s talk about the art work on the box and the bottle.
Paranormal Imperial Pumpkin Ale Bottle and Box Art
There is so much to look at on here the pictures are spooky and yet fun. The description is all Halloween themed right up to the monkey flying in the U.F.O with three eyes! Even the play on words from the “IT’S BEER… EEERRRRR” with a girl sitting in front of a static T.V. it is amazing! It does look like they did calm down on all the words they put on the box too, which is great the art work speaks volumes right there! This alone I give it full marks for!
Pour of Flying Monkey’s Paranormal:
The pour is perfect. You get a dark red to light brown pour with a two finger sized head on it. It is a great pour! Something right out of the beer text books.
Paranormal Imperial Pumpkin Ale Smell and Taste:
The combination of the spices and a small pumpkin smell is amazing. It will make your mouth water right away. Oh such a delightful smell! When it comes to a pumpkin beer, you have it where it is almost a pumpkin pie smell but something just puts it on the next level. It almost has a sweet smell to it! Making you want to dive right in!
The taste is just like the smell… amazing! It is almost like a pumpkin pie! Honestly this is a great craft beer, the spices do over power the taste of pumpkin, but alone the pumpkin is bland, you need to add the spices with it and that is what Flying Monkeys does. This brewery brings it the extra mile and then some, and that is what gives them the extra step in the craft beer battle so to speak. With the smell of nutmeg, cinnamon and all spice, and the taste of pumpkin plus so much more, this beer is one of the best Pumpkin beers I have had!
Final Thoughts:
I have to give this one the top grade: a solid 5 out of 5! It is in a class of its own and it is a very amazing beer! If you find this in your liquor store do NOT pass this one up! It is that damn good that you will want more of this!
So it seems that the Halloween spirit is off to a good start and this one is the leader.. will the others top this one or will this be the most spookatular of 2016 ?
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