Brewery: Empire Brewing Company
Type: Stout
Size: Cans - 16 fl. oz. (1 pint)
Alcohol Content: 6.5%
Fall has always been my favorite season for a number of reasons. Beers made with pumpkins have been around for a while. I tried my first one in college over 20 years ago. A bar had Blue Moon's Harvest Pumpkin Ale on tap. It was love from the first sip. Since then, I have enjoyed many other pumpkin beers.
Part of the charm and/or frustration with seasonal beers is that they tend to be inconsistent from one year to the next. One, or all, of the ingredients could come from a different source. A pumpkin beer that tastes amazing one year can taste bland the next. And vise versa.
This was my first time trying Black Magic by Empire Brewing Company. I'm a big fan of stouts so I was very much looking forward to it.
Verified Pint
I prefer to pour my stouts into a glass, that way I get the full taste. The aroma of pumpkin spices permeated the air. That was a good sign. For me, the spices are a key element of a good pumpkin beer.
The taste didn't disappoint either. It ranks up there with the best pumpkin beers I've had. I ended up downing three pints. For the research. I had to be certain about what I was tasting.
A final note...due to the nature of craft beers there is some risk involved with drinking them. Their brewers tend to get creative with ingredients. Sometimes it sounds good on a label but tastes like toxic sludge. And, craft beers aren't cheap.
These experimental ingredients can also cause averse physical reactions. I once vomited after drinking half of a craft beer. That's all I could get down before feeling nauseous.
Thank you for reading!
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