Night Owl Pumpkin Ale from Elysian Brewery - Amelia

I also reviewed Elysian's Night Owl Pumpkin Ale!  Here's my take.

Pretty badass label if you ask me.

Brewer:  Elysian Brewing

Location:  Seattle, WA

Name of Brew:  Night Owl Pumpkin Ale

Manufacturer's Description:  "A very drinkable pumpkin ale - brewed with seven and a half pounds of pumpkin per barrel and spiced in conditioning with ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice."

ABV:  5.9%

Color
This one pours out a lovely coppery color like many of the other beers we've sampled so far.  Comes out fairly clear and without yeast floaties or other sediments.

Head
Oh. My. God.  Finally!  A beer with some head on it!  Well, compared to all the previous beers, it felt like a lot of head... but right out of the bottle it generated about 3-4mm of a creme colored head, which dissipated quickly but was able to be re-whipped up at will.

Aroma
Oh man does this beer ever smell fantastic!  Right at the front there's a malty sweetness that is definitely carrying some gourd-like aroma, definitely pumpkin and maybe even something else.  Spices are obviously at play here as well, but there's virtually no smell of hops or anything distinctly fruity either, which we've seen with previous choices.

Taste
Early palette Almost no carbonation bubble-fizz on mine (unlike what Taylor experienced) but it doesn't feel flat.  Slightly bitter at first but definitely not from hops.
Middle palette  Deep pumpkin flavor in the forefront with strong hits of spice notes in the background.  I'm tasting mostly nutmeg here.
Late palette  Pumpkin flavor is fading in the finish but there's still a strong bit of what I think might be allspice coming through now.  There's a bit of bitterness left on the back of the tongue while the heavy pumpkin taste fades into oblivion which means only one thing - time for another sip!

Overall
This is the best pumpkin ale I've tried all season so far.  While there is no doubt this was brewed with pumpkin and spices, it is not overwhelmingly pumpkiny - definitely not like drinking liquid pumpkin pie (unlike the smoothie I tried to make for breakfast this morning which was almost literally like trying to drink pie except not even remotely delicious).  This is definitely going on my short list (now consisting of 1 entry) of beers I would buy and drink again this Fall.  Yum.