Dark O' The Moon Pumpkin Stout
Elysian Brewing in Seattle, Washington, United States 🇺🇸
Spiced / Herbed / Vegetable / Honey - Pumpkin Winter|
Score
7.14
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Spookily smooth and chocolatey, Dark O' The Moon will leave you howling for more. This pumpkin stout touts a full body with a creamy texture and features notes of cocoa, brown sugar, vanilla, dark fruit, and pumpkin. A perennial favorite and 2010 Silver medalist in the Great American Beer Festival Field Beer category, Dark o' the Moon is brewed with Great Western pale, Crisp 77° Crystal, Munich, Cara-Vienne, roasted, chocolate and Special B malts. Pumpkin in the mash, kettle and fermenter. Bittered with Magnum and finished with Saaz and crushed cinnamon.
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8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Aroma: initially hits with pumpkin spices, than chocolate and roasted character appears. Taste: chocolate, roasted malt, burnt character, pumpkin spices - cinnamon, nutmeg. Complex, tasty, great.
Tried
on 22 Nov 2021
at 20:06
7.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8.5
Bottle at BBT 11/2021. Malty aroma and taste, gingerbread spices, chocolate, light sour notes, light to medium bitter. Medium body, thin texture, spicy chocolate bitter finish. Ok.
Tried
from Bottle
on 22 Nov 2021
at 20:04
7.2/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
More of a cinnamon stout than a pumpkin beer. Thankfully no nutmeg makes an appearance. Dry, with a strong undercurrent of roast, unsweetened chocolate, and dark fruit. A drinkable pumpkin beer. Who’da thunk it.
Tried
on 09 Sep 2021
at 03:42
6.9/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Bottle. Blackish beer with a brown head. Cinnamon and spice aroma with caramel and light vegetal notes. Caramel and spice flavor with chocolate and light vegetal notes. Medium bodied. caramel and spice linger with chocolate, roast, and light vegetal notes.
Tried
from Bottle
on 19 Oct 2020
at 20:16
7.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
12 oz. bottle purchased at Total Wine & More - Melbourne, FL. Pours a pitch black color with a small tan head and good retention. Spots of lacing. Mostly pumpkin pie spices aroma. Good mix of dark roasted stout and soft pumpkin pie spices with a little boozy finish. Semi heavy body and creamy, dry mouthfeel. Low carbonation. The 7.5% ABV is fairly hidden.
Tried
from Bottle
on 19 Sep 2020
at 21:33
7.4/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Cinnamon and nutmeg aroma, charred oak underneath. Black, medium tan head. Charred oak, nutmeg, cinnamon. Medium body, easy carbonation. Heavy on the nutmeg, which I despise, but it seems to work very well in a stout.
Tried
on 16 Sep 2020
at 23:12
8/10
Dark pour. Sweet nose of pumpkin. Creamy tan head. Sweet spicy taste of pumpkin with dry slight sour finish. Nice fall beer
Tried
on 16 Sep 2020
at 23:10
7.1/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
12 ounce bottle from Woodmans Appleton, 9/6/20. Dark brown, thin brown head, decent retention. Aroma of pumpkin spice, dark chocolate. Taste is pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon, coffee, chocolate. Thin. Solid.
Tried
from Bottle
on 07 Sep 2020
at 01:02
8.1/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
This review was imported from my RateBeer ratings.
10/09/2022
It's been 3 years since I last tried this beer. When I saw the pumpkin variety pack in the store, I decided it was time for me to update my review of this beer, as well as the other varieties in the pack.
12 oz. bottle, 7.5% ABV, Experience by: 20FEB23
AROMA: Slightly sweet with scents of chocolate, pumpkin, allspice, and cinnamon are the most prevalent.
APPEARANCE: Pour an opaque black with a tall, dark tan head that dissipates slowly with excellent lacing. This beer looks incredibly delicious in a clear-glass
Pilsner, and I find myself having a hard time restraining myself from just diving into the "tasting" portion of my review!
TASTE: Moderately sweet. I'm first hit with big flavors of chocolate, followed by subdued flavors of pumpkin. The finish is moderately sweet with more of that chocolate flavor and a hint of cinnamon. I am finding the chocolate to clearly be the predominant flavor. Which seems odd since this is marketed as a pumpkin beer. To me this is more of a chocolate stout that has had a bit of pumpkin added to it. But you'll get no complaints from me, because this is a delicious beer no matter what it's marketed as!
MOUTHFEEL: Full-bodied with a rich and creamy texture and average carbonation. This feels great on the tongue and goes down smooth and easy.
OVERALL: I think I actually like this 2022 vintage better than the 2019, but only because it seems to have a bit more sweetness, and a bit more carbonation, than the 2019 vintage. Other than that the 2 vintages seem identical, to me.
One thing that I am noticing as the beer warms to room temperatur is that the cinnamon flavor starts to overtake the pumpkin. Cold, the flavors in order of predominance are chocolate, pumpkin, cinnamon. Warmer, the flavors in order of predominance are chocolate, cinnamon, pumpkin. For me, I prefer the "cold" flavor profile because the stronger cinnamon flavor of the "warmer" profile, starts to interfere with the delicious chocolate flavor.
For comparison purposes, my original review from 10/11/2019 is below, along with the rating I gave it in each category.
12 oz. bottle.
AROMA (7/10): Smells sweet with scents of cinnamon, chocolate, and just a hint of pumpkin.
APPEARANCE (5/5): Pours an opaque black with a tall, frothy, dark-tan head that dissipates very slowly. It definitely has a very "chocolatey" look to it!
TASTE (6/10): Doesn't taste anywhere near as sweet as it smells. You're first hit with flavors of bitter chocolate, followed by pumpkin, and ending with a bit of cinnamon.
MOUTHFEEL (4/5): Full-bodied with a rich and creamy texture. However, carbonation seems a little light for such a "heavy" beer.
OVERALL (15/20): I applaud the fact that this is not one of those beers that tries to be a pumpkin-pie-in-a-bottle. Rather, its sweetness is very subdued and lets the true, natural pumpkin flavor come through. This is the second bottle that I've tried from the "Pumpkin Pack". Last year, I tried Night Owl (which is also in the "Pumpkin Pack") and I found it to be delicious (even if it is somewhat of a pumpkin-pie-in-a-bottle). So I have high hopes for the remaining beers in the pack.
10/09/2022
It's been 3 years since I last tried this beer. When I saw the pumpkin variety pack in the store, I decided it was time for me to update my review of this beer, as well as the other varieties in the pack.
12 oz. bottle, 7.5% ABV, Experience by: 20FEB23
AROMA: Slightly sweet with scents of chocolate, pumpkin, allspice, and cinnamon are the most prevalent.
APPEARANCE: Pour an opaque black with a tall, dark tan head that dissipates slowly with excellent lacing. This beer looks incredibly delicious in a clear-glass
Pilsner, and I find myself having a hard time restraining myself from just diving into the "tasting" portion of my review!
TASTE: Moderately sweet. I'm first hit with big flavors of chocolate, followed by subdued flavors of pumpkin. The finish is moderately sweet with more of that chocolate flavor and a hint of cinnamon. I am finding the chocolate to clearly be the predominant flavor. Which seems odd since this is marketed as a pumpkin beer. To me this is more of a chocolate stout that has had a bit of pumpkin added to it. But you'll get no complaints from me, because this is a delicious beer no matter what it's marketed as!
MOUTHFEEL: Full-bodied with a rich and creamy texture and average carbonation. This feels great on the tongue and goes down smooth and easy.
OVERALL: I think I actually like this 2022 vintage better than the 2019, but only because it seems to have a bit more sweetness, and a bit more carbonation, than the 2019 vintage. Other than that the 2 vintages seem identical, to me.
One thing that I am noticing as the beer warms to room temperatur is that the cinnamon flavor starts to overtake the pumpkin. Cold, the flavors in order of predominance are chocolate, pumpkin, cinnamon. Warmer, the flavors in order of predominance are chocolate, cinnamon, pumpkin. For me, I prefer the "cold" flavor profile because the stronger cinnamon flavor of the "warmer" profile, starts to interfere with the delicious chocolate flavor.
For comparison purposes, my original review from 10/11/2019 is below, along with the rating I gave it in each category.
12 oz. bottle.
AROMA (7/10): Smells sweet with scents of cinnamon, chocolate, and just a hint of pumpkin.
APPEARANCE (5/5): Pours an opaque black with a tall, frothy, dark-tan head that dissipates very slowly. It definitely has a very "chocolatey" look to it!
TASTE (6/10): Doesn't taste anywhere near as sweet as it smells. You're first hit with flavors of bitter chocolate, followed by pumpkin, and ending with a bit of cinnamon.
MOUTHFEEL (4/5): Full-bodied with a rich and creamy texture. However, carbonation seems a little light for such a "heavy" beer.
OVERALL (15/20): I applaud the fact that this is not one of those beers that tries to be a pumpkin-pie-in-a-bottle. Rather, its sweetness is very subdued and lets the true, natural pumpkin flavor come through. This is the second bottle that I've tried from the "Pumpkin Pack". Last year, I tried Night Owl (which is also in the "Pumpkin Pack") and I found it to be delicious (even if it is somewhat of a pumpkin-pie-in-a-bottle). So I have high hopes for the remaining beers in the pack.
Tried
from Bottle
on 11 Oct 2019
at 20:02
7.4/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8.5
Bottle #4 of the pumpkin pack was planning on spacing these outba tocuh more but alas. Dark black pour one finger head. Nose is chocolate and spice. Tastes of chocolate, pumpkin, nutmeg, cinnamon, malt, cola. Light biter and sweet cocoa in finish.
Tried
from Bottle
on 06 Oct 2019
at 04:36