December 1st - Pizza Boy Legendairy Pumpkin Milk Sugar IPA

I know what you're thinking already.  "Seriously?! We're way past pumpkin beer season at this point!  It's December 1st for crying out loud and you're starting your Christmas beer blog with a pumpkin beer?!"

Last weekend while shopping on Black Friday in Harrisburg (not my idea...) my only request was to stop at Pizza Boy Brewing in Enola so I can do my shopping.  I've written about these guys before and how you get to order beer from 42" plasma screens by number instead of by name.

Since I wrote about them last, they've changed some things, mainly the beers that they now have on tap are all PA beers and they've eliminated the bottle shop part of their storefront.  You can still carry out their stuff, and boy do they have a ton of their own canned beer available!  Also, for the record, the 6 - 16 ounce cans you get come at a pretty fair price point.  I paid only $10 for 6 of these beers.  Long story short, we're reviewing this because I got a deal.

I need to confess something to you all.  I didn't drink this beer for the first time on December 1st.  I drank it last night because I was too excited for this blog to get kicked off!  Don't worry, I'll play fair and have another on the 1st too!

*Edit - Having one while I edit this and get ready to post it*

If you're reading this, I'm sure you've indulged with a milk stout before.  That style is known for being very smooth and silky tasting, even with some of the bitterness of the coffee notes that may be present in that particular offering.  The milk sugar IPA is something new-ish to me.  I've a had a few different varieties from Pizza Boy this past summer (LegenDairy Peaches was pretty good), and from what I gather (and assume), they make an IPA and add some lactose sugars to the beer.  Some of the more recently sought after beers from New England breweries, and even Tired Hands in SE PA (which Pizza Boy usually carries on draft), are known for making what they refer to as "Milkshake IPAs."  I'm not entirely sure, but I have to imagine these two styles are synonymous with each other.

The lactose addition makes the beer stay sweet after fermentation is completed since that type of sugar won't be eaten by the yeast and converted to alcohol.  

So, onto the Legendairy Pumpkin from Pizza Boy!  This 6% Milk Sugar IPA poured a hazy golden one and the entire 16 ounces fit into my trusty Dogfish Head glass with a very decent head at the top.  There wasn't much to the aroma other than a faint pumpkin along with some of those traditional pumpkin spices.  The flavor is not what I expected at all, even knowing that it was going to be a sweeter IPA with some pumpkin added in.  There's a nice creamy and almost frothy mouth feel to it along with some sweet berry-fruit flavor to it, maybe even hints of banana some of the clove spices.  Vanilla flavors are in there as well and linger on the tongue.  The pumpkin is definitely there competing with the other spiced and fruity flavors.  

A solid 4 out of 5 pumpkins to round out the season!

The whole thing almost reminds me of a nitro beer in a can with the utter smoothness of this beer.  I don't like to use the word balanced all of the time, but this thing isn't too sweet and, for an IPA anything, there's very little bitterness here.  If you fear the hoppy and bitter IPA, try this style.  You'll be greatly surprised and pleased at the same time!