Brewery: Epic Brewing Company (Collaboration with DC Brau Brewing Company)
Beer: Fermentation without Representation (Batch #15)
Style: Imperial Pumpkin Porter
ABV: 8%
Character: Brewed with 200 pounds of real pumpkin per batch, five spices and whole Madagascar vanilla beans.
Ratings at time of Review: BA: 86 | RB: 96
Metal Connection: SEPSISM – Internal Fermentation

Rating: 5/5

2014 saw Epic Brewing Company from Utah coming down to Texas. This was such a great move, as their beers were being traded for, at least by a group of people that I know of. I had the pleasure of tasting a few Epic beers well before they were actually for sale here in Texas. Great shit, for sure!

The Exponential Series by Epic Brewing all have very similar labels, except for the overall color scheme, and a small clip art style piece for each beer. The colors for this particular label really represent the style pretty well. The label is bright orange with dark red lettering, featuring the DC Brau Brewing logo where there is usually the different art. Very simple, yet eye catching.

I used a Samuel Smith Brewery English style pub glass for this session. This beer poured a damn near black, very dark brown color, which was crowned with an inch wide tan foamy head. There was great head retention, which lead to a sheet of sticky lacing down the glass.

The aroma was strange at first, until I started to pick apart what exactly I was smelling. Nice aroma of real pumpkin, and yams hit the nose first followed by dark fruits, raisins, and prunes. Other scents I was able to pick up on were dark chocolate, black licorice, vanilla, sweet sugar rock candy, and a tiny hint of cinnamon.

The taste had a lot of the same characteristics as the aroma with a few more added treats. Real pumpkin and yam flavors mixed with dark fruits like raisins and prunes. There was a nice flavor of dark chocolate and black licorice along with cinnamon and other spices. I really liked the sweet sugar rock candy-like flavor and tart cherry. There was an amazing combo of flavors going on with this beer. For me, the lingering aftertaste was black licorice, vanilla, the sweet candy, and real pumpkin.

The body was pretty heavy and thick, but it worked well with all the flavor and aroma profiles going on with this beer. The mouthfeel was slick and creamy. There was decent carbonation. There was a lingering sweet sugary feeling that was left on the lips after each drink.

Overall, this was my favorite pumpkin beer from 2014. I drank as many as I could find, and this one really stuck out above the rest, and received the highest rating from me. Both Epic Brewing and DC Brau Brewing make fantastic beers, so this collaboration was destined to be awesome. They did make different batches of this beer and I just so happened to get a bottle from Batch #15. I’m sure with age, this beer would be even more fantastic, so if you see any around still from last year, do yourself a favor and pick it up. I will be on the lookout for this year’s version later this year. I can not wait to have this beer again.

Metal Connection: Sepsism is a California Death Metal band who has been kicking around the Underground Metal scene since 1990. In this time the band has released 3 demo tapes, and 3 full length albums, all on different record labels. I was turned on to this band with their 3rd demo release, Severe Carnal Butchery, which was released in 1995. I was always a fan of their lyrics approach, as it was always full of death, murder, and gore. Good subject mater for a Death Metal band. They were an early influence on me when it came for me to write lyrics for the band I was in back in the day. It was an honor, as well for me to book these guys when they were on tour in 2010. The reason for Sepsism to be the Metal Connection was because of the name of the song, “Internal Fermentation.” This song is from their 1999 debut full length album, Purulent Decomposition, which was released on Repulse Records out of Spain.