My Beer Rubric & Homebrew Pumpkin Ale

So, I'm a professor.  And one of the things professors do is make rubrics.  I basically took the 100-point rubric I grade my students' essays on and converted it to a beer rubric.  I'm hoping this step makes my reviews a little more fair when it comes to styles that I don't particularly care for (Light American Lagers, for example).  I included a drinkability category so that my own preferences and tastes can still play in to the overall score, but I'm going to try to base most of my reviews on how well the beer matches its style.  If I don't know what style it's supposed to be, I'll use my best guess for the purposes of my review, and update my information when I can.  Here's the rubric I came up with:

It's a work in progress, but hopefully it'll help keep my reviews more even and balanced, especially for my least favorite styles.  So, let's give it a go with my homebrew pumpkin ale:

I brewed this beer over a year ago, in February 2012.  I used 60 oz. of organic pumpkin and spiced it with nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger, then I added a few extra cinnamon sticks and whole cloves to the primary fermenter, too.

It's a cloudy burnt-orange color, which is about what I'd expect to see in a pumpkin ale.  The head is a little foamier than usual since I topped up the CO2 right before I pulled this mug from the keg.  9/10 for appearance. (It's hard to get a low appearance score.)

The aroma is predominantly pumpkin, but the cinnamon and cloves are very apparent, too.  I do, however, catch a little of the odor associated with the off-flavor that haunts my homebrew.  There's also a much more understated sweetness behind it all.  22/30 for aroma.

Sitting in the keg untouched for several months really helped this beer -- it tasted a little raw when I served it on Thanksgiving, though I still got quite a few compliments on it (my friends and family are thankfully honest with me; many of them have told me they don't like certain beers I make).  The flavors don't taste as sharp now as they did a few months ago.  I might have overdone it with the cinnamon, since that seems to be the one lingering taste on the back of the tongue.  The other spices, though, are mellow and mild.  It is difficult to taste the malt or the hops through the pumpkin and spices, since there is such a strong pumpkin taste (unlike many commercial pumpkin ales, which taste thin to me).  I think I should use less pumpkin, less cinnamon, more cloves, and let it mature longer next time around.  There is also, unfortunately, a slight off-flavor common to all of my homebrew batches, so I should knock a few extra points off for that.  My beer is warming up as I type this, and it's tasting better the closer it gets to room temperature, too.  It was probably about 35F out of the tap, and it's more like 55F now.  31/40 for taste.

It has a creamy, silky mouthfeel when you swish it around, but it finishes moderately dry.  I don't think the dryness goes very well with the flavors, though.  But, as it warms up, that dryness is less and less present.  7/10 for mouthfeel.

This beer is certainly drinkable, and it pairs very well with hearty meals.  It doesn't have that watery taste some commercial pumpkin ales have.  I like that you can taste the pumpkin clearly and easily -- if I'm drinking a pumpkin ale, I want to actually taste the pumpkin, not just get a hint or a whiff of it.  I would mark it an 8/10, but the off-flavor does slightly detract from drinkability, as well.  7/10 for drinkability.

Overall, that adds up to 76/100, and that seems about right.  This is not anything special, but it is a decent brew.  It has more flavor than many commercial varieties, but it also has off-flavors and is not well-balanced.  With 4.67% ABV, it's not surprising that there is no noticeable alcohol-warmth.  I enjoyed brewing and drinking this beer, though as I said, there are a few things I'd do differently next time around.  Hopefully next year's batch will be better!

Cheers!