Last year, when I tried this beer, I was really amazed and how Blue Moon managed to blend in the flavor of pumpkin into a malty fall ale and have it actually taste really yummy.

You can imagine my chagrin this year however, when I bought this brew expecting that early dose of autumn goodness. Instead I was met with … well … nothing. Its a malty fall like beer I guess. But it lacks any pumpkin flavor. I mean none. Zip. Nada. So how do they justify calling it pumpkin ale? Maybe they brewed it IN a pumpkin patch.

It doesn’t taste bad…just incomplete. And a beer that makes me feel cheated deserves a little squashing. Get it?  Squash…pumpkin? I kill me.

Faithful friends gathered drunkenly here today, I bring to you a review of joy and sadness. It is both a highlight of beer drinking, and a sad eulogy for an era gone by. And more and more sad southern preacher talk. Because the beer I have the sad pleasure of bringing you today stands as the best beer I’ve ever tasted. Dixie Blackened Voodoo. It is one of only two “six” rated beers I have ever had, and stands out so high on the list that I would bathe in the stuff…if I could get it ever again.

Which is why I carry the undertone of sadness. You see, thanks to that lovable hurricane we call Katrina, the Dixie Brewing Company was flooded and trashed. Then, because humans are such good creatures by nature, looters and thieves began breaking in and stealing all the equipment. NPR has the tale here. They claim they will be back in October of 2007, and I sincerely hope they do.

Blackened Voodoo is so yummy its hard to describe. Its jet black, super smooth, and drinks like an alcoholic Coke. I used to get these from the bar in Claim Jumper over and over again. Only the fact that I despised waiting in line for an hour to eat kept me from going more.

If the Dixie Brewing Company makes a comeback and begins to flow the voodoo again, I command you (by poking your little doll with sharp needles…voodoo get it?) to get one.