Recently I made a spiced pumpkin ale . This was my first stab at a pumpkin beer and i think it came out decent. The taste is good but the appearance leaves much room for improvement. In a large glass it looks like dirt water, however, if the glass is very small it has a nice orange color like the outside of a pumpkin.
NOTES:
Aroma(12/12): Earthy, slightly sweet, smells like pumpkin pie :)
Appearance(1/3): No head retention at all , beer pours with some head but it fades to virtually nothing, very cloudy (almost turbid), retains a beautiful orange color just like the outside of a pumpkin
Flavor(15/20): Very savory spiced pumpkin pie flavor, earthy pumpkin notes push through the spices, slightly phenolic character
Mouthfeel(5/5):Carbonation slightly high, rich full mouthfeel, mouthfeel could be better with a lower carbonation level
Overall(7/10): Good beer, phenols dominated the flavor before it had some age but are fading fast, Pumpkin makes the beer savory, full tasting and contributes mouthfeel.
Total(40/50): Excellent range

Another recent brew to go through the brewery was an American style IPA dubbed IPA #5. This is the first IPA I have made that I'm really happy with, it still needs some work but it is the best IPA I have mad by far. Also for this beer i used the blichmann hop rocket for the first time
NOTES:
Aroma(11/12): Citrusy hops dominate, grapefruit and other tropical fruit notes, resiny hop aroma, could use more malt presence
Appearance(2/3): Golden in color, bright white head is thick, doesn't hold on for as long as I would like, has some haze could be more clear
Flavor(16/20): Smooth bitterness, grate hop flavor of grapefruit and citrus, some mouth coating bitterness lingers, clean fermentation character, no malt flavors present
Mouthfeel(5/5): Good amount of body to stand up to the hops, carbonation is appropiate and carries some bitterness away,goes down very smooth
Overall (9/10): Great IPA, Could use more early hops to bump bitterness a little more, malt character could be slightly high but could detract form hop presence, needs to be more clear next time
Total(43/50): Excellent range

Over the summer I decided to brew my first saison, at the time I had never tried any commercial versions of the style. In preparation I did some reading in Brew Like A Monk, Designing Great Beers , and homebrewtalk.com so I felt comfortable with my recipe and what I expected from the beer. While I feel I had a good plan I forgot to put any simple sugars into the   beer so it ended up not being as dry as I would have liked. Also I stepped away from style but only a bit by adding homemade extracts of lavender and thyme (made by soaking the herbs in vodka and filtering)
Notes:
Appearance: Translucent copper/orange color. Off white head with reasonable (not great) head retention. Brilliant clarity
Aroma: Herbal/earthy esters and spiciness from rye malt/ thyme dominate. Hints of lavender.
Flavor: Herbal, slightly malty, smooth bitterness (in balance with beer) somewhat thick/ heavy mouthfeel, high level of carbonation gives a clean finish


Next time I brew this I will be sure to add the simple sugar (will be honey) to dry it out a bit, I will probably also tweak the malt bill to further dry the beer out. Also it needed a little more age on it, by the time it really hit it's prime there was only about 20 beers left.