With Fall upon us, Pumpkin beer is in full-effect. Most folks may only see Anheuser-Busch's Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale (not bad) at their local bar, or maybe Shipyard's Pumpkinhead (bad) and Dogfish Head's Punkin' Ale (very good) if they frequent decent beer bars. Either way, here are a few of the good, bad, and "meh" you might encounter this season. Cheers.
Punkin' Ale
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
Pumpkin Ale | 7.00% ABV
B+ / 3.8
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | drink: 4
I'm not sure where this appeared from in January, but I'm not complaining. I had a pint (low-head) with my soup and pizza at Liberty St. Tavern. The hops have died down a bit since October, but this is still about the hoppiest pumpkin ale you can find. It starts with big, pulpy pumpkin meat in the aroma and flavor which is followed by a bitter burst of citrus. This isn't the most complexx pumpkin beer, the malts never really came out. But I'd say it's the most balanced and certainly one of the more pleasant to drink.
Imperial Pumpkin Ale
Weyerbacher Brewing Co.
Pumpkin Ale | 8.00% ABV
B+ / 3.9
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | drink: 3.5
Had a bottle, poured into a Weyerbacker pint glass.
Big strong, aroma to start, full of pumpkin meat and crust garnished with cinnamon and nutmeg. The flavor is good, but comes off too spice-heavy, taking away from the nice malts and pumpkin in the aroma. Overall, it feels like a bigger beer, but still hides the 8% well. One of the best pumpkin beers I've tried and tastier than the other imperial I've tried, Pumking.
Pumpkinhead Ale
Shipyard Brewing Co.
Pumpkin Ale | 4.50% ABV
C- / 2.7
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2 | drink: 2
Wow, this is a far cry from the very fine Blue Fin Stout I recently had from Shipyard. This beer tastes like pumpkin pie juice. Seriously, if someone threw a pie into a juicer and strained the remains, this is what you'd get. It feels thin and watery while the cinnamon and pumpkin pie spices are overwhelming. Pass on this unfortunate dud.
Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale
Anheuser-Busch
Pumpkin Ale | 5.50% ABV
B- / 3.45
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | drink: 3.5
On-tap at Mach's Gute in Bethlehem PA at $4 a pint. It appeared clear amber with a short white head. For an A-B beer this isn't bad. It's clean and there aren't trademark bad beer flavors like corn or any rough bites. Really, this is a lot like a Yuengling but with a big smattering of Thanksgiving spices - cinnamon, pumpkin spice, clove. It's pretty thin for the style, but not a bad beer.
5 comments:
the first case of beer I bought, at an undisclosed age, was Buffalo Bills Pumpkin Ale... It's still one of my favorite fall beers!
kneath heller
The only good pumpkin beer is a pumpkin stout from four peaks brewing in Tempe AZ. It was always hard to drink a Stout in Oct when it was 105. Fall is a bad bad time for beer drinking.
Keith
Buffalo Bill's is probably the best I've had. Bethlehem Brew Works just released their pumpking brew and its a pretty close second.
Imperial is good but I agree that its a little too spice heavy.
Looking forward to the Dogfish Head.
I have a case of the DogFish Head. I must say, I like it. Thanks for the advice. I bought it based on your review. Cascario's In Pen Argyl had both the DogFish Head and the Weyerbacher. It was a tough decision, but I figured I couldn't go wrong with DogFish Head.
Buffalo Bill's isn't my favorite, but it certainly isn't bad and is definitely more sessionable. The Pumpkin Ale at the Brew Works is also one of the beers they do right. I enjoy it.
Post a Comment