Pumpkin Beer Review 2010

For all of its fun and frivolity, the seasonal beers of summer are notoriously un-fun. Perhaps the activities of the season itself are so much fun that the beermakers of the world have concluded that really good beer is not necessary to enhance the beerdrinker’s experience. I mean, if you’re out running around on the beach and splashing in the ocean, are you really paying much attention to that citrus flavored beer that you have half-buried in the sand sitting next to your unattended beach chair? Are you even going to notice that your beer is heating up to lava-like temperatures in between service points of your volleyball game? No. You’re not. When there are tanned women in yellow bikinis all around you, you’re paying as much attention to that beer as you are to that mole on your lower back that your mother swears keeps getting bigger. If your beer were swapped out for a Zima without your knowledge, you would guzzle it down and not even know the difference.


Ah, but then Autumn arrives. Suddenly, the bikinis are gone and the tanned girls are wearing sweatshirts with names of colleges they couldn’t get into. You’re spending more time indoors. You’re getting reacquainted with your couch. My Lord, football has returned to your flatscreen! Suddenly, there are far fewer distractions, and now you begin to actually pay attention to your beer. Knowing this, the beermakers of the world unleash a fury of autumn seasonal beers in an effort to respond to your reestablished interest in good beer. Autumn is, without question, the greatest season of the year for beerdrinkers. Breweries you have never even heard of are suddenly appearing on the liquor store shelves with Oktoberfest, marzens, and harvest ales. As much as you want to cling to that lemony beer and the good times associated with it, you know in your heart that it is time to get off of the waverunner and transition your taste buds to a new type of fruit – pumpkin!


So, how do you decide which of those beers with the jack-o-lantern staring back at you from the label to buy? Well, here’s something to help you with this monumental decision so you can get your beer and get back to your couch before kickoff:


Non-Imperial Pumpkin Ales

Shipyard Brewing Company Pumpkinhead Ale  

A golden wheat beer teeming with powerful and pleasant scents of pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Not much of a head to this beer, which is just a little ironic since the name of the beer contains the word “head.” While the head may disappear quickly upon settling, the delicious pumpkin flavor stays with this beer from start to finish. More than any other beer in this category, this beer has dominant pumpkin flavor. If you had never had a pumpkin beer before, this beer is what you would expect a pumpkin beer to taste like. Like a liquid pumpkin pie…if pumpkin pie could get you intoxicated.

Optimal enjoyment: Due to this being a wheat beer, it has a lighter body, making it easier to drink than its peers. As a result, this is a beer that you can enjoy all day long with a big old smile on your pumpkinhead. If you are going to drink beer during the months of September, October, and November, then you might as well be drinking this one.

Saranac Pumpkin Ale        

This beer has a nice amber color, like a deep rust, with a good, frothy head. The nose is well balanced with pumpkin and spices, including cinnamon, allspice, cloves, ginger, and vanilla. Consistent with the nose, the taste of this beer is very well balanced, as the spices complement the pumpkin base perfectly. It is full bodied, and the pumpkin notes steadily increase as it warms. This is a good beer – not just a good “pumpkin” beer.

Optimal enjoyment: All day. Every day. The heft of this beer may be the only factor that may slow you down….but that shouldn’t prevent you from at least trying to fit more in you.

Michelob Jack’s Pumpkin Spice Ale

This beer looks like Autumn in a glass – a lovely burnt orange color, like a fallen leaf. The aromas of pumpkin and spice are very well balanced, and the head is nice and even. The level of pumpkin flavor this beer possesses is at a very modest level. No pumpkin overload here. Nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and clove are used with delicacy and intelligence to enhance the pumpkin quality of the beer. A very clean finish. Medium bodied with a moderate carbonation for easy drinking.

Optimal enjoyment: This beer is ideal for the person who would otherwise never consider drinking a beer flavored with pumpkin. Your grandfather who has never had anything other than Budweiser and thinks pumpkin beers are for female lumberjacks would actually enjoy this beer. The moderate levels of pumpkin and spice flavors combined with a moderate level of carbonation results in a beer that can be enjoyed all day.

Brooklyn Brewery Post Road Pumpkin Ale

The deep copper color of this beer reflects its full body. The spice notes on the nose outweigh the pumpkin, which is virtually undetectable. Consistent with the scent, the taste of the beer is dominated by nutmeg and clove, and the pumpkin remains just a wallflower. The finish of this beer is all nutmeg, which sits on the back of the tongue defiantly like a kid on a swing who refuses to get off. As the beer warms in the glass, the pumpkin decides it wants to dance and pumpkin notes become more evident, which improves the overall balance and taste of the beer.

Optimal enjoyment: Take this beer out of the fridge, pour it in a glass, go to the grocery store to pick up some snacks, and it will be ready to drink upon your return. When you finish it, you will probably be heading back to the fridge for something else to drink. Hopefully, you picked something better up while you were at the store.

Buffalo Bill’s Brewery America’s Original Pumpkin Ale

This beer looks, smells, and drinks like an American wheat beer. The coloring is more golden than orange, and it has a cloudy, unfiltered look to it. The head on the beer is very thin to start, and is completely gone by the time the glass is halfway finished. While the nose has a wheaty, fruity feel to it, it also possesses a sour property which is somewhat unappealing. This may be a by-product of using roasted pumpkins. When drinking the beer, the primary experience is the sharp effervescence of the beer, rather than any taste of pumpkin, cinnamon, clove, or nutmeg. These flavors only become apparent once the beer has been swallowed, sort of like flavor residue. When the beer is halfway gone and the head has vanished, the pumpkin flavor begins to blossom. Too bad you only have half a beer left to enjoy.

Optimal enjoyment: This beer is a real challenge to experience optimal enjoyment as it needs to warm up in order for the pumpkin flavor to blossom, but due to the light-to-medium body of the beer, it lacks the strength to be enjoyed at warmer temperatures. So, for optimal enjoyment, let it sit for 20 minutes, then chug it.

Blue Moon Brewing Company Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale

Despite its copper color, this beer has the scent and taste of a traditional amber ale. In fact, the pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, and allspice flavors are so slight, it is challenging to detect them at all. The heart of this beer is its amber nature, and any pumpkin-related qualities appear to be an afterthought. This is an amber ale, and you will not feel like you are drinking an Autumn seasonal.

Optimal enjoyment: If you like amber ales, then you will probably enjoy this beer. However, if you are searching for a good pumpkin ale, your search continues…

Southampton Publick House Pumpkin Ale

There is a cloudy, almost shady tone to the look of this beer. It has a strong spice nose, dominated by vanilla extract. Consistent with other offerings from Southampton, this beer is heavy on the malts. This beer gives you a lot of malts and a lot of vanilla – what it does not give you is a lot of pumpkin. The use of vanilla extract is a fairly risky choice, as this flavor has the ability to wipe out all other flavors if not used with great care and restraint. Rather than serve to enhance the flavor of pumpkin in the same way as cinnamon and nutmeg, vanilla is from a different taste paradigm, and it may be the very thing that serves to diminish an otherwise excellent beer.

Optimal enjoyment: If this flavor suits your palate, then enjoy! However, the heaviness of this beer will prevent you from enjoying too many in one session.



Imperial Pumpkin Ales

Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale

This beer has a deep, amber color and a good, frothy head. The pumpkin aroma is wonderful, and it is accented by tones of cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and cloves. This is a full-bodied beer. Thick and creamy with a hearty pumpkin flavor. At 8% A.B.V., a bit of alcohol can be detected on the roof of the mouth. Everything about this beer is BIG…and wonderful.

Optimal enjoyment: Because this is such a big beer, you probably won’t be able to fit too many of them, or anything else, in your belly….unless you have a really big belly. In that case, pound away. Otherwise, plan on enjoying one or two of these on a chilly Autumn night.



Southern Tier Brewing Company Pumpking Imperial Pumpkin Ale

This copper colored beauty smells like pumpkin bread baking in the oven. Hands down the best fragrance of any beer in this category. The taste is very sweet, which results from the use of pureed pumpkin and caramel malts. This beer is stunning. There is nothing else quite like it. This is like a concept car that actually ended up getting put into production – it is the Dodge Viper of pumpkin beers. The high level of sweetness of this beer can be somewhat overwhelming by the time you reach the bottom of the glass.

Optimal enjoyment: At 9% A.B.V. and available only in 22 ounce bottles, one is all you’ll need!

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale

For some reason, beerlovers seem to go nuts for anything Dogfish Head puts out in the market. Whatever the reason is, it continues to escape me, and the Punkin Ale only deepens this mystery. This beer has a rusty orange color to it, and the nose is overwhelmed with malts….as is the flavor. Where is the pumpkin, you ask? Well, it is “Punkin” Ale, not “Pumpkin” Ale, so they apparently did not feel that it would be false advertising if they made a beer that tastes nothing like pumpkin. The label at the top of the beer reads "punk," and Dogfish Head has "punked" us by giving us a pumpkin beer without any pumpkin flavor. Dogfish Head does not make bad beers. They just don’t make beers that taste good.

Optimal enjoyment: For optimal enjoyment, leave this one on the shelf and spend your hard earned money on a better selection.

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