Category Archives: Food

Pumpkin Ale Reviews for 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 2016 I am starting to run out of things to review, but the total is now _48_ varieties, wow!  The new stuff was pretty good this year for the most part.

 

Saint Louis Brewery Schlafly Pumpkin Ale


Brought this back from last year because it was a winner. Not as great as I remember it from last year, but still acceptable.

 

 

 

 

 

Nebraska Brewing Company Wick for Brains

 

Spicy with a citrus kick to it. Don’t let the can throw you off, this is good.

 

 

 

 

 

Flying Dog The Gourd Standard

 

Pumpkin IPA. I was a little skeptical picking this off the shelf, but if it to date is untried then it shall be tested. It is so-so, definitely a PINO. It smells like an IPA, and there’s no real hint that it is a “pumpkin” ale other than the label.

 

 

 

 

Kentucky Pumpkin Barrel Ale

Not as sweet as others but good. Nice fragrance, but taste as a pumpkin ale is a little lacking. But good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Samuel Adams 20 Pounds of Pumpkin

Musky ale, not bad but it is a PINO unfortunately.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ballast Point Pumpkin Down

Scottish ale with pumpkin spices. Good spice ale, nice light and smooth brew.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flying Dog The Fear Imperial Pumpkin Ale

 

Some spice scent but taste is of typical bitter ale. If I really try I can detect a cinnamon taste? Borderline PINO.

 

 

 

 

 

Heavy Seas Barrel-Aged The Great’er Pumpkin

Good spices, this is one of the few that “gets it” in this year’s batch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Uinta Brewing Punk’n Pumpkin Ale

 

Nice tasting pumpkin ale, good spices and very flavorful.

 

 

 

 

 

South Street Twisted Gourd Imperial Chocolate Chai Pumpkin Ale

Thick brew with great pumpkin spices. I’m not sure I detect much “chocolate” or “chai”, just a dark ale version of a non-PINO.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tumwater Brewing/Fish Brewing Hard Cider Pumpkin Pie

 

This was a late entry, I spotted this in Aldi. Ciders can be hit or miss, some are PINOs, others seem like they are apple ciders with some nutmeg added. This one is kind of like the latter but is quite good, especially given the price of less than $1.25 a bottle.

 

 

 

 

 

Full 2013-2016 Pumpkin Ales Review Rankings, 48 Varieties Ordered by Bill’s Preference

Mckenzie’s Pumpkin Jack Hard Cider

Heavy Seas Barrel-Aged The Great’er Pumpkin

Cortland Beer Company Pumpkin Ale

Harpoon Unfiltered Pumpkin Ale

Shipyard Pumpkinhead

Tumwater Brewing/Fish Brewing Hard Cider Pumpkin Pie

Uinta Brewing Punk’n Pumpkin Ale

Alewerks Pumpkin Ale

South Street Twisted Gourd Imperial Chocolate Chai Pumpkin Ale

Saint Louis Brewery Schlafly Pumpkin Ale

Ballast Point Pumpkin Down

Nebraska Brewing Company Wick for Brains

Southampton Publick House Pumpkin Ale

Fordham Spiced Harvest Ale

RJ Rockers Gruntled Pumpkin Ale

Leinenliugels Harvest Patch Shandy

Kentucky Pumpkin Barrel Ale

Evolution Craft Jacques All Lantern

Ichabod Crandall

Shock Top Pumpkin Wheat

Sam Adams Harvest Pumpkin

Saranac Pumpkin Ale

Blue Moon Harvest Moon Pumpkin

Ithaca Beer Company Country Pumpkin

Traveler Beer Company Jacko Traveler Seasonal Shandy

Wolaver’s Pumpkin Ale

Starr Hill Boxcar Pumpkin Porter

New Holland Ichabod Ale

Red Hook Pumpkin Porter

Blue Point Pumpkin Ale

Ace Pumpkin Cider

Long Trail Pumpkin Ale

Devil’s Backbone Brewing Company Pumpkin Hunter

Sam Adams 20 Pounds of Pumpkin

Flying Dog Brewery The Fear Imperial Pumpkin Ale

Flying Dog Brewery Imperial Pumpkin Ale

Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale

Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale

Flying Dog Brewery The Gourd Standard

New Belgium Pumpkick

Anderson Valley Fall Hornin’ Pumpkin Ale

Buffalo Bill’s Brewery America’s Original Pumpkin Ale

Wood Chuck Hard Cider Pumpkin

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale

Southern Tier Imperial Pumpking Ale

Post Road Pumpkin Ale

Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin

Samuel Adams Pumpkin Batch

 

 

Pumpkin Ale Reviews for 2015

2015 Pumpkin Ales

 

It is Fall again, and I have selected seven pumpkin ales for this year’s showdown. Either I started the season too early, or I am really biting into the varieties available as I bought up all everything I haven’t reviewed yet and only found seven. Why do I do this?  So you won’t end up with a full pack of what might be a dreaded PINO, the Pumpkin In Name Only!

As with last year I’ll re-review a past winner, and because the varieties were fewer I’ll also review a past so-so bottle to see if anything changed.  Most are good on their own, the ranking is how good of a pumpkin ale they are.  “Great” to me means grandma’s pumpkin pie was thrown into a blender and converted magically into a cold bottled product.

Here they are, ranked least favorite to favorite.  More will be added as the Fall progresses.  At the bottom of the review is a list of all 38 varieties reviewed to date, in order of preference.

 

Samuel Adams Pumpkin Batch

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I had high hopes for this one because their other pumpkin offering Harvest Pumpkin was good, but they must have brewed this from pumpkin rind discards.  I got it all down only because I paid for it, maybe there was something wrong with what ended up in the sample bottle but it was hard to finish.

 

 

 

 

Southern Tier Imperial Pumpking Ale

southerntierPumpking Ale tastes kind of like something with a “Black Forest” label, something in the aroma says “pumpkin” but the taste does not.  This is one that comes in big bottles in Costco.

 

 

 

 

 

Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale

weyerbacherSome spice aroma but too bitter for my taste.

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Holland Ichabod Ale
ichabodpumpkinAt first I thought this was a slim notch above a PINO, but if you leave it in the glass a little while the spices come out a little bit.  Still not as spicy as others.

 

 

 

 

 

Ace Pumpkin Cider
aceTasty, but if you poured this out of an apple cider-branded bottle you probably wouldn’t know the difference.  A little pumpkin flavoring is there, and it is a bit tart.  Overall it is a good drink but it doesn’t stand out as a pumpkin one.

 

 

 

 

 

Blue Moon Harvest Pumpkin Ale
BlueMoon-HarvestPumpkinAleThis year I decided to introduce a re-trial of a past non-winner.  This is the brand that in draft form at a baseball park introduced me to pumpkin ales.  The bottled variety didn’t impress me in a past review, but this year it was a little bit better.

 

 

 

 

 

Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale
shipyard-pumpkinhead-bottleI like to level-set my new year with a past winner, this one was Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale. A little slanted to caramel-ly this year, very good but not the top marks of 2013.

 

 

 

 

 

Leinenliugels Harvest Patch Shandy
shandySpicy and tasty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mckenzie’s Pumpkin Jack Hard Cider
mckenziesOne of the ciders we’re trying this year.  Exceptional and is looking to be the winner of 2015.  If you are already familiar with apple-based ciders, this is kind of like a cider with a tablespoon of nutmeg mixed in but in a good way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Full 2013-2015 Pumpkin Ales Review Rankings, 36 Varieties Ordered by Bill’s Preference

Mckenzie’s Pumpkin Jack Hard Cider

Cortland Beer Company Pumpkin Ale

Harpoon Unfiltered Pumpkin Ale

Shipyard Pumpkinhead

Alewerks Pumpkin Ale

Saint Louis Brewery Schlafly Pumpkin Ale

Southampton Publick House Pumpkin Ale

Fordham Spiced Harvest Ale

RJ Rockers Gruntled Pumpkin Ale

Leinenliugels Harvest Patch Shandy

Evolution Craft Jacques All Lantern

Ichabod Crandall

Shock Top Pumpkin Wheat

Sam Adams Harvest Pumpkin

Saranac Pumpkin Ale

Blue Moon Harvest Moon Pumpkin

Ithaca Beer Company Country Pumpkin

Traveler Beer Company Jacko Traveler Seasonal Shandy

Wolaver’s Pumpkin Ale

Starr Hill Boxcar Pumpkin Porter

New Holland Ichabod Ale

Red Hook Pumpkin Porter

Blue Point Pumpkin Ale

Ace Pumpkin Cider

Long Trail Pumpkin Ale

Devil’s Backbone Brewing Company Pumpkin Hunter

Flying Dog Brewery Imperial Pumpkin Ale

Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale

Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale

New Belgium Pumpkick

Anderson Valley Fall Hornin’ Pumpkin Ale

Buffalo Bill’s Brewery America’s Original Pumpkin Ale

Wood Chuck Hard Cider Pumpkin

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale

Southern Tier Imperial Pumpking Ale

Post Road Pumpkin Ale

Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin

Samuel Adams Pumpkin Batch

 

 

Pumpkin Ale Reviews for 2014

PumpkinAles 2014

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It is that time of year again, and I have selected nine eighteen pumpkin ales for this year’s showdown.  As with last year, the seasonal pumpkin brews are plentiful.  Following my own advice from last year, I mostly utilized Total Wine and More to buy individual bottles so there is no need to commit to a full pack of what might be a dreaded PINO, the Pumpkin In Name Only brew.

I will pit these eighteen against each other, alongside one of my top two from last year (which I did commit to a pack of this year), Harpoon Unfiltered Pumpkin Ale.  All of them were good in their own right, as with last year the ranking is how good of a pumpkin ale they are.

Here they are, ranked least favorite to favorite.  More will be added as the Fall progresses (first nine are below, next nine will be integrated into the list soon).  At the bottom of the review is a list of all 31 varieties reviewed to date, ordered best on down.

 

Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin

Given how good last year’s Shipyard product was, I was looking forward to this new variety from them.  But it wasn’t pumpkin-y, and frankly the taste wasn’t for me at all.

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Dogfish Head Punkin Ale

I got punked by the PINO.

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Wood Chuck Hard Cider Pumpkin

They say there is pure pumpkin in it, free of all spices to get pure taste.  But it is made with red apple cider, and I just can’t detect anything other than typical cider taste.  PINO.

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Buffalo Bill’s Brewery America’s Original Pumpkin Ale

No pumpkin flavor or spices detectable.  A decent ale, but a PINO.

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Anderson Valley Fall Hornin’ Pumpkin Ale

Tastes a bit like drinking melted dark chocolate, okay for a thick ale but not really a pumpkin ale.

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Flying Dog Brewery The Fear Imperial Pumpkin Ale

Real dark, real bold, real tasty.  Not real pumpkin-y.

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Devil’s Backbone Brewing Company Pumpkin Hunter

Did they catch the pumpkin?  Maybe they got a piece of it, but not enough got into the bottle to make it a great pumpkin ale.  I can kind of taste the piece but it is barely in the non-PINO range.

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Blue Point Pumpkin Ale

Some aromatic and aftertaste spice hints, not a lot though.  Gets a passing grade but almost a PINO.

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Starr Hill Boxcarr Pumpkin Porter

Oops, accidentally bought a repeat from last year. Same result as last year as well.  This year they have appeared to add an addition “r” to “Boxcar” if you check out my photo of the bottle above.

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Traveler Beer Company Jacko Traveler Seasonal Shandy

Jacko Traveler is a wheat ale brewed with lemon peel, then some pumpkin added.  It tasted a bit like mixing ale with hard cider.  Interesting taste but it is a bit too cider-y (or maybe just lemon-y) for a pumpkin ale.

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Ithaca Beer Company Country Pumpkin

Nice aroma, mild pumpkin hints.

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Evolution Craft Jacques All Lantern

Unique taste, unique enough that I’m not sure if it is pumpkin-and-spices based or not. So I’ll rate it a decent non-PINO.

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RJ Rockers Gruntled Pumpkin Ale

Fruitier than others but a nice taste, seems to focus on that more than the pumpkin pie spices.  Pretty good.

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Fordham Spiced Harvest Ale

Brewed with every spice you could want so I was looking forward to this one.  It doesn’t all come out of the bottle but it is a pretty good brew.

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Southampton Publick House Pumpkin Ale

Good spices and very likable.

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Saint Louis Brewery Schlafly Pumpkin Ale

The lady at the Total Wine register said her fiance called this one “nectar of the gods” in very dramatic fashion.  I was skeptical and saved it for near the end, but it was indeed good.  Spices throughout, good aroma and taste.

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Alewerks Pumpkin Ale

Good aroma, hits with every tip of the glass.  Taste is spicy too, good flavor.

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Harpoon Unfiltered Pumpkin Ale

In a re-test of last year’s tie for top winner, still good but not the ka-pow I remember from last year so it’s going down a notch.

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Cortland Beer Company Pumpkin Ale

Fanstastic, ranks up there with last year’s UFO and Shipyard Pumpkinhead.  All the spices and flavors are there and up front.  You’ll have to look more local to NY for this one.

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Full 2013-2014 Pumpkin Ales Review Rankings, 31 Varieties Ordered by Bill’s Preference

Cortland Beer Company Pumpkin Ale

Harpoon Unfiltered Pumpkin Ale

Shipyard Pumpkinhead

Alewerks Pumpkin Ale

Saint Louis Brewery Schlafly Pumpkin Ale

Southampton Publick House Pumpkin Ale

Fordham Spiced Harvest Ale

RJ Rockers Gruntled Pumpkin Ale

Evolution Craft Jacques All Lantern

Ichabod Crandall

Shock Top Pumpkin Wheat

Sam Adams Harvest Pumpkin

Saranac Pumpkin Ale

Ithaca Beer Company Country Pumpkin

Traveler Beer Company Jacko Traveler Seasonal Shandy

Wolaver’s Pumpkin Ale

Blue Moon Harvest Moon Pumpkin

Starr Hill Boxcar Pumpkin Porter

Red Hook Pumpkin Porter

Blue Point Pumpkin Ale

Long Trail Pumpkin Ale

Devil’s Backbone Brewing Company Pumpkin Hunter

Flying Dog Brewery Imperial Pumpkin Ale

Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale

New Belgium Pumpkick

Anderson Valley Fall Hornin’ Pumpkin Ale

Buffalo Bill’s Brewery America’s Original Pumpkin Ale

Wood Chuck Hard Cider Pumpkin

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale

Post Road Pumpkin Ale

Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin

 

 

Pumpkin Ale Reviews for 2013

Fall is here, and this year it seems there are more seasonal pumpkin brews than ever to choose from.  With so many choices, places like Total Wine and More come in handy because you can build packs of individual bottles instead of committing to the high price of a seasonal six-pack for a trial.  I’m not usually an ale consumer, but in the fall I make an exception for the pumpkin ales because they can be so different.  As with the above Simpsons snap, sometimes you wonder.

Here are fourteen varieties I tried, ranked least favorite to favorite.

 

Post Road Pumpkin Ale

Maybe I got a bad bottle, but there isn’t a single hint in the taste this is a pumpkin ale.  Pumpkin in Name Only (PINO)

 

New Belgium Pumpkick

Not a bad ale, just weak in terms of a pumpkin ale.  Not much pumpkin or spice taste.

 

Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale

Okay… I didn’t really taste pumpkin or spices until the second sip.

 

Long Trail Pumpkin Ale

An ale that tastes pretty good, just not strong as a pumpkin ale.  

 

Red Hook Pumpkin Porter

I don’t think porter plus pumpkin is a combo that works.  A wiff of nutmeg emits from the full glass, but hardly anything pumpkin-y comes through on taste.

 

Starr Hill Boxcar Pumpkin Porter

Another porter that has good taste, but not a lot of pumpkin taste.  Here and there hints, but no direct approach.

 

Blue Moon Harvest Moon Pumpkin

Not very spicy.  It didn’t taste as good as I remember it when it was my very first pumpkin ale, at Nationals Park last season.

 

Wolaver’s Pumpkin Ale

You can smell the spices when you pour it, but you can’t taste very much of them.

 

Saranac Pumpkin Ale

There is something there I like… caramel?  Not great, but interesting.

 

Sam Adams Harvest Pumpkin

Pretty good, decent pumpkin and spices taste.  Seems more potent.

 

Shock Top Pumpkin Wheat

Shock Top rarely disappoints, and this is pretty good.  This tastes like they wanted to be a pumpkin ale.  Not the best, but good.

 

Ichabod Crandall  

Very nice taste, good seasonal spices, totally acceptable.

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Shipyard Pumpkinhead

This one was a late review, I picked it up in mid-November when almost all the pumpkin brews were off the shelf.  Got one in a mix pack and had to go back to get the remaining mix pack stragglers.  The only regret I have is I didn’t run into this one earlier.  Very, very good and ties Harpoon.

 

Harpoon Unfiltered Pumpkin Ale

Very good, this is what I was looking for.  High flavor and spices.  Tied for winner!