{"id":168,"date":"2013-09-21T21:07:58","date_gmt":"2013-09-22T01:07:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/syntap.com\/blog\/?p=168"},"modified":"2014-10-04T12:44:01","modified_gmt":"2014-10-04T16:44:01","slug":"pumpkin-ale-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/syntap.com\/blog\/?p=168","title":{"rendered":"Pumpkin Ale Reviews for 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Fall is here, and this year it seems there are more seasonal pumpkin brews than ever to choose from. \u00a0With 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. \u00a0I’m not usually an ale consumer, but in the fall I make an exception for the pumpkin ales because they can be so different. \u00a0As with the above Simpsons snap, sometimes you wonder.<\/p>\n

Here are fourteen varieties I tried, ranked least favorite to favorite.<\/p>\n

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Post Road Pumpkin Ale<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maybe I got a bad bottle, but there isn’t a single hint in the taste this is a pumpkin ale. \u00a0Pumpkin in Name Only (PINO)<\/p>\n

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New Belgium Pumpkick<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Not a bad ale, just weak in terms of a pumpkin ale. \u00a0Not much pumpkin or spice taste.<\/p>\n

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Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale<\/strong><\/p>\n

Okay… I didn’t really taste pumpkin or spices until the second sip.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Long Trail Pumpkin Ale<\/strong><\/p>\n

An ale that tastes pretty good, just not strong as a pumpkin ale. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Red Hook Pumpkin Porter<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don’t think porter plus pumpkin is a combo that works. \u00a0A wiff of nutmeg emits from the full glass, but hardly anything pumpkin-y comes through on taste.<\/p>\n

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Starr Hill Boxcar Pumpkin Porter<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another porter that has good taste, but not a lot of pumpkin taste. \u00a0Here and there hints, but no direct approach.<\/p>\n

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Blue Moon Harvest Moon Pumpkin<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not very spicy. \u00a0It\u00a0<\/span>didn’t\u00a0taste as good as I remember it when it was my very first pumpkin ale, at Nationals Park\u00a0last season.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Wolaver\u2019s Pumpkin Ale<\/strong><\/p>\n

You can smell the spices when you pour it, but you can\u2019t taste very much of them.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Saranac Pumpkin Ale<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is something there I like… caramel? \u00a0Not great, but interesting.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Sam Adams Harvest Pumpkin<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pretty good, decent pumpkin and spices taste. \u00a0Seems more potent.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Shock Top Pumpkin Wheat<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shock Top rarely disappoints, and this is pretty good. \u00a0This tastes like they wanted to be a pumpkin ale. \u00a0Not the best, but good.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ichabod Crandall \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Very nice taste, good seasonal spices, totally acceptable.<\/p>\n

\"crandall\"<\/p>\n

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Shipyard Pumpkinhead<\/strong><\/p>\n

This one was a late review, I picked it up in mid-November when almost all the pumpkin brews were off the shelf. \u00a0Got one in a mix pack and had to go back to get the remaining mix pack stragglers. \u00a0The only regret I have is I didn’t run into this one earlier. \u00a0Very, very good and ties Harpoon.<\/p>\n

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Harpoon Unfiltered Pumpkin Ale<\/strong><\/p>\n

Very good, this is what I was looking for. \u00a0High flavor and spices. \u00a0Tied for winner!<\/span><\/p>\n

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Fall is here, and this year it seems there are more seasonal pumpkin brews than ever to choose from. \u00a0With so many choices, places like Total Wine and More come in handy because you can build packs of individual bottles … Read more »<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/syntap.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/syntap.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/syntap.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/syntap.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/syntap.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=168"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/syntap.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":242,"href":"https:\/\/syntap.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168\/revisions\/242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/syntap.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/syntap.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/syntap.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}