Tis the season’! The leaves are changing colors, there is a nip in the air and the seasonal fruits and vegetables appear on display at the grocery store – all breeds of squash and pumpkins of all shapes and sizes. Another sure sign of fall is the seasonal beers on the shelf change as well. The summer normally offers light, zesty seasonal ales and the fall? Pumpkin and spices are in season.
Last year, I tried one pumpkin ale and I loved it – Dogfish Head Punkin. I’d say it remains my favorite Pumpkin beer.
This year, I decided it was time to see what else there was for seasonal pumpkin beers and discovered that there was quite the selection. In fact, there were so many that I didn’t want to do them all in one tasting session which is why this is post 1/2.
We selected 5 beers for the round up and split each beer 3 ways, 3 tasters. From there, we each had sheets where we rated the beers individually and then against each other. We decided not to talk to each other about what we thought until all the beers had been rated so we didn’t influence what the other thought.
Here are your tasters:
Matt Smoot (MS)- my boyfriend and fellow beer snob
Brad Efting (BE)- my housemate. Beer lover.
and me(SL), with bunny ears
The contestants for this tasting:
1. Tommyknocker Small Patch Pumpkin Harvest Ale
3. Uinta Oak Jacked Imperial Pumpkin Ale
4. Uinta Punk’n Ale (love the logo!)
5. Woochuck Reserve Pumpkin Cider
The beers ranged in color (and taste) which made it fun and interesting.
Here is what we thought:
Tommyknocker Small Patch Pumpkin Ale
SL: Smells sweet and malty. Standard brown ale, nothing special – can’t really taste pumpkin.
BE: Good because it’s darker, not so much pumpkin
MS: Smells like pumpkin, dusty brown ale, didn’t taste like a pumpkin-more like a brown.
Buffalo Bill’s Pumpkin Ale
-the first brewery to make a pumpkin beer
SL: Smells like a sour, is there brettanomyces in there? Tastes like sour pumpkin candy. Would buy again
BE: Tastes like ginger, smoky.
MS: Smells like fresh pumpkin, crisp clean, good balance of spice and pumpkin. Well rounded
Uinta Oak Jacked Imperial Pumpkin
SL: Smells like sour pumpkin. Tastes like brown sugar and pumpkin pie. Rich and bold. On the list of favorites
BE: Tastes like pumpkin beer and red bull. Gross!
MS: Complex, oak and nutmeg, malty, spicy pumpkin. “Give me some whipped cream and a spoon, I’ll take seconds!”
Uinta Punk’n
SL: Pumpkin in the nose, more bland in flavor but “good enough”
BE: Great, tastes like pie and ice cream
MS: Smells like a pumpkin sitting on a doorstep for a week, spices stand out
Woodchuck Reserve Pumpkin Cider
SL: Smells pungent, tastes like pumpkin flavored fluoride, bleh! I don’t like cider though!
BE: Fail! Tastes like a trash can
MS: Bubble gummy, cider pushes through and overpowers pumpkin.
Overall comparison:
SL:
1. Uinta Oak Jacked Imperial Pumpkin Ale
2. Buffalo Bill’s Pumpkin Ale
3. Uinta Punk’n Ale
4. Tommyknocker Small Patch Pumpkin Harvest Ale
5. Woodchuck Reserve Pumpkin Cider
BE:
1. Tommyknocker Small Patch Pumpkin Harvest Ale
2. Uinta Punk’n Ale
3. Buffalo Bill’s Pumpkin Ale
4. Uinta Oak Jacked Imperial Pumpkin Ale
5. Woodchuck Reserve Pumpkin Cider
MS:
1. Uinta Oak Jacked Imperial Pumpkin Ale
2. Buffalo Bill’s Pumpkin Ale
3. Uinta Punk’n Ale
4. Woodchuck Reserve Pumpkin Cider
5. Tommyknocker Small Patch Pumpkin Harvest Ale
There you have it!
