I love the change of season from summer to fall. I know some lament the departure of the summer heat, but I embrace the cooler temperatures and the picturesque display of the leaves changing color. I also embrace all the festive fall beers that come out when the seasons change. I’m not quite sure whether I enjoy these beers because they celebrate this great time of year, or whether I enjoy this time of year because it produces such fun and flavorful beers.
This year my first pumpkin beer of the season was Fegley’s BrewWorks Devious. This imperial pumpkin ale really inspired me to try every pumpkin beer I could get my hands on in an attempt to figure out which pumpkin beers really are the best. This was quite a mission indeed. Though it was a little rough on the wallet picking up every new pumpkin beer that came out, it was definitely worth it. These are my recommendations for your next pick-your-own six pack at the local bottle shop.
Wolaver’s Pumpkin Ale
This is a great pumpkin beer because it is simple, sessionable, and tastes very fresh. If Wolaver’s set out to make a straightforward pumpkin beer that was easy to drink and embraced the natural goodness of fresh pumpkin ,with just enough spice to accentuate that flavor, they surely nailed it. As soon as I poured the bottle’s contents into the pint glass I immediately smelled the aroma of pumpkin. A cursory smell brought forward some pumpkin pie spice to accompany the pumpkin aroma. The flavor exceeds the smell; the taste was subtle but could be described as grassy, lemon, pumpkin, nutmeg, biscuit, slight graham cracker, and cinnamon. Wolaver’s takes pride in only using fresh local Vermont pumpkins and all organic ingredients and you can surely tell when you sample their pumpkin ale.
Tommyknocker Small Patch Pumpkin Harvest Ale
Tommyknocker is fairly new to the area and I have only been able to sample a few of their beers, so I was not sure what to expect with their pumpkin ale. I was definitely surprised by this Colorado gem. This beer definitely brought something to the table that some of the other big pumpkin beers did not have. The Small Patch Pumpkin Harvest Ale is brewed with molasses and you can tell at first sip. This beer has an amazing sweetness to it that is not overpowering or overly sugary. It is a deep dark molasses sweetness that pairs amazingly well with the pumpkin and spice. The beer poured a slightly amber brown with low carbonation. The smell consisted mainly of pumpkin, molasses, and biscuit. This beer tasted of pumpkin, honey, light spice, molasses, plum, and brown sugar. If you like sweeter beers (think cherry quad or Belgian tripel not summer shandy) this is the one you should try.
Fegley’s BrewWorks Devious
As my first pumpkin beer of 2012 this definitely set the tone for the upcoming pumpkin beer onslaught. This beer lacks the subtlety of Wolaver’s and replaces it with extra spice and dark malts. The spice was definitely strong in this beer, but not overpowering like I have experienced in other fall seasonals. This beer pours a medium amber hue with low carbonation. The smell is that of clove, cinnamon, allspice, and molasses. The brew tasted of clove, strong cinnamon, graham cracker, molasses, vanilla, and buckwheat honey.
River Horse Hipp-O-Lantern
This New Jersey brew definitely caught me off guard. River Horse opted to go bold and create an imperial pumpkin ale. It was definitely more sipping beer than session beer. This big beer clocks in at 8.1% abv and definitely has the flavor to make it imperial. The beer poured a dark brown hue with little head. I was instantly intrigued by the smell of coffee, cinnamon, and brown sugar wafting from the glass. The flavor consisted of graham cracker, vanilla, clove, brown sugar, molasses, nutmeg, cinnamon, and the taste was slightly boozy. I must admit the pumpkin flavor got a bit lost in the beer, but nonetheless, this was a fantastic beer.
Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale
Weyerbacher is one of my favorite breweries so I tried not to bring a bias into this tasting. Bias or not, this is definitely a great pumpkin beer. It is another imperial like the River Horse and has an ABV of 8%. This is the beer for the spice lovers, but stay away if you are not a fan of clove. The clove flavor is strong, but not too strong for those that like a little kick. This beer was a dark deep amber with very little carbonation. It smelled of plum, molasses, brown sugar, cloves, and cinnamon. The flavor of this beer is definitely intense; it is a far cry from the sessionable nature of the Wolaver’s ale I had tried earlier. The taste was that of clove (this flavor controlled the initial flavor but quickly mellowed), cinnamon, cardamon, pumpkin, caramel, piney-citrusy hops, raisin, and biscuit. The hops had a great flavor that matched the spiciness of the beer and collaborated well.
Dogfish Head Punkin Ale
If I had to choose one beer to drink for all of fall, it would be Punkin Ale. This beer is not an imperial, nor is it too simple. It is an amazing balancing act of pumpkin, spice, malts and hops. This beer might not wow you on the first drink, but it is one you will definitely want to return to again and again. This beer doesn’t revolve around pumpkin or spice, it is a great brown ale that is perfectly complemented by the addition of pumpkin and spice. The beer poured copper with low head and smelled of nutmeg, cinnamon, hazelnut, freshly baked bread. This brew tasted of caramel, biscuit, wheat bread, pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, plum, and citrusy hops. The yeast was a bit spicy which melded well with the beer. This beer has a little spiced kick, but it is extremely well balanced. This is a beer that all beer lovers will appreciate.
2 Comments