Pumpkin Ales

[MikeyC]

One of the things I like best about fall is drinking some yummy Pumpkin Ales! It's the only thing that makes putting up with all the annoying "leaf peepers" remotely bearable.

I've tried a number of Pumpkin Ales this year some new and some old favorites. I thought I'd share my thoughts on the ones I've tried and would love to hear others thoughts on the Pumpkin Ales they've tried.

Shipyard Pumpkin - after last year's pumpkin ale taste test this was my favorite. Definitely on the sweet side and pumpkin pie spice flavors are pretty prominent.

Dogfish Head Punkin' Ale - DH puts out so many delicious beers and their Punkin' Ale is no exception. Pumpkin pie spices are there but not overpowering. There's also a nice maltiness to this beer and the 7% ABV is a nice bonus. The flavor profile of this beer is tipped toward sweetness but not overwhelmingly which makes it very drinkable.

Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale - this is a pumpkin ale I would expect out of a company run by Molsen/Coors. This beer completely lacked pumpkin pie spice or even pumpkin flavor. If you took the label off the bottle I would have had no idea that this was supposed to be a pumpkin ale. This beer generally lacked flavor and was seriously boring!! As a side note I recently tried some Blue Moon Peanutbutter beer and that was . . . well interesting. At least you could taste the peanuts.

Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale - this beer was my personal favorite of the four. The flavor profile of this beer was much closer to being "balanced" (not too sweet and not too bitter). You could DEFINITELY taste pumpkin in this beer and the pumpkin pie spices were much more subtle. It was very drinkable especially for a pumpkin ale. This beer was also overwhelmingly prefered by my friends who also tried the other beers.

I'm hoping to get my hands on some Weyerbacher Pumpkin Ale before fall is over as I hear good things about it.

So what's your favorite Pumpkin Ale and why?