ITT: Pumpkin Beers!

[Michigan1]

Love em? Hate em? Discuss them here!

 

[franch]

All Pumking all the time

 

[evilc]

Gross

 

[dontdrinkbeer]

Heady is the best pumpkin beer

 

[libbey]

pretty much sums up my feels

 

[Usofar]

Not a fan unless it's rum barrel aged from CO. Now yams, yams are where it's at!

 

[Steve2]

Just got home from chowderfest on Long Beach Island. Told Shteiven to pick anything out of the fridge. He chose wisely:

This was delicious. Also made a beer a few years back with grilled squash that turned out pretty tasty.

 

[Boilerfood]

I love them. Love them so much that I am hosting a tasting in 2 weeks with close to 30. If anyone has some almanac, gourds of thunder, rumpkin, or Good Gourd Almightty get at me!

 

[Gene1]

Just got home from chowderfest on Long Beach Island. Told Shteiven to pick anything out of the fridge. He chose wisely:

This was delicious. Also made a beer a few years back with grilled squash that turned out pretty tasty.

It's easy to make fun of pumpkin beers, but this is next-level **** right here.

Side note: I usually point people to this piece on Serious Eats when they start acting like pumpkin ale is some deplorable new American seasonal marketing gimmick. Pumpkin pie beers may indeed be a newer trend, but before the first Americans ever brewed successfully with malted barley, they were using pumpkins as their primary source for fermentable sugars.

 

[Steve2]

It's easy to make fun of pumpkin beers, but this is next-level **** right here.

Side note: I usually point people to this piece on Serious Eats when they start acting like pumpkin ale is some deplorable new American seasonal marketing gimmick. Pumpkin pie beers may indeed be a newer trend, but before the first Americans ever brewed successfully with malted barley, they were using pumpkins as their primary source for fermentable sugars.

Perfectly said. Truth be told most of the issue with pumpkin beers is how popular they are. The more popular something is in the beer world the more people make shitty versions of them. Schlafly and Alewerks pumpkin are still great beers.

 

[FTowne1]

Love them...in moderation. I can drink 2, maybe 3 in one sitting and then I'm done.

Notable favorites are:
Schlafly
Good Gourd
Rumpkin
Crown Valley Imperial Pumpkin Smash

 

[Hanzo1]

Best pumpkin beer I've ever had is Heirloom Pumpkin Barleywine from Almanac. Others I enjoy from time to time.

Schlafly Pumpkin
Williamsburg AleWerks Pumpkin Ale
ST Pumking
Rumpkin

 

[xnicknj]

I don't enjoy pumpkin beers but I thought the Almanac Heirloom Pumpkin was pretty tasty. La Parcela and Ghoulschip are decent too.

 

[FTowne1]

Almanac Heirloom Pumpkin

I need to try this. Anyone know if it's still available?

 

[JulianB1]

Somehow I always manage to collect a massive lineup of pumpkin beers by grabbing singles, getting them as extras, etc. I really need to just blow them all out in a big blind taste test to get them out of my fridge and cellar.

I do love me some St. Arnold's Pumpkinator though.

 

[stakem1]

In 8 days the real king of pumpkin ales gets unleashed.

 

[stakem1]

Somehow I always manage to collect a massive lineup of pumpkin beers by grabbing singles, getting them as extras, etc. I really need to just blow them all out in a big blind taste test to get them out of my fridge and cellar.

I do love me some St. Arnold's Pumpkinator though.

Thanksgiving last year I did a blind tasting with 14 pumpkin beers for my family and friends. 12 were ones I acquired via trading or travels and 2 were my homebrews. (Standard pumpkin ale and pumpkin saison.)

The unanimous winner was Schlafly followed by my pumpkin saison.
Surprisingly Elysians Great Pumpkin was pretty low on the list as well as Pumpking.

 

[litheum94]

I need to try this. Anyone know if it's still available?

Still on the shelves in my area. Want some?

 

[willseph]

Never really cared for pumpkin beers until this year. I like to have one or two, but usually no more. I think my favorites so far were Good Gourd (more spicy than I expected) and Schlafly (incredibly balanced IMO).

 

[JulianB1]

For anyone in the Carolinas, if you get a chance to have Wicked Weed's rum barrel-aged smoked pumpkin ale, DO IT! This is probably my favorite pumpkin beer I've had, totally awesome stuff.

 

[mjshearer1]

Pumpkin beers are one of my favorite styles. I have yet to try a rum barreled variant and it gives me the sad feels. Pumking is probably my favorite.

 

[maximthegreat]

Absolutely love Pumpkinator.

 

[FujOnTap]

**** pumpkin beers. I've drank one so far this year (Almanac's and it was delicious) and unless I happen across another bottle of that, or one of CCB's BA offerings, I'll likely not have another pumpkin beer until next year, if at all.

 

[quirkzoo1]

Colorado Springs Pumpkin Beer Whaels Bro:

http://www.bristolbrewing.com/our_beers.asp?brs_id=42

Serious, this beer is amazing, but way too hard to get.

 

[Envelopes]

That Almanac was pretty fantastic.

Other than that, I buy a 4-pack of Dogfish Head Punkin every year for the feels. I'm lame and nostalgic in the fall.

 

[owlsfan]

My Top 5 so far this year:

1. Neshaminy Creek Punkel Dunkel
2. Ithaca
3. DuClaw 31
4. Lancaster
5. Alewerks

 

[JulianB1]

Did a blind taste test tonight of 4 "regular" pumpkin beers, and I've decided that (with the exception of the occasional dark/barrel-aged version), they are the vampire movies of craft beer.

 

[beerindex]

I enjoy some of them, but it isn't a style I care that much about. I think I'm joining in on a smallish (15 or so bottles) pumpkin beer tasting that my friend is organizing. Really, it is just killing time until our sour tasting in a few weeks.

 

[Boilerfood]

Did a blind taste test tonight of 4 "regular" pumpkin beers, and I've decided that (with the exception of the occasional dark/barrel-aged version), they are the vampire movies of craft beer.

Awesome and timeless?

 

[MordorMongo]

Hi, I'm Scott, I love pumpkin beers and am not afraid to admit it.

No, srs, I really do.

Seriously.

Hey, we all have our quirks.

 

[Steve2]

Hi, I'm Scott, I love pumpkin beers and am not afraid to admit it.

No, srs, I really do.

Seriously.

Hey, we all have our quirks.

I have a huge soft spot for chocolate stout-pumpkin beer Black and Tans personally. I'm not ashamed.

 

[TheDice]

BOW TO THE KING

 

[mtalley999]

I look forward to pumpkin beers every year. Schlafly Pumpkin and Heavy Seas The Greater Pumpkin are my all time favorites.

Longtrail Imperial Pumpkin is my sleeper hit this year. I can't believe I almost passed on that one. Greatest smelling pumpkin ale that I have ever had, and mighty tasty.

 

[maximthegreat]

BOW TO THE KING

Beautiful. Now send me some.

 

[Michigan1]

I'm old school. The only pumpkin beer I drink is Dogfish Head Punkin Ale.

I'm really loving their new-ish 12 bottles with the logo on them. classy

 

[ilovermont]

Love pumpkin...just not in my beer.

 

[beerindex]

The roster for today's beer tasting:

Shipyard - Smashed Pumpkin
Shipyard - Pumpkin Head
Samuel Adams - Fat Jack Double Pumpkin
Samuel Adams - Harvest Pumpkin
Southern Tier - Pumpking
Rogue - First Growth Pumpkin Patch
Urban Chestnut - Count Orlok
Schlafly - Pumpkin Ale
Crown Valley - Imperial Pumpkin Smash
Charleville - Witch’s Brew’mmm
O’Fallon - Pumpkin Beer
New Holland - Ichabod Pumpkin Ale
Big Muddy - Pumpkin Smasher
Wild Onion - Pumpkin Ale
Blue Moon - Harvest Pumpkin
New Belgium - Pumpkick

Group consensus:

Pumpking and Count Orlok were best.

Smashed Pumpkin was the worst.

And Schlafly Pumpkin was not as good as previous years.

 

[yeahnatenelson]

My new favorite pumpkin beer is Lakefront's Brandy BA Imperial Pumpkin Lager. Lakefront is usually disappointing, but this one is great.

Pumpking is usually my go-to. I loved the 2011 CCB Good Gourd, was underwhelmed with the 2012 batch and I'm not looking for it this year.

 

[Envelopes]

The roster for today's beer tasting:
Shipyard - Pumpkin Head

I'm sorry.

 

[preacher1]

My new favorite pumpkin beer is Lakefront's Brandy BA Imperial Pumpkin Lager. Lakefront is usually disappointing, but this one is great.

Pumpking is usually my go-to. I loved the 2011 CCB Good Gourd, was underwhelmed with the 2012 batch and I'm not looking for it this year.

That sounds great! I am liking the BA treatment that pumpkin beers have been getting latel.

As an experiment, I tossed a bunch of pumpkin beers in the closet last year to see how they hold up for opening this season. I opened my first pumpkin of the year last night Good Gourd... It was very sweet and under carbed but spice held up. I have a few more (treat, ba oaked jack,) that I will be opening soon, and will leave my worthless response here.