Showing posts with label pumpkin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pumpkin. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Three Pumpkin Ale Reviews

I'll continue briefly in the seasonal beer reviewing tradition from my previous post.

Executive summary: I have recently extensively tasted three pumpkin ales. Dogfish Head was the best in class, but if you're leaning toward this area (fruity, sweetish but not a weiss bier) I would vastly recommend something else, like Dogfish Head Raison d'Etre or Magic Hat Aprihop.


Post Road Pumpkin Ale
Grade: C


This comes from the Brooklyn Brewing Co so I was excited, but I found it rather mediocre. Right off the bat it had an empty, carbonated taste, sort of like a Miller Lite. Not much pumpkin taste.


Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale
Grade: C/C+

This beer may have tasted better, but I was shocked at how similar it tasted to me. Maybe I'm down on pumpkin ales. But that suggestion doesn't really hold water for me. I was much more skeptical when I tasted Aprihop or Raison d'Etre, and those beers had me at hello. This one was sucko at hello.


Dogfish Head Punkin Ale
Grade: C+

I so wanted this beer to be good. I love Dogfish Head, but this is hands down the worst dogfish head I've tried. It's better than the others. But it's also the same price and comes in a four pack (with zero rationale vis a vis beer traditions, e.g., it's not an optimator style beer or an English longneck). It's just not that great.

Summary: Try These Beers Instead

If you want a seasonal-ish beer, get a Magic Hat Aprihop (A-), or a Dogfish Head Raison d'Etre (A-). Ok, maybe they aren't seasonal. I'm not strong on the seasonal patterns of apricots and raisins. You're also better off with a weiss beer, including Hoegaarden or Blue Moon (both B+). The pumpkin beers weren't a total waste of time, but they're not exactly worth it either.