The Pumpkin Beer Reviews - part 6

23. WOODCHUCK PRIVATE RESERVE PUMPKIN CIDER (Vermont Cider Co.) ABV: 6.9%
I think Pabst Brewing Company partners with these guys now, but I'm not usually interested in Woodchuck anyway. This brew is another example of why I Don't Care. I really shouldn't even put the ciders in this list, but who cares? This will be one of the only ones. This one tastes like a cheap cider with some pumpkin pie spice added.  Not that much though. I think some people may like this because of the same reasons I don't like it. It's light, spiced just enough to give a cinnamon-apple flavor. But it's kinda artificial tasting, like candy. See ya!

24. HARVEST PATCH SHANDY (Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co.) ABV: 4.20%
Review dated 9-9-16. Watched video of The Misfits reunion show from Riotfest this night. We all thought this was pretty much Pumpkin Pie in a bottle. Very light in color and there's no alcohol bite. It's a shandy and its fizzy but not overjuiced. Says it's brewed with honey and I think the honey adds more to the sweet flavor than it stands out by itself. A sixer is too much though, it's just too much of a treat. I really recommend this one if you find it in a place where you can build your own six pack or if you get a six pack of this and something else to break up the sweetness. I'm hoping they still have this where I got it so I can have one on Halloween.

25. FUNKY PUMPKIN (Boulevard Brewing Co.) ABV: 5.8%
I've been a fan of Boulevard's beers for awhile and was slightly skeptical about this offering when I first saw it. I just thought they could do something a lil more with a pumpkin beer. This one turned out to be much better than I expected. Get it fresh, which may be kinda late by now(10-24-16), but despite using the Brett I think this one tasted better without any aging. I dunno, maybe this year I'll sit on one longer. I got it in Fall 2015 and the bottle had a best by date of 1-11-16(but no born on date? That's my only complaint with this!) so it was gone before X-Mas. It's very earthy, very yeasty. It is fer shure a sour beer with a slight Brett taste in there, and they make no secret about using pumpkin pie spice and barely any real pumpkin at all so I appreciate what they're trying to do. I think they're just trying too hard. I did enjoy this even more after it warmed up a bit too. But if you dig the tart beers or something a bit different and see this at the beer store, grab it.

26. JACK-O TRAVELER PUMPKIN SHANDY (The Traveler Beer Co.) ABV: 4.4%
It was 10-24-16. I took a Halloween walk with Amber to look at the big Halloween displays in our favorite Halloween part of town. Poltergeist 2 was on Comet when we got home. I was down with a pumpkin beer. I cracked this fella open. Even though I had it before, there were no notes to reference. I should've known better. Not that it's bad. First thing is the aroma. Like a cinnamon apple soda. With maybe some lemoniness. The taste is very similar, and to me was almost potpourri-ish. It's another fizzy, soda like shandy. As I stood outside smoking a cigarette and listening to the owls hooting at each other down the street and through the park, as the air felt quiet and a soft breeze tip-toed through the warm autumn air, I wished I had opened a different pumpkin beer. Then I went inside and watched Nightmare on Elm Street til we fell asleep.

27. PUMPKIN LAGER (Lakefront Brewery) ABV: 6%
Hey now! A lager! Not an ale! And they sure didn't hold back on that pumpkin pie spice either! Damn, I wanted a good pumpkin lager. This is almost as spiced as pumpkinhead(check out the review in part 2), but there does seem to be a taste of real pumpkin in there. Not enough though. This is basically a better pumpkinhead, and I would recommend this to people that want to get a variety six pack and can pick 5 other beers or people that want to experiment for Halloween. If you're a pumpkin beer person, try it for the fact that it's one of the only punkin lagers round here.

28. BRANDY BARREL AGED IMPERIAL PUMPKIN LAGER (Lakefront Brewery) ABV: 8%
I guess this is the same beer, just aged in brandy barrels??! This was good. Maybe not the same beer! I still remember this one from a couple years ago. It was in a 12 oz bottle and the notes do not say if this was in a four pack or a sixer. This was their fall seasonal offering in their 25th anniversary series. They released an anniversary brew in winter, a different one in spring, a different one in summer and this one in the fall. Or maybe they started in spring and ended in winter. Anyway, 4 seasons, 4 seasonal anniversary beers. This was one of the boozier offerings and although I felt there was a real pumpkin flavor here and there, sometimes you feel like it's a shot of brandy with pumpkin pie spice in it. But don't let that put you off because those barrels also add a vanilla hint and a earthy feel and those blend very well with the pumpkin and spices. This was a good strong beer and reminded me of some of the bombers I tried.

BONUS!
29. IMPERIAL PUMPKIN PIE PORTER (Terrapin Beer Company) ABV: 9.2%
This was available in bombers, but I had it in a snifter at a bar. Otherwise I would've added it to the previous reviews. It was the third release in a series by Terrapin in 2014 I believe. This was a lot better than some of the other pumpkin porters I had but still didn't quite get past the wateriness I see in porters these days. It's a "roasted-pumpkinseed baked into a pie with crusty goodness" beer and one of the best ones I've had. Saw it around a few times before I tried it, and never after. If anybody has a bottle out there, let me know. Again, another reason to never pass a pumpkin bomber because they seem to hit everything right every time. Almost.

there's these here.

You can find Lakefront's Pumpkin Lager all around town.

 

The Pumpkin Beer Reviews - part 5

20. RJ ROCKER'S GRUNTLED PUMPKIN ALE (RJ Rockers Brewing Company) ABV: 7%
This is one of the transitional beers for people who like domestics but wanna try a pumpkin beer. It's not overly heavy on the spices and has a good pumpkin flavor. There wasn't much head and it was just a little flat, kinda like when you're at a keg party with plastic cups and you held that one just a little too long... so it's got that straight from draft to plastic cup feeling. Kinda watery. Oh well. At $10.99 a sixer I expected a lil more, but the higher ABV sure helps. Again, this is a good transitional pumpkin pie beer with just an extra smack of maltiness. Middle of the road. And that guy on the bottle! He reminds me of Robin Williams. The bottle used to have a jack o'lantern roasting marshmallows over a fire raging from inside his own head!

21. ICHABOD PUMPKIN ALE (New Holland Brewing Company) ABV: 5.5%
I was noticing certain bottles tell us the beer's brewed with pumpkin and spices, with spices added. That concerns me. In this case, though, it turns out to be pretty damn good. Aromas of spice fill the air upon opening, but I don't think it's overpowering. The beer has a nice copper color with a creamy long-lasting head when poured into a glass.
This is a roasted pumpkin seed beer. The flavor is still spicy, but that malted roastiness really sets this apart from pumpkin pie beers. It has the complexity to pull off the aroma of spice with the initial flavor of roasted pumpkin seeds followed by the pumpkin pie flavor in the back. I dig it and it's just about everywhere in the fall. The Porter in L5P had this on draft, and for some reason the spices really stood out front that time. I'll stick to bottles.

22. FALL HORNIN' PUMPKIN ALE (Anderson Valley Brewing Company) ABV: 6%
This is one of my favorites, and it doesn't even have anything to make it stand out! Yup, that's the magic ticket, nothing horrible to make it stand out. Instead, it's a well-balanced pumpkin pie beer with a wonderful Dark Amber color and creamy orange head that is poundable right outta the can. I just find the spice factor to be kept in check here and a focus on bringing some malt out. I consider this to be on the sweeter pumpkin pie side more than anything, but it does it so unobtrusively that it's hard not to consider it genius. I like Dogfish Head and the original Pumpkinfest for the darker side of pumpkin pie, and this is more on the lighter side like Harpoon minus the unfiltered yeastiness. In the top 5 for it's sessionability and availability.


Once again I'm saying CHEERS! Til next time, which I promise will be very soon!

....Here it is, the RJ Rocker bottle starring Robin Williams.

The Pumpkin Beer Reviews - part 4 (big ole bottles o' beer)

Bombers away! That's a reference to the fact that these are all beers available in 22 oz bottles. See what I did there?
Reviews of the single big bottle variety this time. And these are all the bombers I've tried so far.
Since they're bigger and sometimes harder to aquire, I didn't consider these when talkin about top 5 beers. Oops, cuz there's some top 5'er's in here. Just try 'em all...and know that I saw a few that I didn't even get to yet including Fat Jack Double Pumpkin Ale from Sam Adams, Die Kreuzen Imperial Pumpkin Porter from Burnt Hickory Brewery(would've loved it fer sure),Pinchy Jeek Barl Bourbon Barrel Pumpkin Ale by Anderson Valley, Oak Jacked Imperial Pumpkin Ale from Uinta Brewing Company and Olde Towne Pumpkin Ale from Straight To Ale out of Alabama. When I try these I'm  gonna just edit them out of this intro.

11. PUMKING (Southern Tier Brewing Company) ABV: 8.6%
 Diacetyl. I know some people swear by this as THE pumpkin beer, but I disagree, and wholeheartedly. It's not bad, but I just can't get past that buttery popcorn flavor. Oh well, it's cheaper than most bombers, and I guess it's now in 4 packs of 12 oz. bottles(2016). This beer was put on draft somewhere down here and it's even more buttery that way. MonsterSyd says it works best as a cooking beer. I haven't tried cookin with it yet but I believe him. Diacetyl meets a bunch of pumpkin spice with alcohol. That should work way better than this, but this may be one of those "new to the world of pumpkin beers so try this one" kinda things.

12. WARLOCK (Southern Tier Brewing Company) ABV: 10%
 Hey, this could easily be passed off as just the darker version of Pumking. But it says it's an Imperial Stout. So it's probably much chewier than Pumking, right? It's probably like pouring a can of pumpkin spice valvoline right down yer yapper, right? It's probably a heavy ass beer that kicks you in the teeth with it's 10% ABV, right? Well, somewhat. And there goes the big problem that seems to plague some of these bastards. We should never have to taste "somewhat". And although this is better than Pumking, it really is just a slightly Darker Dose of Diacetyl.

13. THE GREAT PUMPKIN (Heavy Seas Beer) ABV: 8%
I had this one back round 2009 or 2010 after not having pumpkin beers for awhile (thanks, blue moon!).
I was 'hooked' again!
That was a shitty pun based on their sea-faring image...
I miss this one. I had it in Cincy with Dr. Bob and sought it out back here in the ATL and found it just about everywhere. Until they discontinued it. The reason I liked it was that it was a good pumpkin ale with a just a bit more bite. Not too much of a  booze-bite though. I just thought of this as a solid bigger pumpkin ale, well-balanced and kicks enough to keep you happy with its bomber size. It looked so pumpkin-like when poured into a glass, with an orange-ish head that just seemed to never disappear. It looked like autumn leaves and smelled like pumpkin pie and tasted like pumpkin pie with a slight alcohol kick. It warms up perfectly.  This one brought me back to the world of pumpkin beers. Unfortunately, this one has been retired for a few years now that I know of. Pour out a little GREAT'ER PUMPKIN for your homies. And this was my homie.

14. THE GREAT'ER PUMPKIN (Heavy Seas Beer) ABV: 10%
This is a boozier version of the Great Pumpkin. So boozy, in fact, that if you pour a little of this out for your homies it actually counts as liquor (it's in the rules, look it up). Of course, it's boozier because it sits in bourbon barrels for awhile. It's pretty good if you're into the barrel-aged flavor turning some great beer into pumpkin spice flavored bourbon. I actually dig this one on cold nights and wish to hell I could hold onto one for a year or more, but I just wish we still had the option of this or Great Pumpkin to choose from. R.I.P. Great Pumpkin!

15. FROG'S HOLLOW DOUBLE PUMPKIN ALE (Hoppin' Frog Brewery) ABV: 8.4%
I was surprised to see a beer from Akron, Ohio down here in The ATL. I've seen a few of their other bombers down here since.
Looks like another review from 10-27-12. Popped in House of Frankenstein by this point in the night, after Svengoolie and a sixer of Harpoon UFO'S (check out the 3rd part of the reviews).
I heard this beer wasn't gonna be as spicy as some of The Other Ones but the first thing I noticed upon opening was its spicy aroma. At least the taste wasn't as spicy. It's still more of a pumpkin pie beer than anything else, but there is a flavor of actual pumpkin in there too. And again there's a slight sour flavor that I think comes from the gourd. Another beer that hides the alcohol pretty well. This one doesn't sink below average, but it doesn't rise to angelic heights either. Just a good solid pumpkin beer that I would like to try again but haven't seen around lately.

16. HARPOON IMPERIAL PUMPKIN (Harpoon Brewery) ABV:10.5%
I just about had a serious attack of the heart when I walked by this at The Beer Store! I was so into Harpoon's UFO Pumpkin at the time that I grabbed this up immediately. A pumpkin stout by them? Hell yeah!
 I was not surprised at how much I liked this one. I haven't seen it around for a year or two, and that's a shame cuz I would've cellared this guy for at least that long. My notes rave about the balance of spice and molasses, about dark sugary chocolate flavors and about the perfectly hidden ABV. Any more than a bomber of this could be dangerous because it's sooo good. Southern Tier Warlock doesn't even come close to combining stout and pumpkin ale as good as this. And the damn bottle says it was an improvisation! It looks and pours like a stout with just a pinch of orange-iness. I mean a pinch, you really have to look to see this is more than an oily abyss of a stout. If we broke it down into categories, say, for example, pumpkin pie beers or roasted pumpkin seed beers, this would be #1 for pumpkin stouts.

17. CHATOE ROGUE FIRST GROWTH PUMPKIN PATCH ALE (Rogue Ales) ABV: 5.6%
Whew, I barely remember this one. I brought this to a Halloween party after the L5P Halloween Fest one year and shared it with a buddy so I don't really have notes on it. I really tried to make mental notes, and from what I remember this was a solid punkin offering. I remember thinking it had a more pronounced pumpkin flavor than a spicebomb flavor and even my friend enjoyed it. Of course the bottle says they have their own Rogue Farm to grow pumpkins so that really shines through in the fresh squash flavor. It was a very enjoyable and easy to share beer. There was such a fresh pumpkin pie flavor but at the price it could get lost in the shuffle. I'd like to try it again.

18. LIPS OF FAITH - KICK (New Belgium Brewing) ABV: 6%
Here it is, the beer that should render Terrapins Cranberry Pumpkinfest redundant before it even hit the shelves! If it was still being made, that is. This is not what's sold in 6 packs as Pumpkick(as far as I know!); this was New Belgium's collaboration with Elysian a couple of years ago. I'll get to Pumpkick and how that's still better than Terrapin's fall beer this year (2016) soon. This one here tho....the kick-ass bottle says 75% ale with punkin and cranberry juice, 25% ale aged in wooden barrels. Yes, this is a pumpkin sour. And man was it tart! I really should've cellared this one as I've only had it once and my palate was still adjusting to beers with this much tartness. There was an almost pumpkin cider feel to this, the cranberries weren't overpowering at all. In fact, the thanksgiving flavor that Terrapin tried really pulls out front in this beer, and with some help from the aging there was a slight yeastiness too. I'm not usually a fan of Lips Of Faith Series beers in execution as much as in their fearless experimentation and concepts, but this beer was tops for them and tops for pumpkin sours.That's a limited category around here, so I'm still surprised Terrapin chose to do something so similar to New Belgiums Samhain Offering.

19. XIBALBA IMPERIAL PUMPKIN ALE (Wicked Weed Brewing) ABV: 8.2%
Not a bomber. This was in a 16.9 oz beer bottle, interesting to me right away. Also makes me want a Weizenbock right now.
This was a very different take on the style to me, more a Dia de los Muertos pumpkin beer than a Halloween pumpkin beer. The bottle says it's brewed with cacao nibs, chiles and spices so I immediately thought it was gonna be a spiced up low-rent version of Mexican Cake by Westbrook Brewing. So now we've got Thanksgiving pumpkin beers, Halloween pumpkin beers and Day of the Dead pumpkin beers. I was almost jaded by the spiciness of some of these so-called pumpkin beers lately so this was such a nice change of pace. They nailed the pumpkin spice to chocolate ratio, unlike Mendocino Pumpkin Ale (we'll get to that one), and like a lot of the better hot pepper beers the heat hits you mildly in the throat and picks up only slightly more as the beer warms up. I'm a fan of the pepper beers that aren't afraid to bring the heat. This one brings just the right amount of heat at the right time. I haven't had any other beer that has tried to blend a peppery chocolate beer with pumpkin beer so I expected the worst. But I'm happy to be surprised by a brewery that plays with ideas other than just Halloween for pumpkin beers and pulls it off so well. Glad there's a Dia de los Muertos beer. Watch The Halloween Tree while you drink this one.



That's it for the Bigger Bottle Bastards! I'm starting to think that the bombers have a lot more thought put into them, as the ones I had were all worth trying again for different reasons. Thanks for reading! Soon I'll write some more reviews of Pumpkin Beers that you can find around Atlanta!

Pumpking is still my least favorite.

The bad ass pirate beers.

The Pumpkin Beer Reviews - part 3

7. PUNKIN ALE (Dogfish Head Craft Brewery) ABV: 7%
This is top 5 Pumkin Beer right here, especially a newly tapped keg. Adding pumpkin and spice to a brown ale, and adding brown sugar, makes this a decadent treat of a beer. Pumpkin Pie in a freakin bottle. Without crust. Except for the bready malt flavor that pops up after a sip. Just add whipped cream. It has a heavier feel than a lot of the pumpkin beers but that 7% is hidden pretty well. It's a classic pumpkin beer that has been done right for several years. It has felt a little lighter to me in some years, but it's always got a sweet brown ale flavor. They've had different artwork on the bottle every year for the last few years too. Spooky.
*UPDATE: 2017- It's now sold in six packs! Hell yeah! The artwork is a little toned down too.

8. PUMPKINFEST (Terrapin Beer Company) ABV: 6.10%   or 5.5%
OK, history lesson time. This brew was originally a one-off, but then it became their fall seasonal. It used to be at 6.1% a few years ago but has been labelled at 5.5 for a few years. When it became part of the fall rotation it was sold in bottles in 4 packs for close to 10 bucks, then they started selling it in 6 packs canned for about the same price a sixer. Most importantly, Terrapin sold 25% of their asses a few years ago to MillerCoors(which is what the name became in the U.S. in 2007ish after Molson Coors joined withSABMiller, out of the U.K., I think) and sure enough they sold the rest of their shitpukerholes to them earlier this year. And MillerCoors(2nd largest brewer based on the money they rake in) is uniting with AB-Inbev(largest brewer based on money they suck out of people's asses) to make one giant liversoulsucking piece of capitalist shit..... starting to get the picture? It's a tragic mess for beerlovers. Anyways, that's the long version.
About the beer...............
Top 3, a few years ago. A near-perfect wedding of an Oktoberfest style and a pumpkin beer. The roasty maltiness melds perfectly with the spicy gourdiness, creating what I would consider the definitive fall seasonal beer. Very sweet, and not cloying, but very much a pumpkin pie beer. Even with the amount of real pumpkin I taste there's still a slight spiciness, but not overdone. Another one that is unbelievable on draft, maybe even top 2. I will sorely miss this beer, and it was so fun to live in a town that did this kinda beer so perfectly. Oh well, guess I may as well cry over the live Spook Shows at the local theater here being gone too. And cry about all the idiots at the L5P Halloween Fest and Parade lately( I know I'm one). But there will be a lot more crying when I get to what Terrapin replaced Pumpkinfest with in 2016.

9. UFO PUMPKIN Unfiltered Pumpkin Ale (Harpoon Brewery) ABV: 5.9%
Yup, this time was all about what I consider some of the best pumpkin beers out there, and let me tells ya there's probably going to be more than 5 beers in my top 5. I promise it won't go much higher than 6 tho.
Here's Harpoons UFO Pumpkin, and when this brewery uses UFO it means UnFiltered Offering. An Unfiltered pumpkin beer. Get it? Here's some notes from 10-23-12, the first time I ever had this brew and the same night from when I reviewed Shock Top (the 1st review).
"Watching Hammer's Mummy, The Fly, and Downton Abbey(?) tonight."
"Nice yeasty wheaty pumpkin beer with slight spiciness."(spiciness means cinnamon, clove, etc)
"Stir well, lotsa sediment. Poured into a weizen glass."
"Like a Hefeweizen with pumpkin pie flavor added, very different than the malty heavy punkin beers."
Basically, this is a much lighter beer than a brown ale or oktoberfest beer. I enjoy this one for late summer/autumn day sessions and for pounding at parties at night. This is the beer I drink at the Halloween Fest every year. Perfect balance of pumpkin, yeast and spice. It is the most refreshing pumpkin beer I've had. Ever. I like that it was almost the opposite of the pumpkin beer styles that I thought I was seeing a pattern of enjoyment with....which would be  oktoberfest or brown ale styles! My notes say I got it again on 10-27-12, watching Svengoolie show Werewolf Of London, and that I basically had the same opinion. I've gotten this beer every autumn since and love that you can get it in bottles, for at home to pour into a weizen glass, or in cans to take to the beach, party, festival, whatever..
To this year, 2016, I still love the light refreshing but earthy squashiness flavor from this. I'll moan about some other malty pumpkin beers that try to wed pumpkin to oktoberfest styles, but there's not many other beers I've tried to compare this bad boy to.
UPDATE 2017--- I haven't seen this around yet, but I saw HARPOON PUMPKIN CIDER. Uh-oh.....
to be continued.....

10. CRANBERRY PUMPKINFEST (Terrapin Beer Company) ABV:5.5%
I usually review 3 beers at a time, but this guy had to be added on. Yes, Terrapin added cranberries to one of my favorite pumpkin beers this year(2016). Soda shop beer. There's a pump of cranberry syrup per ounce. The Big Boy restaurant pump trick. Yes, I was deeply pissed when I saw this, thinking they are just jumping on the sour bandwagon and ruining a perfect fall tradition. After all, they're completely owned by the man now! Jesus. I expect trendy half-assed versions of the experiments they originally turned me on with. Well, I am happy to report that it's not as bad as I thought it 'd be, though I think this will make a better Thanksgiving beer than Halloween beer. And that's not a bad thing. It's like when pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce meet on a gravy-smeared thanksgiving paper plate, and you can tell the cranberry came from a can and the pie was baked earlier in the week at a grocery store. In my blind pursuit of all beers Halloween I actually forget that thanksgiving is usually the time most people have pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce and we're some sort of freakies that relate pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns to a day a few weeks earlier. But why do they start selling pumpkin beers in August then? Oh, it's because most people think of them as autumn and Halloween beers that have no reason being in shelves in late November! So I'm right! We don't need another cranberry pumpkin beer, especially since there's a better one out there! And we'll get to that one in a later review.     P.S.  I don't really even know when thanksgiving is.

here's an old pumpkin picture from an old gig

and here's some of the fellas hangin out in 2012.

The Pumpkin Beer Reviews - Part 2

4. SMALL PATCH PUMPKIN HARVEST ALE (Tommyknocker Brewery) ABV: 5%
I'm a fan of brown ales, but as I watched the Giants win 2-0 in game 2 of the World Series (good job, Romo) I couln't help think how much "browner" in flavor this coulda been. This beer was very reddish brown in color, a good sign for a beer marketed as a brown ale with pumpkin and spices(obviously), but the flavor was kinda thin. There was a big aroma of bread, spice and molasses up front for sure. I thought molasses would be a strange addition but it works pretty well. I suspect more than just a "touch" though....more like it's the most prominent flavor. There's a good mix of spice and actual pumpkin flavor, but the molasses is boss of this one. Kinda light in the mouth and flavor for a brown ale, but it's still an alright pumpkin pie beer. Oh well.

5. PUMPKINHEAD ALE (Shipyard Brewing Co.) ABV: 4.7%
WOW. This is a review I just wanna get out of the way and never speak of Pumpkinhead again. Great name on the bottle, great image on the bottle and total puke-shit in the bottle.
Perfect.
We were watching Svengoolie this night, 10-13-12. And he was showing Batman:The Movie.
Whoopee.
I actually gave this one a shot a couple of times. My notes for the 2nd time tell me I was crankin out Pittsburgh '89 and also say, "Hmm....still tastes like privy fumes". Looks like piss when poured into a glass and smells like Colt 45 with moldy pumpkin pie spice poured into it(see Review 2). Tastes kinda malty, but not in a good way. Malty as in malt liquor. And it's so light. Even though I know I could drink at least 15 beers with this low an ABV, I couldn't do it here because after 2 or 3 I actually gagged and spit up a little. Yup. It actually made me puke before I got drunk. Thank God I tried this on the first day and had a few other beers around to actually drink and enjoy. By far the worst Pumpkin Beer to me. You should try it and let me know if you survive a sixer. But don't let it get warm at all. The Cool Colt of pumpkin beers.

6. WILHELM SCREAM PUMPKIN ALE (Magic Hat Brewing Company) ABV: 5.4%
This was the night Svengoolie replayed the first episode with the new coffin, showing The Mad Ghoul. 8-30-14.
This one isn't in the top five, but it's not bad at all. I was surprised at the lightness of this one. It was good as a transitional beer from summer to fall as it has a watery flavor with a modest touch of spiciness. Kinda seemed like a lite version of DogfishHead's Punkin Ale (we'll get to it). It had a reddish color and reminded me of a red ale with pumpkin spices added to it. As a pumpkin beer it could use a little more spicy-gourd flavor. It's just so.....lite. Almost as light as KBC( we'll get to it). I'd drink this again, but prefer it in the late summer or very early fall season. And it was only $7.99 a sixer. And it has a cool name.

I'll be back with more Pumpkin Beer Reviews soon. Nothing else to say today except Cheers Friends!

This is what we did in 2012.

Here's an early pic of the shelf of punk beers, 2012.

The Pumpkin Beer Reviews - Part 1

1. SHOCK TOP PUMPKIN WHEAT (anheuser-busch)  ABV: 5.2%
The first beer that I'm reviewing!
Straight to Shock Top Pumpkin! We were watching The Fly while I drank this middle-of-the-road crap. Or was it Curse Of The Fly? You tell me.
This is a very light beer all around... light on the spice, light on pumpkiny flavor...
Very wheaty though, and not as spicy (or malty) as Post Road, which we'll get to later...Basically, it doesn't have an overriding clove/allspice/cinnamon flavor, but there is Mos Def more spice than pumpkin here. I'm digging the concept of wheat and pumpkin, but it just isn't pulled off right.
Light on over all flavor, just a simple pumpkin-spice wheat beer by a simple-minded brewery.
Unoffensive poop. Good for people that aren't sure if they like pumpkin beers, or people that don't want flavor.

2.BLUE POINT PUMPKIN ALE (Blue Point Brewing Co.) ABV: 6%                                      
I seem to remember hearing that Anheuser-Busch was going to buy this brewery a few years ago. I tried this before that happened. This beer is much more like a malt beverage with spices dumped in it.
It's got a very spicy, cinnamony flavor, better than the worst beers with pumpkin spice but
completely spicy in its own way. The malt and the spice actually work a lot better in this beer compared to another we will visit later on which is like cheap malt liquor with moldy pumpkin spice poured in. This might be one of the best malty pumpkin spice beers out there,
BUT.......not pumpkin enough. The cinnamon and malt almost do give it a wreathy flavor that is interesting, mainly because it's not like some of the more common pumpkin pie flavored beers out there. Kinda like beer potpourri.

3.AMERICA'S ORIGINAL PUMPKIN ALE (Buffalo Bill's Brewery) ABV: 6%
We were watching It Came From Hollywood while tasting this. Freakin Cheech y Chong.
Hey! A bottle that can be opened with a twist of the cap always leads to showboating for me. I like this beer already! Good aroma here too. Almost a bit of sourness and vanilla in the aroma, and this beer is a few years ahead of the sour/gose revolution that's happening these days. Slightly malty taste with hints of spice and freakin vanilla cream! Hell yeah! Much more pumpkin flavored than I expected, too. I can taste pumpkin in here over the spices, which I think is where the sour aroma comes from. Not a pumpkin pie beer. The gourd-iness of the flavor gives this one an air of authenticity and I recommend this beer.Whew! Just the kind of beer I'm doing this for.

That's all for now! I'll be back soon with more pumpkin beer reviews! Get out there and vote dammit!

Well, what the hell else are you gonna be votin on?????

Pumpkin Beers in Atlanta

Hey now!
I hope everyone's having a great Halloween Season so far. Let me tell ya what's happening here. I will be reviewing over 40 different current (and discontinued) pumpkin beers that I've been getting within walking distance around the Little Five Points area for the last few years. Although some of my notes are from as far back as 2012, I've been trying most of these beers every season since that time. One beer I was told was seen spotted in the area was Thomas Creek Pumpkin Ale. I have not seen it yet, as of 2017.
These reviews are for entertainment purposes only, I do not mean to seriously belittle any beer or brewery. This is my damn opinion and you should not let me influence whether you try a certain beer or not. This is meant to be funny. I hope to have all of the reviews done by Halloween 2017, but I'll be doing this at my leisure and if I decide to not do it anymore, well then that's it! I feel good about it so far though. And there will probably be updates every year. I just hope I can read my drunken notes........

                                                                                                                                 here's a picture of me monkeying around with Tarantula Ghoul