Beer Spotlight!
Pumpkin Ales
If it weren’t for Climate Change heightened temperatures, it not only would be that time of year, it would feel like that time of year. Regardless, pumpkin ales are here, and despite their detractors, we still love them. As with most of our seasonal beers, we’ve tried to build a collection of the favorite, the unusual, and the new-to-our-store. Here is a rundown of what we have available to squash those high 80 degree doldrums.
Elysian Night Owl
$13.99 for the 12oz six-pack bottles
Pumpkin Ale
Elysian Brewing Company is a Seattle brewer owned by mega-merging-giant AB InBev, but this pumpkin ale ain’t no Bud Lite. The Nite Owl is brewed with pumpkin purée as well as ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. However, the thing that really distinguishes it is the use of both raw and roasted pumpkin seeds in the mash. This may be why this beer exhibits the most authentic pumpkin flavor. You could say it’s the most “yammy” of all our pumpkin ales. Off-dry with hints of bourbon on the nose, though its spice variety is plentiful, their application is subtle.
Dogfish Head Punkin
$14.99 for the 12oz six-pack bottles
Pumpkin Ale
The Dogfish Head Punkin is one of the richest and deepest pumpkin ales you’re likely to encounter due to two things. First, whereas most pumpkin ales seem to have amber ales as their base, Dogfish Head uses a brown ale. Secondly, along with the spices, Dogfish Head throws in brown sugar, fattening out both the taste and the body. That’s right. They’re doubling down with the brown! However, even with the brown sugar, the Punkin remains the driest of our pumpkin offerings.
Schlafly Pumpkin Ale
$13.99 for the 12oz six-pack bottles
Pumpkin Ale
Schlafly beers are from from the Saint Louis Brewery, and their pumpkin ales is one of the highlights of the style. It’s fermented with pounds and pounds of pumpkin purée combined with a special mix of sugars. It’s then filtered through an infusion of cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg. A standout of the “Tastes Like Pumpkin Pie” category of pumpkin ales, it’s so on target that you can almost taste the crust … no lie.
Alewerks Pumpkin
$11.99 for the 12oz six-pack bottles
Pumpkin Ale
We love Alewerks Brewing Company from Williamsburg even if they are stingy on the details of how they make their beers. They say their pumpkin ale is made with a combination of fresh and roasted ingredients, but Alewerks coyly neglects to say which ingredients. Similarly, they claim “notes of cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar,” which we get in this spice-forward beer, but that’s not the same thing as actually saying, “We use cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar.” Sigh! Whatever. This “Tastes Like Pumpkin Pie” pumpkin ale delivers vanilla and dark honey notes. It is a well-desereved longtime shop favorite.
Solace Air Gourd’n Pumpkin Porter
$11.99 for the 16.9oz four-pack cans
Pumpkin Porter
From Sterling, VA, Solace Brewing Company’s Air Gourd’n is kind of the non-pumpkin pumpkin ale in that the pumpkin taste is so subtle that it’s easy to lose. It comes off more as a spiced porter (and quite successfully so) than anything else. Here’s your solution if you want to serve a seasonal beer to a “pumpkin ale grouch.”
Two Roads Roadsmary’s Baby
$11.99 for the 12oz six-pack cans
Rum Barrel-Aged Pumpkin Ale
Two Roads Brewing Company is based in Stratford, CT, and they get applause from us for coming up with a name that is successfully seasonal without depending on a pumpkin pun. Rum barrels are such a successful barreling agent for pumpkin ales. Rum is delicate enough to provide a challenge for barrel-aged stouts, but pumpkin ales really allow the fruit notes of rum to come through. Plus the rum gifts the pumpkin ales with a little tart bite!