This post comes courtesy of Williams-Sonoma associate and beer enthusiast Dennis Ayles.
Never being a fan of flavored beers, I was a bit apprehensive when I decided to review a few of this year’s pumpkin brews. I went into the tastings with my eyes wide open — and with little optimism this was going to be a pleasurable experience.
Pumpkin beers are traditionally brewed with pumpkin in the mash, and they’re often flavored with fall seasonings such as cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. I’m not sure if it was the change in season, which came with a nice drop in temperature, but I found myself really enjoying the differences of the various selections — and felt a sudden urge to roast some meat and eat some root vegetables.
The tasting profiles fell into three categories: sweet as pumpkin pie; roasted and a bit savory; and lastly, eggnog, move over. Below are four of my top picks in the first group, sweet as pie. Stay tuned for the best in the other categories in upcoming posts!
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About the author: Dennis Ayles, from Inventory Management, is our resident beer expert here at Williams-Sonoma. He keeps everyone up to speed on the latest trends, his favorite brews and what we should be drinking.
11 comments
[…] Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin – Shipyard offers two different pumpkin beers, and I found this one to be the my favorite of the the two. This version has a great balance of the pumpkin pie taste, but with a more roasted profile. The higher alcohol content (9.0% ABV) and roasted malted flavor helps give it great weight over the tongue, even though you wouldn’t expect so with its light amber color. – The Blender […]
[…] the tastings with my eyes wide open, discovering that most selections fell into three categories: sweet as pumpkin pie; roasted and a bit savory; and lastly, eggnog, move […]
[…] Check out my reviews of the “sweet as pie” beers here, then keep reading below for my top picks in the second category — roasted and savory. […]
So far my favorite pumpkin beer this year is st. Arnold’s pumpkinator. It’s an Imperial pumpkin stout, very tasty. I’ve also enjoyed dfh punkin, the weyenbacher imperial and the Riverhorse hippolantern. I’m looking forward to trying southern tiers.
@Lori, I am jealous, I love Midnight Sun, unfortunatelyI have recently relocated to the East coast and I have yet to find it, but it sounds delicious…@elizabeth, keep your eye out on the next posts, you should see a dogfish head reference!
I have tried several over the years and always come back to Dogfish Head’s Punkin’!
River Horse was my favorite this year, Pumking was second.
Southern Tier Pumking is one of my favorites.
This tastes just like pumpkin bread w/chocolate chips: http://midnightsunbrewing.com/beer_TREAT.php
Midnight Sun Brewing Co “Treat”…don’t miss out on this one.
We just went to the Elysian Brewing Great Pumpkin Beer Festival in Seattle last weekend. It featured about 50 different kinds of pumpkin beer! One of our all-time favorite pumpkin beers is Elysian’s Night Owl. If you can find it, it’s definitely worth trying! And here’s a link to the festival, in case anyone is interested: http://www.elysianbrewing.com/greatpumpkinbeerfest.html
you are missing Jack’s Pumpkin Spice Ale from Michelob..one of the best tasting out there.