Pumpkin beer power rankings

hoelsch44

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Oct 28, 2006
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I tried as many as I could find and was not as impressed as past years. Only ones that really stood out as excellent were the Southern Tier Pumpking and the Southern Tier Warlock.
The Warlock was very bold and different but amazing. An Imperial Stout brewed with Pumpkin. Probably too late to find anymore, but highly recommend.
 

dmclone

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Oct 20, 2006
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I tried as many as I could find and was not as impressed as past years. Only ones that really stood out as excellent were the Southern Tier Pumpking and the Southern Tier Warlock.
The Warlock was very bold and different but amazing. An Imperial Stout brewed with Pumpkin. Probably too late to find anymore, but highly recommend.

I wish we got Southern Tier here in Iowa. The few that I've had, have been amazing and they come in bombers.
 

jbindm

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Dec 2, 2010
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New Glarus Pie Lust is just meh. Really missing the cinnamon-y and coriander taste I enjoy.

I'm starting to think that New Glarus is all marketing and no real quality. I have yet to hear anything about any of their beers that goes beyond "ok" or "meh".

My favorite pumpkin beer is still the Shipyard Pumpkinhead. I tried Schlafly's last weekend and it was decent but ran a little too sweet for me. With the weather turning cold it's just about time to ease on into porter season. I used to enjoy Leiny's Fireside Nut Brown ale this time of year, but it was discontinued. I haven't tried the vanilla porter that replaced it yet.
 

Cyclonin

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Feb 18, 2012
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Had Shipyard's Smashing Pumpkin last night. It's like Pumpkinhead on roids. 9% ABV, only sold in the larger bottles. Anyways, I highly recommend if you can get your hands on it. I drank it over about 2-2.5 hours and it got better as it sat a little more. The flavors really start hitting you at about 55 degrees (per the bottle).

Winter Seasonals will start to take over here soon, so gather the pumpkin up while you can!

I was a little disappointed this year, never got any Pumking or Dogfish Punkin. But I did try some new ones that I liked.

Smuttynose was a pretty solid one. Pictures below:

Pumpkin-Ale.jpeg


smashed_pumpkin_ale.jpg
 

ChrisMWilliams

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Apr 10, 2006
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Had a minor setback with my pumpkin beer tour. Just a few health deals that forced me to lay off the booze for a month but I'M BACK and better than ever.

Picked up a couple of mixed 6-packs today. I'm really enjoying the Black O'Lantern Pumpkin Stout from Wasatch Brewery out of Utah. If you like stouts and pumpkin flavor, you'll like this. I'm not a huge stout guy. Kind of in the middle. They are growing on me but I'm enjoying this brew a lot more than I thought I would.
 

BCoffClone125

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May 19, 2010
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Bump. I've seen @ChrisMWilliams posting the occasional pumpkin beer review on Twitter and thought this would be appropriate to revisit a few years later.

Just had a Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin tonight and was very impressed. A little different than the pumpkin beers I typically like, it's darker and spicier, but packs a good punch with 9% ABV. Here's my top 3 pumpkin beers at the moment:

1. Whole Hog Pumpkin Ale - Tastes just like pumpkin pie. Delicious but has been harder to find for me the past few years
2. Schlafly Pumpkin Ale - A step below the Whole Hog, but similar is taste. Seems to be a bit easier to find, great flavor and boozy without tasting like it at 8% ABV
3. Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin - Dark, flavorful, boozy and delicious. Much different taste than the top two on my list, but still very good.

Would be curious to see power rankings from the other pumpkin beer lovers on CF.
 

Isualum13

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How do you even fit a pumpkin in those little cups?
 

NATEizKING

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Feb 18, 2011
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Bump. I've seen @ChrisMWilliams posting the occasional pumpkin beer review on Twitter and thought this would be appropriate to revisit a few years later.

Just had a Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin tonight and was very impressed. A little different than the pumpkin beers I typically like, it's darker and spicier, but packs a good punch with 9% ABV. Here's my top 3 pumpkin beers at the moment:

1. Whole Hog Pumpkin Ale - Tastes just like pumpkin pie. Delicious but has been harder to find for me the past few years
2. Schlafly Pumpkin Ale - A step below the Whole Hog, but similar is taste. Seems to be a bit easier to find, great flavor and boozy without tasting like it at 8% ABV
3. Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin - Dark, flavorful, boozy and delicious. Much different taste than the top two on my list, but still very good.

Would be curious to see power rankings from the other pumpkin beer lovers on CF.
Schlafly has always been my favorite.

The Elysian variety pumpkin pack is great, I like all 4. Gone through 2 of those this year.

The O'fallon Salted Caramel Pumpkin tasted more like cream soda than pumpkin to me.

Shipyard Pumpkinhead is another favorite of mine but it is lower ABV.