With the changing of the seasons comes a change at your favorite bar. Seasonal beers are always a reason to celebrate, and the shift from summer to fall brings out pumpkin beer, perhaps the king of all seasonal beers. Pumpkin beer may be an acquired taste for some and an anticipated favorite for others. Wherever you fall on this spectrum, pumpkin beer is worth a try as the air gets chilly and the leaves start to fall. Yet not all pumpkin beers are made equal, so here is the Muse guide to some of the best pumpkin beers to guzzle down this fall.
Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale
Traditional and medium-bodied, Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale is a good place to start for pumpkin beer beginners. It’s simply a classic: A golden, slightly hoppy ale crafted by Shipyard Brewing Company in Maine since 1996. The Pumpkinhead Ale is hearty in its pumpkin flavor, with a zesty and spiced finish. It’s lighter than most, with a 4.5 percent alcohol by volume (ABV), but has a great refreshing taste associated with wheat ales. If you enjoy Shipyard and happen to be in the mood for a more serious pumpkin beer, try their newer Smashed Pumpkin craft beer.
Harpoon Pumpkin Cider
Pinch yourselves because this concoction is real. Boston brewery favorite Harpoon Brewery has blended the two best autumn flavors to create Harpoon Pumpkin Cider – an apple-and-pumpkin-filled glass of joy. Only two years old, this brew has a 4.8 percent ABV and is made with pumpkin spices and northeastern apples. The first few sips are heavier on the crisp apple flavor, but a subtle yet growing undertone of pumpkin and autumn spices emerges soon enough. In addition to pumpkin, the cider has cinnamon, ginger, clove and nutmeg for addition spice. This brew has all the refreshing and sweet crispness of a cider, but is balanced out by the warm, spiced foundations of pumpkin. Harpoon has some other great pumpkin and fall beers to check out, so a visit to the Harpoon Brewery might be in order. You can try the Pumpkin Cider on draft and, for $5, take a tour of the brewery.
Samuel Adams Pumpkin Harvest Ale
Sam Adams is a Boston classic and thus must make an appearance on this list. The brewing company is known for their seasonal variety of beers, and this pumpkin ale is wonderful (plus it smells a lot like a beery pumpkin pie). With a 5.7 percent ABV, the Pumpkin Harvest Ale is crisp and smooth, with that recognizable Sam Adams light and herbal hoppy aftertaste. Yet in between these senses is a bold and satisfying pumpkin flavor, created with real pumpkin, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. Samuel Adams also has a brewery in Boston, so fans of this beer can stop by for a tour and see how the Pumpkin Harvest Ale is made.
Pumpking: Imperial Pumpkin Ale
All hail the Imperial Pumpking. Seriously. This beer, from New York’s Southern Tier Brewing Company, is not one to be messed with. It has a dark, slightly muddled copper color and features two kinds of malt and hops. The beer has a whopping 8.6 percent ABV – this isn’t your frat house’s beer. Surprisingly, Pumpking does not have the hard, bitter aftertaste that many stronger beers have. Instead, it has a full-flavored pumpkin taste blended with a velvety dark ale flavor, finished off with a subtle hint of sweetness at the very end. The Boston University Pub currently has it on tap and, although it isn’t exactly cheap, Pumpking is definitely worth a taste as a seasonal treat.
Dogfish Head Punkin Ale
This Dogfish Head brew is named after the Punkin Chunkin – a southern Delaware “sport” that consists of chucking pumpkins as far as possible with catapults and other mechanisms. The beer is a nice brown, malty ale and has a 7 percent ABV. The Punkin Ale has an especially great brown sugar taste throughout the sip, which complements the robust pumpkin flavor very well. Dogfish Head brews this ale with “pumpkin meat,” organic brown sugar and caramel, as well as other fall pumpkin spices. It’s sweet, yet has a pretty full-bodied taste at the same time — the best of both worlds.
