Saranac Pumpkin Ale

Halloween seems all too perfect a time to have the second to last beer in the Great Pumpkin-Off of 2011. Especially given the label for this beer is a Jack O'Lantern. Saranac Pumpkin Ale is one of their seasonal brews that's available in their 12 Beers a Falling or in its own 6 or 12 pack. The brewery is located in Utica, NY and as of right now I'm supposed to go visit it very soon. 

Happy Halloween!

 This particular beer was picked out by a friend for his birthday and the first sampling I did was with him straight from the bottle. I was a little put off by it then so I decided to do a proper sampling of it a few days later, thinking that the bottle somehow changed the way the beer tasted.

The beer poured a deep reddish gold color. There was very little head on the pour and what there was seemed to dissipate very quickly. The nose was very spice heavy with clove being the most notable one of the bunch. The flavor wasn't much different. The clove was downright overpowering. It was difficult to discern a lot of the other spices that were there because of the clove. I also found it difficult to discern the pumpkin at all. The spices lingered on the palate after the beer was finished, tasting almost like burnt spices after awhile.

It depends on personal tastes on this one I suppose and I like cloves as much as the next person, but I strongly feel you should be able to taste the pumpkin in a pumpkin ale. The beer was fairly disappointing but not overall terrible. It certainly left a warmth from all the spices and at $8 a six-pack it is certainly reasonably priced.

Samuel Adams Pumpkin Ale

The second beer in the first annual Great Pumpkin-Off is from a larger, more well known brewery. Every year, Sam Adams puts out a Harvest Pack and in the Harvest Pack is their very own Pumpkin Ale. While it may seem like Sam Adams has been around forever, the brewery actually started in 1984.

This was an impressive beer. The color was deep reddish orange, bordering on mahogany with a cream colored head. The head was thick when initially poured but thinned as time passed. The nose was rich with cinnamon and spices along with a good dose of malts. The beer itself had a rich, spicy flavor that was thoroughly reminiscent of pumpkin pie. It was warm and full bodied, which I realize is generally a wine description but it is the best way to really describe this beer.

I would highly recommend this beer to anyone and look forward to trying the rest of the beers in this year's harvest pack. For the 12 pack it ran me $16.49 and there were 6 different types of beer in the 12 pack. The third beer will be the Fisherman's Pumpkin Stout from Cape Ann's Brewing Company.

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale

In the spirit of the changing of the seasons, I decided to try pumpkin beers. This will be the first of four posts dedicated to these tried and true harbingers of fall. First up is Dogfish Head's oldest brew: Punkin Ale. Now, my first experience with Dogfish Head was less than spectacular and I was more than happy to finally be done with what I had started affectionately calling the "whiskey beer", I had promised a friend that I would send her a delicious pumpkin beer. After a bit of research, and some wandering around a distributor, Punkin Ale seemed to be the best bet to try to win her over to the wonderful world of beer.

Dogfish Head: Take 2

In case you can't read the label in the picture, it says: "A full-bodied brown ale brewed with real pumpkins, brown sugar, allspice, cinnamon & nutmeg." Once again, I was immediately on board. A beer brewed with all the best parts of pumpkin pie and none of the crust? This was something I could get behind.

Pie in a glass? 

The beer, despite being a brown ale, was more of a deep orange color which I found to be highly appropriate. There wasn't much head on it when I poured but what was there was a cream color. The smell was not very dissimilar from what you would expect. There was a lot of cinnamon and nutmeg but it was also a good dose of alcohol in it as well. The taste was as if someone infused pumpkin pie into a beer. There was a good amount of spices evident in the flavor and more than enough hints of pumpkin. It was a little thin in the mouth but I feel the high ABV may have something to do with that. The price was $2.99 for the bottle and $10.49 for the 4-pack so it was a bit pricey but worth a try. Overall, it was a very enjoyable experience and a great beginning to the pumpkin season! Up next: Sam Adams Pumpkin Ale