Did we find a finalist?

Week 3 of our favorite holiday season is here. Last week’s offerings were pretty disappointing, so we were hopeful that we would have a fantastic tasting night this week! We are still on Ale’s, and this week we reviewed the 5 Pumpkin Ales that we’ve collected that had alcohol content been 5.5%-5.9%.

From worst to best, here are the ratings!

Hooligan Hoppy Pumpkin by North Peak Brewing: Traverse City, MI (5.5% ABV)

This is perhaps the hoppiest (is that even a word??) pumpkin that we will try this season. Unfortunately, the Hops overshadow the Pumpkin. These two hooligans are not impressed. Good beer, but not enough pumpkin.         Score: 9.5/30

Pumpkin Down by Ballast Point Brewing Company: San Diego, CA (5.8% ABV)

Drinkable, Forgetable, Not too Pumpkinable     Score: 13.5/30

Pumpkin Savior by Rogue Farms Ales: Newport, OR (5.6% ABV)

Our expectations from Rogue were high, but this one fell a little short. This wheat pumpkin has a slight raw pumpkin flavoring, and a sweeter aftertaste. As it got a little warmer, the pumpkin flavor became a little more prominent. We have two Rogue Farms Pumpkin Ales to score tonight, and our verdict is: Buy PUMPKIN PATCH      Score: 15.5/30

UFO Pumpkin by Harpoon Brewery: Boston, MA (5.9ABV)

Harpoon’s UFO gives us medium pumpkin flavoring, but with hints of banana in both taste and smell, there’s something about this that makes us keep coming back for me. Unidentified Flavor Object       Score: 19/30

Pumpkin Patch by Rogue Farms Ales: Newport, OR (5.6% ABV)

This 2014 finalist ranked #1 overall for Alysia and #3 for Melissa. If you’re hungry and thirsty, you should drink this beer. If you love pumpkin pie, then this is for you! The pumpkin flavors are prominent and will not disappoint, and the spices are also very pleasant. We were worried that our expectations may have been set a little high from our memories of last year, but this was better than we remember! Alysia scored this a perfect 30, and Melissa scored it as a 25.       Score: 27.5/30

Have you had any of these pumpkins? What did you think?

Thanks for joining us for another night of beer drinking and pumpkin loving<3 Stay tuned to see if Pumpkin Patch can get a back to back #1 place in our finale!

Love and Pumpkins,

A&M

FUN FACT: Do you know that Rogue has a farm where they grow their own pumpkins, barley, rye, hops, and more?!

Are any of these your favorite?? We are on a mission to find the best pumpkin beer!

  With pumpkin beers in sight, Monday is never a bad day for us. We always have something great to look forward to! Hanging with the bestie AND PUMPKIN BEER tasting!!! Tonight decided to compare the following six different Pumpkin Ales all with the exact same ABV of 5%.

Small Patch PUMPKIN Harvest Ale by Tommyknocker Brewery: Idaho Springs, CO

If licorice and molasses flavor is your pint of beer, then this is the brew for you! With a bitter aftertaste that subsides as the beer gets closer to room temperature, this beer actually gets better as it sits. Lacking an obvious pumpkin flavoring, this more closely resembles a autumn beer.    Score: 13/30

St-Ambroise Pumpkin “The Great Pumpkin Ale” by McAuslan Brewing: Montreal, Quebec

This offering from Canada, at first taste, resembles a light cider with it’s bubbly mouthfeel. With average pumpkinality, this ended up as our favorite of the night. Better when it’s colder, the ratings started sliding as this warmed on us. (Note currently this is our #2 rated beer this season)     Score: 16.5/30

Pumpkin Autumnal Ale by Rivertown Brewing Co.: Lockland, OH

A friend brought this back for us after a recent trip to Ohio, THANK YOU HOLLY! This beer is light and drinkable, we could have multiples of this on a night out. Alysia said that at first this smelled like dirty feet to her, but surprisingly it ended up as her favorite of the night! First impressions do not necessarily last. With average pumpkin flavoring, this is decent, but it’s not necessarily memorable.      Score: 15/30

Punk’n by Uinta Brewing Co: Salt Lake City, UT

Our first “Organic beer” of the season, listed as made from 3% organic ingredients! Points for uniqueness! With some apple undertones, this is crisp and refreshing with a raw pumpkin taste. Lacking in spice, oddly, there is something in this that keeps you coming back for more!      Score: 15.5/30

Pumpkin Ale by Smuttynose Brewing Company: Hampton, NH

The aftertaste is like inhaling hairspray mist. If you can handle that, or if you break out your beer bong, you’ll won’t even notice that ole Smutty was brewed in a hair salon! Just kidding…but seriously…the aftertaste…       Score: 12.5/30

Post Road Pumpkin Ale by The Brooklyn Brewery: Utica, NY

Our least favorite of the night, there is zero aroma and leaves you with a dry mouth. It has a familiar taste that we were unable to pinpoint. Besides being left with a feeling of “where are the pumpkins”, this would be a beer that Melissa would enjoy if she were not on the quest for The Great Pumpkin Beer! As for Alysia, this beer is not even worth buying…EVER!       Score: 9.5/30

End of Week 2, and we are still on the upward hill, or so we think! Based upon last year and the shelves stocked at our house of pumpkin beer, we know that our readers won’t be disappointed in the weeks to come. We have a special arrival coming this week…stay tuned! 

 

The Great Pumpkin Challenge Begins!

Source: The Great Pumpkin Challenge Begins!

The Great Pumpkin Challenge Begins!

As we have collected a variety of pumpkin beer over the past six weeks (totaling in at 47 so far), it is now officially time to embark upon one of our favorite seasons! Pumpkin Beer Season!

As we are still obtaining beers as they’re being released, we decided to kick off Week1 with some of the most widely distributed pumpkin beers out there.

On tap, or should we say bottle, for Monday was:

Samuel Adams: Harvest Pumpkin Ale                                                                                                    Shock Top: Pumpkin Wheat                                                                                                                            Magic Hat: Wilhelm Scream
Samuel Adams: Pumpkin Batch                                                                                                                   Blue Moon: Harvest Pumpkin Ale                                                                                                          Shipyard: Pumpkinhead (This was a finalist in last year’s challenge!)

Samuel Adams: Harvest Pumpkin Ale 5.7% ABV                                                                                       This beer is leaning more towards Oktoberfest than pumpkin. It’s definitely missing pumpkin flavor, but you get a sense that this is definitely a fall beer. With some maple syrup undertones, it reminds us of raking leaves. This is a good beer, but it’s not one to reach for is you’re looking for pumpkin.                                                                                                     Score: 11.5/30

Shock Top: Pumpkin Wheat 5.1% ABV                                                                                                  Artificial Pumpkin Water. I don’t think we will buy this one to rate next year. It’s not worth it. It’s a light beer with a hint of citrus and a harsh aftertaste. It actually got 1’s from each of us in every single rating category.  Don’t waste your time.                             Score: 6/30      (This is the lowest possible score a beer can get)

Magic Hat: Wilhelm Scream 5.4% ABV

The other disappointment of the night. There’s a bit of clove taste here, but absolutely no pumpkin. Another beer that we will probably skip. The highest score we gave this one is that it had a decent aftertaste.                                                                                                               Score: 8.5/30

Samuel Adams: Pumpkin Batch 5.6% ABV

Another offering from Samuel Adams, this saison is definitely better than their Harvest Pumpkin Ale, but is also missing pumpkin. This is an earthy beer with some floral hints that is lacking in pumpkin. It’s fall-ish and soothing.

Score: 15/30

 

Blue Moon: Harvest Pumpkin Ale 5.7% ABV

Decent pumpkin and spice flavors, dry and wheat-like. Not the best, but this will do for a pumpkin beer in a pinch! They must’ve added more pumpkin this year, because last year we described this as “pumpkin water!”

Score: 15.5/30

Shipyard: Pumpkinhead 4.5% ABV

Pumpkinhead rated #3&4 for us last year in our finale. This is by FAR the best pumpkin beer of the night. Drinkable and refreshing. This sweet wheat ale is full of pumpkin flavor that will keep you coming back for more. We have nicknamed him Old Faithful, and he never disappoints:)

Score: 23.5/30

Join us next week as we continue our quest for the Ultimate Pumpkin Beer!

Love and Pumpkins,

A&M

2015: The Great Pumpkin Kickoff!!!

As we approach our favorite season
We are presented with a reason.

To spend our Monday nights
Finding Mr. Pumpking Right.

With over 50 beers to review,
Who will we choose someone new?

Come join us on our quest
To see who we will crown the Best!

Raise your glass to all the Pumpkin Beers,
To all of our friends, enjoy, Cheers

This season we decided to go a more “formal” route trying to crowning our pumpKING 🙂 Not sure if there is such thing as formal when it comes to tasting beers! When evaluating each beer we will be comparing them based the following categories, with each category worth 5 points: taste, aftertaste, spice, uniqueness, pumpkin and aroma. These will add up to our overall pumpkin experience value. With a max score of 30, the top runners will be selected for our FINALE!

Below is a brief description of each category. Each week we will only be posting our overall pumpkin experience score, of course with our colorful commentary on each beer.

Taste: Overall taste, but of course to get a 5, a good pumpkin flavor must be present.

Aftertaste: From painful to pleasing.

Spice: Rating based on level of spice.
1 = none
5 = tons

Aroma: Based on pumpkin notes that fill our noses
1 = none
5 = good enough to eat

Uniqueness: Is this a pumpkin beer to be remembered?
1 = Like every other Pumpkin beer
3 = Looking forward to tasting it again next year
5 = Stands out in a crowd (remember, standing out is not always a good thing)

Pumpkiny: Isn’t this the point of our pumpkin beer blog?!
1= none
5 = perfect pumpkin

Love and Pumpkins,
A&M

Root Beer Revelations: Adult Style!

Hello Pumpkin Fans!

As we’ve been spending the last month collecting pumpkin beers, and developing a rating system for our tastings this year, we stumbled upon Root Beer flavored BEER! We found three different ones at our local ABC and decided to give them a little side-by-side comparison.

In the mix were:

Coney Island Hard Root Beer by Coney Island Brewery (Brooklyn, NY)
Not Your Father’s Root Beer by Small Town Brewery (La Crosse, WI)
Sprecher Fire Brewed Hard Root Beer by Sprecher Brewing Co (Glendale, WI)

These are three unique hard root beers all falling in the 5-5.9% ABV range.

Sprecher is actually a malt beverage, and we found that to be least favorite. Melissa says it tastes like root beer cotton candy, Alysia couldn’t pinpoint what it was, except that it was NOT GOOD.

The Coney Island and Not Your Father’s were both good, but we found some differences. Overall we liked the Not Your Father’s over the Coney Island for the fact that it reminded us more of a root beer float. You can taste the hints of vanilla within the root beer. The Coney Island tastes like a pure root beer.

These are beers that we wouldn’t be able to drink more than 1 because of the sweetness factor, but we both agreed, if we are going to splurge and have just ONE, we wanted the float.

Have you tried these? What are your opinions?

Join us next week and we start our pumpkin challenge!!

Love & Pumpkins,
A&M