A Pleasant Surprise

After being silly and drinking ciders, we are back on Ales for an 8% night! Since these are a higher ABV we cut down from our usual 6 selections to only 5. Out of these 5 beers, we’ve only had one before, so we were unsure what the night would bring.

Reunion Ale ‘15 by Shmaltz & Terrapin Brewing Company (Collaboration): NY (8% ABV)

With all of the ingredients in this beer, you could call this a “kitchen sink pumpkin.” Brewed with pumpkin, chocolate, cocoa nibs, cinnamon, vanilla, ginger, and Mexican chili pepper, it definitely peaked our interest when we found this. M-“Smooth start with a spice kick, would be good on a chilly night. It needs more pumpkin though.” A- “with molasses flavor and a chili pepper bite at the end, it burns my nose and gets worse as I drink it.”       Score: 15.5/30

Pike’s Harlot’s Harvest by Pike Brewing Co.: Seattle, WA (8.5% ABV)

With a molasses base, coffee flavors, and a roasty taste, this isn’t a bad beer; it’s just not enough pumpkin and spice. PS. This is organic.    Score: 16/30

Fat Jack Double Pumpkin by Samuel Adams (Boston Beer Company): Boston, MA (8.5% ABV)

This is the only one we have tried before. We didn’t really remember it, but we knew it wasn’t a finale contender. Something is very overwhelming about this brew. There’s too much spice here. Another molasses base with lots of ginger and nutmeg. I know they say 28lbs of pumpkin per barrel, maybe that’s true, but it’s overshadowed by all of the spice.      Score: 15.5/30

Punk’in Drublic by Coronado Brewing Company: Coronado, CA (8%ABV)

A cute little play on “Drunk In Public” this is a unique pumpkin beer! It has definite flavors of brown sugar and honey with a nice hint of allspice at the end. Good pumpkin flavoring. We were happy about this!!!       Score: 20.5/30

Headless Wylie by Rivertowne Brewing: Monroeville, PA (8.1% ABV)

You definitely can’t judge a book by its cover, and that’s what we started to do with this little can of pumpkin from PA. LESSON LEARNED! Could this be pumpkin perfection?!?! Canned pumpkin perfection?! We only bought one can early on in the season, because we didn’t think a canned beer would be a contender. Fantastic pumpkin, cinnamon, and spice flavoring shocked us when we took our first taste. It’s sweet like a pumpkin cheesecake with whipped cream, but not sickenly sweet. A perfect balance. Alysia scored this a 30 (same score that she gave Rogue’s Pumpkin Patch. Melissa scored this a 29, which makes this our #1 contender so far!       Score: 29.5/30

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 we have any more surprises this season!

Love and Pumpkins,

A&M

PS. In case you were worried, we found 4 more Headless Wylie’s the next day, so this WILL be making an appearance in our finale. Who is getting excited?!?!?

Cider Night?! Are we crazy???

Full Disclosure: We aren’t really cider fans, but we couldn’t pass up on tasting pumpkin alcohol. When we found six different ciders, we decided to move forward and give it a shot.

You may be asking, can we really rate ciders along with beers? Not really, but why not give it a try?

On deck for tonight are:

Harpoon Pumpkin Cider by Harpoon Brewery: Boston, MA (ABV 4.8%)
Upchuck, Oops…I mean…Wood Chuck Pumpkin Cider by Woodchuck Cidery: Middlebury, VT (ABV 6.9%)
Wild Cider Hard Pumpkin by Rocky Mountain Cider Company: Firestone, CO (ABV 5%)
Pumpkin Cider by Crown Valley Brewing: Ste Genevieve, MO (ABV 5%)
ACE Pumpkin Hard Cider by California Cider Company: Sebastopol, CA (ABV 5%)
McKenzie’s Pumpkin Hard Cider by McKenzie’s Beverages: West Seneca, NY (ABV 5%)

Harpoon is not great, more apple than anything.

Woodchuck off the bat tastes artificially flavored, kind of like watermelon jolly rancher. Where’s the pumpkin?! Woodchuck needs to lose this recipe and never make it again. AWFUL.

Wild Cider is quite generic. Alysia wasn’t a fan, but Melissa could drink it maybe.

Crown Valley is AMAZING! It smells and tastes exactly like you’d expect a pumpkin gooey butter cake to taste. Being a brewery from outside of St. Louis…is this what they’re going for? Is it a nod to the city’s signature dessert? It’s a win for us, but is very sweet, it would be hard to drink several. We immediately picked up Pinterest because we are inspired to BAKE with it!! Stay tuned…this is HAPPENING!

ACE-when playing cards, you have to choose…ACE high or low? This is definitely a low card in our deck.

McKenzie’s! You know those apple cider jugs at your local grocery store? Someone made that recipe, but substituted pumpkin for apple. This is fantastic.

We probably won’t do a cider night again. We will buy Crown Valley and McKenzie’s to switch it up from time to time though, and even experiment in the kitchen!

How do you feel about pumpkin ciders? Hit or miss?

Love and Pumpkins,
A&M

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! 

 

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

The pumpkins are coming, the pumpkins are coming!!!

It’s August. And here in Florida, it’s the month in between fireworks and the beginning of the fall season. What a wonderful surprise to walk into the store on Monday only to see PUMPKIN beer!!! We are making our list and checking it twice…preparing to start our pumpkin beer nights! And for all of our readers that means our weekly reviews on pumpkin beers from local and well known breweries! 

Let us know what pumpkin beer you are looking forward to most! We’d love to know your favorites! 

Cheers to the beginning of the best season.