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?!?!?

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?!