"pumpkin Ale" news and stories

Photo: Joshua M. Bernstein.

Joshua M. Bernstein, Gourmet.com's beer columnist, has written about brews, bars and booze for New York Magazine, Time Out New York, ForbesTraveler.com and the New York Times.

When fall hits, kids get giddy about the mother lode of Halloween candy to come. But adults, too, have reason to celebrate the harvest season -- namely, pumpkin beers.

These vegetable-influenced ales are as varied as jack-o'-lantern carvings. They range from Cape Ann's smooth and chocolaty Fisherman's Pumpkin Stout to Dogfish Head's Punkin Ale, a rich ale dosed with brown sugar and pumpkin flesh. But our favorite Halloween sipper hails from Lakewood, N.Y. -- Southern Tier.

Since the western New York brewery's humble 2004 beginnings, it has spread across the country like kudzu, reaching more than 20 states. The rapid success is due to burly brews like the ludicrously hopped Unearthly Imperial IPA (11 percent ABV!), the dessert-like Crème Brûlee Imperial Milk Stout and the Pumking.

If you've made your way to a bar or local beer seller in the past month, you can't help but notice pumpkin beer season is in full swing. BeerAdvocate has 197 products in their "pumpkin ale" reviews archive, and since pumpkin products tend to be seasonal, familiarity can be fleeting, often making it feel like we might as well have all 197 in front of us when making a selection.

Adding to the confusion, Pumpkin beers cover quite a range. Some emphasize subtlety, showing almost no overt pumpkin flavor, instead focusing on light winter spices (like cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves). Others can be like pouring a piece of pumpkin pie down your throat with a sugary, sweet taste and a huge mouthfeel.

Like all beers, personal preference is the final factor, but with pumpkin beers especially, when trying one for the first time, it might behoove you to know what you're diving into before you make your purchase.

After the jump, find a quick breakdown of BeerAdvocate's eight most reviewed pumpkin beers, with some personal thoughts on each.

Pumpkin ale is big this time of year. A good friend of mine, Bill Owens is credited with re-creating it in 1985/6, after 200 years of neglect, with his Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale. Now you see pumpkin ale all over, whether it is Buffalo Bill's, or the dozens of copy cat brews. Here's a great round-up of pumpkin ale by the folks at BeerAdvocate.com.

I was thinking a bit on pumpkin ale and my mind started to wander . (It usually does, sometimes for the good and sometimes not.) I started to think of a cool re-make of the classic Charlie Brown. "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!" Here are some quotes from the new classic Charlie Brown Halloween animated movie, "It's the Great Pumpkin Ale Charlie Brown!"

Lucy Van Pelt: Bleach! My lips touched dog lips! Bleagh! Poison lips! Bleagh! Pass me a pumpkin ale, quick!

[Lucy scoops out the innards of the pumpkin Linus brought to make ale from]
Linus: [groans] You didn't tell me you were gonna kill it!

Sally Brown: Is Linus going to tricks-or-treats?
Lucy Van Pelt: That blockhead of a brother of mine is over at the pumpkin ale patch making his yearly fool of himself. He sits there all night scarfin' down last years pumpkin ale, and talking to himself, asking "Where's this years Great Pumpkin Ale?"

It can't be all hard liquor at your Halloween party -- not that you don't plan to sip martinis all night, but some of your guests might prefer beer or wine. For the beer drinkers at your Halloween party, there's Post Road Pumpkin Ale.
Each batch of beer is made from hundreds of pounds of pumpkins, which create an orangey amber-colored beer with a pumpkin fragrance. The Pumpkin Ale is available for about $9.

Now here's a tip for chilling and serving that Pumpkin Ale. Get your hands on the largest pumpkin you can find, top it off, hollow it out, clean it, then fill with ice. It's a pumpkin cooler!