Pumpkin Beers in September

If you're not careful, you can make yourself sick of pumpkin beers before October shows up. I tried my first pumpkin beer while at the beach during the summer. It felt wrong, but I did it anyway. Since then, I've tried to maintain composure and fight the urge to buy every kind of pumpkin beer on the shelf just so I can know how they taste.

Before I drink myself so stupid with pumpkin beers that I don't even want to look at them, I thought I'd write down my experiences with the 3 (new for me) pumpkin beers I've tried so far this season.



http://www.elysianbrewing.com/BeerPages/Pumpkin.html
The bartender at Jose Pistola's swore that this was one of the best pumpkin beers. If I remember correctly, he liked it best because it wasn't overloaded with pumpkins, "A pumpkin ALE is supposed to still taste like ALE," he said. And I can dig the sentiment and wholeheartedly disagree at the same time.

I want my pumpkin beer to taste like fucking pumpkins. Sure, the spices thrown into a pumpkin beer are fun and well mannered, but I want a substitute for pumpkin pie and/or bread. The Elysian Night Owl wasn't it (even though it's brewed with "150 lbs of pumpkins in each batch"). It was ok, but not what I've been searching for. To each their own. We also discussed how everyone has a different preference when it comes to this style of beer. Figuring out which breweries make it the way I like it has been a mission for years.

Smuttynose was not the beer I was looking for either (http://www.smuttynose.com/beers/seasonal_beers/smuttynose_pumpkin_ale.html). They made an Ok beer... I guess. There is supposedly pumpkin somewhere in the brew process, but the spices must have drowned it. It's pretty light and you can drink many. My friend Lauren liked it. It should be noted that Lauren had quickly chugged a Miller Light before drinking the Smuttynose (waste not want not!) and I had eaten a handful of jellybeans before drinking my own. Lauren assured me that the next day, the bottle of Smuttynose she drank actually tasted like pumpkins. I was happy for her.

Thankfully, this is the year that I found my mecca of Pumpkin Ales. Southern Tier has slowly started to become one of my favorite breweries, and the Pumpking Imperial Pumpkin Ale is "filled with puppies and Jesus" (according to my friend Wally).

It is heaven. Pumpkin filled heaven with just the right amount of spice but the overwhelming aroma and taste of lots and lots of pumpkins. It's so gold and beautiful. It's so surprisingly thick but light at the same time. The 9% ABV makes it so you can't drink more than a glass or two and accidentally get sick of the taste. I want to buy up all of the Pumkings and be selfish with them. I want to sleep with them in my bed. I liked it so much, I almost demanded that my 19 year old brother let me buy him a bottle. It's a beer that needs to be shared with the world.

People that aren't into pumpkin beers with a huge pumpkin flavor will hate it. Good. More for me!

The end.