Pumpkin Wednesday

For the next three Wednesdays in October, Pumpkin's post will highlight a pumpkin flavored product on the market!

Hello Halloween Pumpkin!

Tonight we start with beers.  Last week we stopped at the local beverage store where they sell beers by the single.  At this time of the year there are quite a few pumpkin flavored beers on the market, and we wanted to sample a few.  I would recommend this method if you're in the mood for finding that perfect pumpkin ale because every brand is so very different.  What we ended up with in our cart were:

• Wolaver's Certified Organic: Will Steven's Pumpkin Ale
• Shipyard Pumpkin Ale
• Dogfish Head Punkin Ale
• New Holland Brewing Company Ichabod Pumpkin Ale

My favorite pumpkin flavored beer out of this group is the Dogfish Head Pumpkin Ale.  Although I don't know a lot about beer tasting, it has a strong cinnamon and brown sugar taste and a hint of pumpkin that is complimentary to the spcices.  The beer is a bit heavier than some of the others we tried and not overly bitter.

Dogfish Head, brewed in Delaware

I also liked the New Holland Ichabod Pumpkin Ale.  Brewed in Michigan, it doesn't have an overwhelming pumpkin flavor and I have had varying versions of the beer whether on draft or in a bottle.

New Holland Brewery, New Holland Michigan

If I was to buy another sampling of beers, I would skip the Will Steven's Pumpkin Ale and the Shipyard, as they both seemed to lack any real Pumpkin flavor.  With that being said, I would definitely recommend buying singles (if you can) before committing to an entire six pack of a pumpkin ale.

I also know this review may not be the most helpful, so check out all the reviews on beeradvocate where they list reviews for over 100 types of pumpkin ales.

Enough from me, what is your favorite pumpkin beer?

-Thursday is on its way!