Matt and I decided to put a selection of six pumpkin ales to the test, trying each one blindfolded and ranking them from the best to the worst. Who knew this could be so fun (and make you feel so bloated)? After browsing the awesome selection of 15 to 20 different pumpkin beers available at City Swiggers, these are the six pumpkin ales we chose for our tasting, from left to right:
- UFO Pumpkin
- Blue Point Pumpkin Ale
- Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale
- Ithaca Country Pumpkin Ale
- Cisco Pumple Drumkin
- Captain Lawrence Pumpkin Ale
Since I've tried my fair share of pumpkin ales in the past, I always considered Blue Point one of my favorites, so I knew I had to include it in the mix. I chose some of the others based on reading about recommended pumpkin ales. The definite wild card was Pumple Drumkin, mainly because of the name and the adorable picture on the label. Well, here it goes, blindfold and all!
Matt and I both sampled all six beers, going through the first tasting to put them in a rough order of best to worst. We sampled them all again a second time, starting with our least favorite, and working our way up to our favorite pumpkin ale. As we tasted each one, we made adjustments to the order before solidifying our final lists!
The first impression
Initial tasting
Palate cleanser between beers
Here are our final lists (brewery name only) after the delicious, but very filling, blind taste test:
Emily's List
- Ithaca
- Captain Lawrence
- Shipyard
- UFO
- Blue Point
- Cisco
Matt's List
- Ithaca
- Shipyard
- UFO
- Captain Lawrence
- Cisco
- Blue Point
Ithaca was the clear winner for both of us. It had a very well rounded pumpkin and spice flavor (a bit more of the spices than pumpkin itself) and a touch of brown sugar. I haven't really seen this as a pumpkin option in bars, but I'll definitely be on the lookout this fall.
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| Winner! |
My second choice was Captain Lawrence, which had a really spicy smell before the first sip, which had a good kick of pumpkin and spices with a little hoppy note to it as well. I love IPAs so I'm not surprised that I ranked this one so highly. Shipyard had a major punch of cinnamon and raisin flavor, more reminiscent of a Christmas beer/cocktail (I had an amazing gin cocktail at Gin Palace that reminded me exactly of the flavor of this beer), without really tasting any pumpkin. I personally loved the flavor, but couldn't rank it higher because it didn't scream pumpkin to me at all. UFO also had a well rounded pumpkin spice flavor, but could have been a little stronger and have a longer lasting flavor. Both Blue Point and Cisco were very disappointing, both having very little flavor at all. Who knew that Blue Point would rank so low when I thought it was one of my favorites?
We had so much fun trying a range of pumpkin ales! I think in the future, we'll be doing other blind taste tests of other types of beers. IPAs are by far my favorite (not so much for Matt) so I would definitely want to try a variety. However, IPAs can taste drastically different whether they are more on the bitter side or have a lot of floral notes. It would definitely make for an interesting taste test! I think our next set of seasonal beers will be around the holidays so stay tuned for Christmas ales!
What are your favorite pumpkin ales? Let me know in the comments section so I can try them myself!
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