Brooklyn Post Road Pumpkin Ale Review

Brewery: Brooklyn Brewery | Beer: Post Road Pumpkin Ale
Style: Pumpkin Ale | ABV: 5.0% | IBUs: ~20
Serving Method: 12 oz. bottle poured into pint glass

Back in 1998, Brooklyn bought out the Post Road brewing company. Best known for their flagship Pale Ale, Post Road was an early player in the New England craft scene with a stable of beers brewed under contract by the now defunct Catamount.

The only Post Road beer to survive today is Pumpkin Ale, which apparently had enough cachet to make the cut. Each batch is made with hundreds of pounds of pumpkins along with American Two-Row, Belgian Biscuit, and Aromatic malts and Willamette and American Fuggle hops.

The end result is what Brooklyn describes as "a beer with an orange amber color, warm pumpkin aroma, biscuity malt center, and crisp finish."

It might not be fall yet, but I'm always in the mood for a good pumpkin brew. Let's dig in.

Appearance: A crystal-clear, pumpkin-orange body capped by around two fingers of off-white head that sticks around nicely and leaves great lacing.

Aroma: A wonderful blend of pumpkin, spices (nutmeg and cinnamon mainly), and mild caramel malt, creating something strikingly similar to pumpkin pie.

Taste: Much closer to beer than pie in the flavor profile, as the malt body perks up and a citrusy, earthy hop component comes alive. There's still plenty of pumpkin and spice to be found, but it's much more balanced than in the nose. The aftertaste features citrusy hops and some spice.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with good carbonation and a drying finish.

Drinkability: An easy-drinking brew, a few bottles of this would be perfect during a large holiday meal.

Verdict: Akin to a mild English Pale Ale with a pumpkin pie twist, Post Road Pumpkin Ale is a highly drinkable and tasty holiday brew—one of my favorite examples of the Pumpkin Ale style.

Grade: B+

Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale Review

Brewery: Buffalo Bill's Brewery | Beer: Pumpkin Ale
Style: Pumpkin Ale | ABV: 4.9%
Serving Method: 12 oz. bottle poured into pint glass

Here's a beer that pops up in force every year around this time. From groceries store endcap displays to pub chalkboards, Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale has quite a high profile for a few weeks each year. In my experience, this is the standard Pumpkin Ale for most people. Maybe this is all just in my region of the country, but as this beer originates from Buffalo Bill's Brewery in Northern California, I'm pretty sure it's not. With festive, non-pretentious packaging, and a reputation, I had high hopes for this beer.

Appearance: A somewhat hazy amber body with a finger and a half of eggshell-white head. The head is fizzy and quickly settles into a minimal ring around the glass and leaves hardly any lacing.

Aroma: Pie spices and overly sweet pumpkin, with more emphasis on the former than the latter.

Taste: The same spices, general sweetness and dark fruit are the dominant flavors here, but the pumpkin just isn't coming through as much as it should. In fact, the whole flavor profile is decidedly on the thin side.

Mouthfeel: On the similar note, the mouthfeel is rather thin and watery without much of an aftertaste. Carbonation is high enough to resemble soda at times.

Drinkability: This beer goes down the hatch easily enough, although leaves a lot to be desired. However, if I was in the mood for a Pumpkin Ale at a bar where this was all that was available on tap, I'd still probably order a few.

Verdict: I find this beer bland, and that it really fails to deliver on its biggest promise: pumpkin. But, I can certainly see it's appeal to the masses and therefore why it's become so popular. Pumpkin Ale is an appealing premise for the Fall months and this beer, being on the thinner and sweeter side, is not too much of a deviation from the regular macro fare. For the more traveled drinker, however, much more complicated and satisfying Pumpkin Ales can easily be found (my personal favorite being Dogfish Head's Punkin Ale).

Grade: D

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale Review

Brewery: Dogfish Head Brewery | Beer: Punkin Ale
Style: Pumpkin Ale | ABV: 7.0%
Serving Method: 12 oz. bottle poured into pint glass

Fall is upon us once again, so I thought it was appropriate to review some seasonal offerings here on PintLog. Instead of starting with one of the cornucopia of Oktoberfest themed beers, I figured I'd start with something a little different. Dogfish Head is one my absolute favorite breweries, they put out some of the most interesting beers on the market. Known for what founder Sam Calagione calls "extreme beer," Dogfish puts out a portfolio of decidedly non-traditional, high alcohol content, high quality brews.

The Fall Dogfish Head seasonal in Punkin Ale, the company's take on (believe it or not) Pumpkin Ale. In true Dogfish Head style, the description/ingredient list on the bottle is nothing if not intriguing: "A full bodied brown ale brewed with real pumpkin, brown sugar, allspice, cinnamon & nutmeg." Based on my experiences with other Dogfish Head offerings, I have some pretty high hopes for this beer. The bottle blurb has me practically drooling, so without further adieu (what exactly is adieu, anyway?) let's pour a bottle.

Appearance: Crystal-clear with a brilliant copper orange hue. A somewhat fizzy finger-width head that fades into decent lacing.

Aroma: Just like a freshly baked pumpkin pie - spicy, lots of pumpkin (obviously), and big doses of sweet brown sugar. It smells exactly how you might imagine while reading over the ingredients. Quite appetizing.

Taste: Brown sugar sweetness and pumpkin up front with a nice spicy nutmeg and cinnamon finish. The beer underneath these flavors is somewhat bitter with sweet and bready malt. You can definitely detect that seven percent booze from time to time, but it's certainly not overpowering. Usually, I'm not a big pumpkin fan, but I really love it in this application. It doesn't really taste like a Brown Ale underneath, more like a malty Pale Ale.

Mouthfeel: Smooth and velvety with a good amount of carbonation. It finishes nicely with the slick feeling you get with higher ABV beers.

Drinkability: Despite the somewhat nontraditional flavor combination and moderately high alcohol content, I'd be more than happy to sit and throw back a four-pack of this over a Fall evening. One of the more sessionable Dogfish Head creations I've tried (for example, it would take quite long night for me to finish a pack of Raison D'Etre).

Verdict: While Pumpkin Ales are nothing new, I knew when I saw the neon orange pack adorned with the shark icon sitting on the shelf, I'd be in for something special. Punkin did not disappoint. Without a doubt, this is the best Pumpkin themed beer I've ever tasted. As I've come to expect from Dogfish, this beer is lavish, complex, and above all, unique. These are the kinds of beers that leave such an indelible impression on me that I can almost summon their taste just by thinking about them. Brilliant.

Grade: A