Wise Man Brewing | Shape Shifter Coffee Blonde Ale

We only have less than a month left of fall, not that we are counting. What we are focusing on are the delicious fall seasonal beers out in the market. From late August through the end of October, people just can’t get enough of the seasonal beers. Now that the rush has come and gone, we want to focus on a wonderful pumpkin-inspired ale from Winston-Salem, NC-based Wise Man Brewing

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An Ode to the Fall-Time Classic | The Pumpkin Beer

Every Midwesterner is familiar with the ritual. A stiff, cool breeze pushes through the air, alerting you to the change in seasons. A familiar crunch of dying foliage and an ominous whiff of bonfire – or maybe it’s grill smoke from the tailgate – fill the senses. The squirrels start moving a bit slower and look a bit rounder.  Maybe today I’ll get a hot coffee. Maybe this morning is the time to pull out the sweatshirt from its slumber. It’s time for Fall and everything it has in store. Fall is objectively my favorite time for seasonal beers. You get Oktoberfests, Wet Hop IPAs and more – you also get a heavy dose of pumpkin beers. While the Oktoberfest style might have the most celebrated history, the pumpkin ale has a unique story as well, and the booming seasonal style doesn’t show any sign of slowing down. 

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Half Moon Bay Brewing Co. | Pumpkin Harvest Ale

Some of my favorite Fall things are the leaves changing colors, pumpkin spiced foods and beverages everywhere, cooler weather, and of course pumpkin beers! Half Moon Bay Brewing Co brews up their Pumpkin Harvest Ale seasonally to delight the taste buds. Read More

Arcadia Ales | Jaw-Jacker

Photo courtesy of Arcadia Ales.

To quote a past professor: I reserve the right to be wrong.

In sixth grade I only once cleaned up after a friend’s Tamagotchi Giga Pet. I belonged to a school district around a farming community and found it was not uncommon for students to walk through cow or horse or pig manure in the morning before school. We knew what sticks were for and this egg-looking pixilated-dog toy had no use-stick button. I had cast aside my childhood then and welcomed cynicism. Since then, I have not succumbed to fads: my first cell phone was out of necessity at twenty, as apartment landlines became expensive and impracticable and employers immediately threw away applications without a phone number; I still have a flip phone, find the constant use of smart phones offensive; I avoided Twitter for eight years; I still don’t exactly understand Tinder or Reddit or what a millennial is or what their duties are or why one young man felt the need to tell me not to whistle while doing laundry because I was appropriating unpaid-labor culture; only now do I think a Tickle-me-Elmo would be fun (however, Gak was great, though I never owned any). And as of recently, I had no desire to fill the void in my life with anything pumpkin-spiced.

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Homebrewing | Death to Pumpkin Beers Recipe

I know right now you’ve read the title and instantly assumed I am counter to everything that is right in the world. You are all chanting your fall mantras, “the spice expands consciousness, the spice is life and who controls the spice controls fall.” But I for one cannot take any more overly sweet, acrid, or overly spiced pumpkin beers. I think the problem is the gourd itself. Pumpkin, at least to the brewing process, primarily bring nothing but starches and very minor sweetness to the party. This inherently pushes the spices to the front and leaves nothing but the harsh wash of cinnamon on the palette. Enter the contender! Apple brings much more than pumpkin in the way of sweetness aroma, fall character, and a lasting drinkability that fits not just for early fall but all the way through Thanksgiving and into early December. A balanced apple pie presence to amplify an amber caramel and malt forward beer style is a match made in heaven. Read More

Repent Pumpkin Beer Sinners, The Path to Atonement

Every year, more and more sinners are born.

They are conceived in the darkest part of hell, raised by the devil himself, and born into our world loving that which is most foul: Pumpkin Beer.

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Dogfish Head Brewery | Punkin Ale

ABV: 7.0% | IBU: 28

Pumpkin beers: love them or hate them, they seem to be one of the most contested beer styles out there. Even at this year’s GABF no pumpkin beer scored high enough in the judging to take home a gold medal, only silver and bronze were awarded this year*. While I do admit, I am quite the sucker for a pumpkin beer and each year when they start rolling out on store shelves I pick up an assortment to try, one pumpkin beer staple in my fridge each October is Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales’ Punkin Ale.

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Colorado’s Pumpkin Beer Season Release

Whether you like it or not, summer is coming to an end in Colorado. You can feel the impending change of season in the cool breeze, and may even … Read More

Alltech Brewing | Kentucky Pumpkin Barrel Ale

This post originally appeared on December 5, 2013

Kentucky Ale

ABV 10%

Can we all just enter into a covenant together? Don’t worry I’m not just making an obscure quote reference from the movie Yes Man, though kudos if you picked that up. I really do want us to come together on this one and curtail the growing trend of releasing pumpkin beers so damn early in the year. Read More

Saint Arnold Brewing | Pumpkinator

Saint Arnold – Pumpkinator 2013
ABV: 10%
IBU: ??

The machines rose from the ashes of the nuclear fire. Their war to exterminate mankind has raged for decades, but the final battle would not be fought in the future. It would be fought here, in our present. Tonight. In this tulip glass! Saint Arnold’s distribution footprint just hit the Colorado Market and one of the heavy hitter’s first out to attack the taste buds is their imperial pumpkin ale, Pumpkinator.

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Porch Swing Editorials | Pumpkin Beers Arms Race

We built this site based on the premise that positivity is the best way to promote the craft beer industry. However, I also feel it is our responsibility to constructively address some of the alarming issues, trends, or behaviors within the craft beer community. This recurring post won’t always take a negative stance on things, but rather I’d like for this to help start the conversation, and I’d love to hear your views in the comments section below. So have a seat with me on the Porch Swing and lets dive into some of the bigger ideas swirling around the craft beer world at the moment. Read More

Samuel Adams | Fat Jack

ABV: 8.5% | IBU: 25

This small-batch, double pumpkin ale eluded me last year, so imagine my surprise when I found a bomber of it at the Kroger in little ol’ Athens, Ohio over the weekend. I was ecstatic! And I have to say, it did not disappoint. Made with 28 pounds of real pumpkin per barrel, from the moment I opened the bottle all I could think was “this is fall.”

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