YIKES, The Invasion of the Pumpkin Beers!!!

Beer people tend to have either a love it or hate it relationship with pumpkin beers. While I lean heavy on the love side, seeing pumpkin beers in late July (finger pointed at you Smuttynose) had me grimacing and screaming foul. However now that the weather is turning, a slight chill is in the night air and the last days of summer are upon us, it's time for the flavors of Fall. Unleash the pumpkin brews!

The abundance of pumpkin offerings this year is staggering. More breweries than ever are making it their big fall seasonal. Sorry, Oktoberfest lovers the squeeze for shelf space is on. Some companies like Elysian offer multiple styles: Night Owl (pumpkin ale), The Great Pumpkin (imperial pumpkin) and Dark-o-the-Moon (pumpkin stout). With so many options I stuck with a few tried and true beers and then mixed in several bottles that were new to me.

When it comes to pumpkin beer they tend fall on a sliding scale. At one end there are the pumpkin pie wannabe's. All the spices of pumpkin pie coveniently in liquid form. The over used, "pie in a glass" applies here. On the other side are beers with less of a sweet pie complex. The pumpkin is there with spice but the hops and malt are more pronounced. The following beers are all judged on the Pie-In-a-Glass scale (aka P.I.G scale). 1 denotes it's less pie like, while 5 means breakout the whip cream.

Schlafly Pumpkin Ale

Thank you Dave for putting this in my hands. This is getting high praise over on that advocate site so my interest was peaked going into the first sip. This screams pumpkin pie spice as soon as it's poured in the glass. Cinnamon is the muscle spice here with a nutmeg back-up. The clove barely creeps in. The pumpkin is all pie quality. Think Grandma baking on Thanksgiving. This one will have you forgetting it's beer. With an 8% abv this could make for a dangerous dessert. If you dig the pie this is for you.

P.I.G scale 5 (Did my Grandma make this?)

Dogfish Head Punkin
Hello old vampire shark friend (see the label). It's been awhile.  This may of been my first pumpkin beer and remains a beer I purchase every year. The pumpkin pie spices are there but don't call it pie. The brown ale base is very noticeable with nutmeg and allspice mixing in well with the hops. It's a treat but not an overly sweet candied one. It happily maintains it's beer bite.
P.I.G scale 2 (Yum, I can tell I'm drinking a beer)

O' Fallon Pumpkin Beer

This is where things get interesting. Real pumpkin comes forward in the aroma, not just pie spice. However the same isn't true when it comes to the flavor. The pumpkin fades and spices come forward with cloves running the show. There's even a slight cider flavor detectable. The P.I.G is there but only if your grandma's pies were covered in dry clove buds.  Finally, this was also the thinnest of all the beers which didn't make for the best drinking experience.
P.I.G scale 4 (only if you love cloves)

River Horse Hipp-O-Lantern Imperial Pumpkin Ale

This is the non offensive pumpkin beer out of the bunch. Somewhat of a surprise since it has the "Imperial" tag. Everything here leans to the light side. There's pumpkin and pie spices but they don't strike big. Sweet, malty cinnamon and nutmeg balance out the bitterness. The booziness that lags at the end is the only hint that this wants to be known as an imperial ale.
P.I.G scale 3 (Imperial ?)

South Hampton Pumpkin Ale
This is another middle of the road offering. The aroma is light roasted pumpkin and pie spice. The flavor is pumpkin bread upfront with a good balance of cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar appearing later. Sweetness is under control and nothing over powers so you know there is an ale under the spice.
P.I.G scale 3 (Middle of the road pumpkin)


This is only the begining of the season. Prepare for more beers from the cellar. The Invasion of the Pumpkin Beers Part Deux........ coming soon!

Going Public in NYC with Australian Beer

This past weekend besides the traditional gathering with family and eating far more than I should Kelleigh and I made our way up to NYC Saturday night. We were in the city for an engagement party held for our friends Mike and Lauren at Public (restaurant/bar). A huge CONGRATULATIONS to you guys!!!

The setting was what you'd expect from a trendy upscale bar/restaurant in SoHo. Well dressed 30 & 40 somethings mingling through dimly lit rooms accented in dark wood and brick.  The surroudings had a warm blend of classic and modern design. And you thought I only talked hops and malt. The party cuisine was a colorful collection of petite, delectable, artsy h'ordevours that I managed to consume more than my fair share of and still remain hungry.  A problem solved later in the evening *. Overall everything came together perfectly for the occasion. 

What I didn't expect was the Australian twist to the food and drink menus. The owners describe the cuisine as "free spirited-fusion" so no Outback Burgers, Koala Fries and Bloomin' Onions served under blazing yellow Kangaroo crossing signs.  Think specialty lamb, New Zealand venison and Kangaroo.  For beer?  Skip the over played tinnies of  Fosters Lager.  Instead there were bottles of Coopers Sparkling Ale and James Boag's Premium Lager.

The Cooper's wasn't much of a surprise. It's fairly well known and I've had it on one other occasion.  It's what you would get if a Pale Ale got into a fight with a seltzer bottle and lost.  Over carbonated, citrusy and light with a bready taste that leads to a slightly bitter hop finish.  Not bad, just not very interesting. A Coopers Extra Strong Vintage Ale would of been a better fit to the evening.

The James Boag Lager also fell into the catagory of so-so. Calling it a green-bottled-straw-colored-euro-lager is probably enough explanation.  This easily goes into my Heineken catagory.  Simply meaning, if I'm somewhere and the choice is Bud/Miller/Coors and Heineken I'm  going little green bottle and praying it's not light struck. Of the two beers the Coopers came out on top.

The final score of the evening: Public food and atmosphere 4 stars and Australian beer 1.5 stars out of 5. *Grabbing 2 huge slices of  NY pepperoni pizza at 1:00am on the way back to Philly, priceless.

So Lucky

The past weekend started early and ended up being a good beer weekend. It all started on Thursday night with the Southampton Publick House event at Capone's. The beer started pouring at noon, but I didn't get there until 5pm. The bar was filled with the normal locals who have no idea what Southampton is, the dedicated Beer Advocate crew and the rest of us beer aficionados. Matt Capone had 11 Southampton beers on and Spencer, the brewer/promoter, was on hand answering questions and expanding our Southampton knowledge. Of the beers I tried the standouts were the Imperial Porter and the smooth, malty ABT 12, a Belgian style quad that I paired with a large bowl of mussels. Who needs a trip to Belgium with that combo? Spencer mentioned that I had made a mistake not trying the Russian Imperial Stout but I had reached my limit. Capone's continues to bring some of the best beer and brewers to the area on a regular basis. Anyone who is beer minded should look forward to Matt's next promotion.


The bigger of the weekend activities was the Friday the Firkinteenth gathering at the Grey Lodge pub in Northeast Philly. The firkins were pouring at 12:00pm and the bar was already elbow to elbow. I was lucky enough to get in good with a group of people who had seats at the bar and from then on had no problem getting refills all afternoon. The event is unique since it is only held on Friday the 13th and firkins provide most of the beer consumed. The list of beers was stunning (see last post) and having them from a firkin reminds you how truly different fresh beer tastes. I survived the first 5 hours and made it through several tappings. The beers sampled were, Flying Fish Snake Dog IPA, Stoudt's Black IPA, Sly Fox Standard Ale, Flying Fish Hopfish, Victory Hop Wallop, Ithica Brewing Flower Power, Iron Hill Scottish Ale, Nodding Head IPA, Weyerbacher Old Heathen, Philadelphia Brewing Co. Special Blend, Dock Street Satellite Stout, General Lafayette Summer Ale, River Horse Special Ale, and Clipper City Loose Cannon. Fortunatly Scoates and his crew gave the choice of a pint or a smaller 4 ounce pour. The smaller pour made all the sampling possible. To choose a standout among that line up was difficult but since I am still ridding my hop wave Hopfish and Flower Power both topped the list. Each smelled like liquid hops. The Flower Power poured pale orange with almost no head. The aroma was huge floral hops and the taste was citrus and pine. A biscuit maltiness arrived in the middle and the finish was bitter. The Hopfish was more of a surprise. This one was far different from the bottle version. Compared to the bottle the hops on the fresh beer were very pronounced and didn't fade. A slight malty sweetness also stood out. If I hadn't seen the firkin I wouldn't have guessed it was Hopfish. Unfortunately I had to leave the bar at 4:30 so I don't know what the evening festivities were like. I am sure with such a great start Friday the Firkinteenth was a huge success with those coming in after work. The only bad thing is the next Friday the thirteenth isn't until next year.