Pumpkin Beers in July

Dear Breweries,

So recently I have seen a couple pictures floating around on Facebook that to me are a bit disturbing. These pictures are of pumpkin beers in July.

Now don't get me wrong I love me some pumpkin beers.  They are without a doubt one of my favorite seasonal beers.  Please note the key word there though- seasonal.  So, what's the definition of seasonal? According to Merriam-Webster:  of, relating to, or varying in occurrence according to the season.

Let me let you in on a secret:  July is not the proper season for pumpkin beers.  Just like March is not the proper season for summer beers. Just like September is not the proper season for Christmas beers.

Please stop with all this retardedness.  You're becoming just as bad as Walmart putting up Christmas decorations in September.

I'm sorry but I like my seasonal beers in the season they are meant for.  I can't in very good conscience drink these beers and fully enjoy them when it's 98 degrees outside.  Granted it's about 98 degrees outside in October here in Louisiana but that's not the point.

I for one will not support this behavior and all you other beer drinkers who care shouldn't support it either.  We can complain about it but the only way to stop it is not buy the beers in July.  September is an appropriate time for the release of fall beers and I will not buy them until then.  I guess this means that when I drink your beers they won't be at their freshest but YOU, the brewer, decided to release them too early.  That's on you.

Happy Holidays!

The Beer Buddha


You see how retarded that sounded?  Same thing as releasing pumpkin beers in July.  STOP IT!

Beer Review: Wasatch Brewpub Pumpkin Ale

I heart pumpkin beers. You already know this if you are a regular reader of this blog. I've had a lot of pumpkin beers over the years and there are some fantastic pumpkin beers out there: Southern Tier Pumking, Dogfish Head Punkin and Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin just to name a few. And there are MANY more I want to try so if you're a reader outside Louisiana send me some of your pumpkin beers!!! I want them!

When I'm drinking a pumpkin beer I expect it to taste exactly like pumpkin pie. Not sure what you would expect from a pumpkin beer but that's what I expect. I want it to remind me of Thanksgiving with my family. I want to remember the smell of my moms pumpkin pie wafting through the house while we watched football waiting impatiently with our pants undone to make room for pie while the dead turkey fights one last fight with sleep inducing chemical weapons.

We recently had a new brewery enter into Louisiana called Wasatch Brewpub who are part of the Utah Brewers Cooperative. Their beers are fantastic and I saw that Cork & Bottle brought in some of their pumpkin beer this year. While at the store I sampled a bottle and DAMN if it didn't taste like the Wasatch brewmaster baked a bunch of pumpkin pies and threw them right into the mash!! I don't usually do it but I picked up a 6 pack. I'll probably go back for more to last me through Thanksgiving.

I can honestly say that I have yet to have a pumpkin beer taste so much like a pumpkin pie. I'm sure some people may be turned off by it because it really is full of pumpkin pie flavor but I loved it!! Let me quit gabbing about it and get to the review!

Brewery: Wasatch Brewpub

Beer: Pumpkin Ale

Style: Pumpkin Ale

ABV: 4%

Louisiana Availability: Yes

Price Range: $2.00/bottle

Appearance: The beer pours a cloudy pumpkin colored orange with a nice off white head which quickly disappears. Just a little lacing present and doesn't cling to the glass well.

Smell: a nice beginning to a pumpkin beer. Smells like a freshly baked pumpkin pie.

Taste: WOW! Tastes exactly like a pumpkin pie! All the pumpkin pie spices showed up to the party! Pumpkin, cinnamon, clove, ginger, and even nutmeg. Tastes like fall in my mouth!

Mouthfeel: Thin body with medium carbonation.

Overall: Dare I say one of the best pumpkin beers I have ever had? I want my pumpkin beers to taste like pumpkin pie and this beer totally does.

Score: 4 out of 5 Buddhas

Beer Review: Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale

Out of the pumpkin beers that are available here in the Big Easy this one is by far the best. I know, it isn't saying much when you consider just how many craft breweries are pumping out awesome pumpkin ales but until Abita brews a pumpkin ale it's what we got. Enough said, on to the review!

Brewery: Buffalo Bill's Brewery

Beer: Pumpkin Ale

Style: Pumpkin Ale

ABV: 4.90%

Recommended Glassware: Pint Glass

Serving Type: Pint Glass

Appearance- The beer poured a hazy orange amber with a huge off white head which dissipates quickly. Lacing was minimal to nonexistent.

Smell- A nice smell of pumpkin pie. Pumpkins, nutmeg and cinnamon.

Taste- The pumpkin and spices are very slight in the taste and are more noticeable in the aroma. The taste however comes off way too sweet for me and the finish is a bit unpleasant.

Mouthfeel- Thin and watery with a lot of carbonation

Overall- Not a horrible beer. I can taste the pumpkin more in this beer than the others I've tried. I would find it difficult to drink a lot of these since they are way too sweet.

Score: 3 out of 5 Buddhas

Beer Review: Dogfish Head Punkin Ale

So last night the Canadians sent down a cold front which made our normal humid New Orleans nights a wonderfully cool 65 degrees. The perfect night for a pumpkin beer! I must admit is was a fantastic night with the wife and kid asleep and myself sitting outside on the swing watching the full moon peaking through the branches of the oak trees and listening to the sounds of the boats moving lazily down the Mississippi River. It was the perfect beer drinking moment. Earlier in the week a fellow New Orleans beer nerd, Ken Kolb, had brought me two awesome gifts: Beer! He had been reading my blog and saw that I was reviewing pumpkin ales and brought me a Dogfish Head Punkin Ale(along with a Lagunitas We're Only In It For The Money). What a guy huh folks! Anyways, on to the review!!!

Brewery: Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

Beer: Punkin' Ale

Style: Pumpkin Ale

ABV: 7.00%

Recommended Glassware: Pint Glass

Serving Type: Pint Glass

Appearance- This beer poured a murky orange with huge two fingered off white head that had incredible retention. Lacing was present throughout and left nice foamy rings.

Smell- Huge toasted malts and biscuit aromas. Very faint pumpkin spice smells coming through.

Taste- Incredible! More so as a brown ale than a pumpkin ale. Nice roasted sweet malts in the front followed by a nice bitterness in the finish. The pumpkin parts of this beer are so slight it is almost undetectable. I mean I do get very slight hints of nutmeg,cinnamon and a brown sugar sweetness but not much more. That's ok cause this beer is still a great beer.

Mouthfeel- Nice medium body with medium carbonation.

Overall- I really enjoyed this beer. It may not be what I expected in terms of pumpkin but it was still a fantastic brew. Perhaps I just need to get another bottle and give it another try!!

Score: 4 out of 5 Buddhas

Beer Review: Shipyard Brewing Pumpkinhead Ale

Ah fall, my favorite time of year. I love seeing the leaves change to wonderful reds, yellows and oranges and getting away from the oppressive New Orleans heat and feeling the cool, crisp air it brings. The fall means football, baseball World Series, Halloween, Thanksgiving and a whole gang of great fall seasonal beers.

One of those seasonal styles I always look forward to in the fall is the Pumpkin Ale. The Pumpkin Ale is fall in my opinion. Yeah, there are Oktoberfest beers but there is just something about Pumpkin Ales that really get me in the spirit of fall.

Here in New Orleans we are already starting to see an influx of seasonal beers. Hell, I already have a list of Christmas beers I'm supposed to be looking at and placing an order for. In terms of Pumpkin Ales we only get three here in the New Orleans area: Buffalo Bills Pumpkin Ale, Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale and Coors' Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale. You have to remember, fall isn't a great season down here in the deep south. We go from hot to cold and there is no in between. Being from Virginia, I'm used to a full four seasons, fall being one of them so I'm always in a constant state of reminiscing when September and October come.

Anyways, enough talk and on to the first review of the whopping three pumpkin beers we get in Louisiana.


Brewery: Shipyard Brewing Company

Beer: Pumpkinhead Ale

Style: Pumpkin Ale

ABV: 4.5%

Recommended Glassware: Pint Glass

Serving Type: Sam Adams Glass

Appearance : This beer poured a clear, straw gold and had a small white head which dissapated quickly. Lacing was non existent

Smell: Nice canned pumpkin pie filling smell. Nice hints of nutmeg and cinnamon.

Taste : Same as the nose, the nutmeg and cinnamon are there. Has a very weak taste of pumpkin pie. This beer just falls flat for some reason though. It just really doesn't taste exactly like a pumpkin pie more like the spices that go into a pumpkin pie. Kind of disappointing actually.

Mouthfeel : Thin and watery and way too overcarbonated. The beer leaves a bad sweetness in your mouth as well.

Overall : Very unimpressed. My first pumpkin beer of the season and this one falls flat on its face. It's as if the brewer made this beer strictly for novelty purposes and not for quality.


Score: 2.5 out of 5 Buddhas