The Search For The Great Pumpkin: Beer Edition Round 1

The best time of the year in Indiana, at least in my my mind, is the fall.  Growing up in California, there were little changes in weather from season to season.  I first moved to Indiana in the summer and when I experienced my first fall...I fell in love.  Fall in Indiana is an explosion of colors, crispness in the air, time for apples and most importantly: pumpkins.

I've had a few tastes of pumpkin ales in the past, but this year I decided I'd go all out and really start comparing different pumpkin and autumn ales. Mostly for the sake of my curiosity to see if a beer can embody the smell and taste of a pumpkin spice.

First Round:

 Schlafly's Pumpkin Ale

I literally felt like after one sip of this delicious concoction that I was sitting in the middle of a big pile of fall colored leaves eating a slice of pumpkin pie.  The pumpkiny and spice flavor hits you immediately and delivers sip after sip. It's a beer I could even drink warm.  I kid you not, everything about this ale -- color, scent, taste was all about the pumpkin.  I think drinking this ale first may have set me up for the ones that followed.

vs.

Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale 
In all fairness, the description of this ale says it has hints of pumpkin taste. I would say barely. The overall taste of the beer is pleasant, drinkable, slight golden and bubbly, but I wouldn't call it a pumpkin ale. Unlike Schlafly with a base of American Ale, Shipyard is a wheat ale. I'm not sure if the wheat base is what I'd pair with the pumpkin spices.

The winner of this round was definitely Schlafly's Pumpkin Ale. 

More Beers to taste include:
New Holland Brewing Company - Ichabod Pumpkin Ale
Tyranena - Painted Ladies Pumpkin Spice
Buffalo Bills - Imperial Pumpkin Ale
Blue Moon - Pumpkin Ale

-- Also still tracking down some ales --  (P.S. if you have any suggestions, locations of, or general information.. please let me know ) 

In local news.. A little birdie (aka twitter) informed me Flat12 Bierwerks is going to be making a pumpkin ale as well. I wish more local breweries were making pumpkin beers.

A girl can always dream.

Anyways.. stay tuned for more rounds of Pumpkin Beer comparisons, Along with some autumn ales and Oktoberfest beers!

And even though it's not official til Friday -- Happy Fall everyone :)