Review: Buffalo Bills Pumpkin Ale
Buffalo Bills Pumpkin Ale was introduced in 1985. They claim to be Americas Original Pumpkin Ale. The brewery was one of the first brewpubs in America when it was opened in 1983 by Bill Owens. In 1994 he sold the brewery to Geoff Harries who after being turned down for a loan, took $70,000 in cash advances on his credit card. Pumpkin Ale is one of two pumpkin beers and one of ten beers they currently craft in Ukiah California. Their other pumpkin beer is Black Pumpkin Oatmeal Stout. Buffalo Bills Pumpkin Ale is brewed with real pumpkin and spices. This year it is bottled at 6% ABV. I have seen previous years reviews claiming a 5.2% ABV. Read more 
Review: Wasatch Pumpkin Ale
Wasatch Pumpkin Ale is one of two pumpkin beers crafted in Park City Utah at the Wasatch Brewery. The brewery is named for the mountains, east of Salt Lake City. After moving from Milwaukee Greg Schirf had two questions. Where’s the beer and where’s the breweries? In 1986 he opened the states first brewery and in 1988 he opened the states first brewpub on Main Street in Park City Utah. Wasatch currently crafts 13 beers including two seasonal pumpkin beers, Pumpkin Ale, and Black O’Lantern Pumpkin Stout. Wasatch is part of the Utah Brewers Cooperative but they continue to brew their own beer. Read more
Review: New Belgium Heavy Melon
New Belgium Heavy Melon Ale was introduced April 2016 along with their Juicy Mandarina IPA. Heavy Melon is one of two seasonal beers brewed by New Belgium. Pumpkick is their other seasonal beer. New Belgium started brewing beer in Ft Collins Colorado in 1991 and in 2015 they opened a second brewery in Asheville North Carolina. Probably best known for their Fat Tire Amber Ale, New Belgium crafts beers of nearly every style including several IPA’s and Sours. Heavy Melon is brewed with juicy watermelon and zesty lime peel. The lime peel is added in the boil to extract the essential oils. The watermelon is added in fermentation to capture the flavor and ferment the sugar. Read more
Review: Shipyard Melonhead Ale
Shipyard Melonhead Ale was introduced March 2013. It is a seasonal beer produced March-July each year. All right I agree I’m a little late on this review but watermelon flavored beers have been growing in popularity so I wanted to review a couple before October. Melonhead is one of 21 varieties of beer they brew each year at the Shipyard Brewery. They also brew a Pumpkinhead and Applehead Beer. Shipyard has been brewing beer in Portland Maine since 1994. Melonhead is brewed as an ale with natural flavors added after brewing. Read more
Review: Schlafly Pumpkin Ale
Schlafly Pumpkin Ale was introduced in 2006 by the Schlafly Brewing Company. Schlafly has been brewing beer in St Louis since 1991. Their Pumpkin Ale is a beer that has a long history of appearing on Best Tasting Pumpkin Beer lists, including being named the best pumpkin beer by Paste Magazine in 2014. It is brewed with pumpkin and butternut squash with a blend of spices including cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. Schlafly Pumpkin beer is sold in six packs and on draft from August-October. Read more
Review: OFallon Peach Pumpkin Beer
OFallon Peach Pumpkin Beer is one of four new pumpkin beers available in a 12 pack pumpkin variety pack. Thirteen years ago the OFallon Brewery was the first to brew a pumpkin beer in St Louis. OFallon Peach Pumpkin is a light all malt beer made with real pumpkin and a house blend of pumpkin spiced tea in the mash. Natural flavors are added after brewing. Read more
Review: Saranac Pumpkin Ale
Saranac Pumpkin Ale was first released in 2010. Pumpkin Beer recipes are often tinkered with from year to year and Saranac is no exception, as previous years reviews show a 5.4 ABV. This years version weighs in at 5.3 ABV. Saranac also changed the bottles label, and this year Saranac Pumpkin Ale is also available in 12 oz. cans. Saranac Pumpkin like all of their beers are brewed at the Matts Brewing Company, a fourth generation family brewery in Utica New York. It is brewed with real pumpkin, cinnamon, allspice, clove and ginger. The real pumpkin makes up 10% of the weight of the mash. Natural flavors are added after brewing. Read more
Review: Samuel Adams 20 Pounds of Pumpkin
Samuel Adams 20 Pounds of Pumpkin is a new seasonal pumpkin ale. Samuel Adams has a long history of crafting pumpkin ales and this years lineup also includes Fat Jack Pumpkin Ale, and Harvest Pumpkin Ale. Pumpkin Batch no longer appears on their web site, so it may not be available this year. Most pumpkin beers contain as much real pumpkin as a bottle of Bud Light. If you read their labels you will find they are Pumpkin Spice flavored. As the name implies, 20 Pounds of Pumpkin is brewed with 20 pounds of pumpkin in each barrel. This compares to the 11 pounds Samuel Adams uses to craft their Harvest Pumpkin Ale. Spices including ginger, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg are included in the brewing process. Read more
Review: Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale
Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale was introduced in 2002. It is one of four pumpkin flavored beers the Elysian Brewery crafts in Seattle Washington. The other three beers include Punkuccino Coffee Pumpkin Ale, Great Pumpkin Imperial Pumpkin Ale, and Dark O The Moon Pumpkin Stout. If you have any doubt they take their pumpkin beer seriously, you have obviously not been to their annual Great Pumpkin Beer Festival. This year the festival is on October 8th, and there will be over 80 unique pumpkin beers brewed from across the country. Night Owl Pumpkin Ale is a pumpkin ale that has scored high on many top ten pumpkin beer lists for years, but it has never been available in my market. The Elysian Brewery was acquired by Anhueser-Busch Inbev January 2015, and say what you will about the big breweries buying up the craft breweries, I am finally able to find this beer at my local liquor store. I believe pumpkin flavored beers have more of a tendency of changing their recipe or ABV, than any type of beer. Night Owl Pumpkin Ale is no exception, as previous years reviews post the ABV at 5.9. This years bottle lists a 6.7 ABV. Night Owl Pumpkin Ale is brewed with 7 1/2 pounds of pumpkin per barrel with roasted and raw pumpkin seeds included in the mash. It is also spiced with ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. Read more
Review: OFallon Vanilla Pumpkin Beer
OFallon Vanilla Pumpkin Beer was just released. It joins a pumpkin beer lineup that already includes OFallon Imperial Pumpkin, and OFallon Pumpkin Beer. Each is brewed at their 40,000 square foot brewery in Maryland Heights Missouri. Last year OFallon Pumpkin Beer was one of my favorite pumpkin flavored beers. OFallon Vanilla Pumpkin is sold in 6 packs of 12 ounce bottles and is also featured in their Pumpkin Pack variety 12 pack. If you don’t think three pumpkin flavored beers is enough for one brewery to craft you will be happy to learn this twelve pack includes three bottles each of OFallon Vanilla Pumpkin, Pumpkin Peach, Apple Cinnamon Pumpkin, and Jack O Latte, their Pumpkin Cream Beer. Read more