Epic Pumpkin Beer Face-off

After tasting 20 beers, the average ranking was:

  1. Almanac- Farm To Barrel (Dark Pumpkin Sour)
  2. Cambridge Brewing Co- The Great Pumpkin Ale
  3. Shipyard- Pumpkinhead
  4. Southern Tier- Pumking
  5. Elysian- Punkuccino

the tasting group seemed to prefer sours, and didn’t like overly sweet beer, thus the discrepancy between average rankings and my rankings…

  1. Elysian- Punkuccino
  2. Southern Tier- Warlock
  3. Avery- Rumpkin
  4. Avery- Pump[ky]n
  5. Almanac- Farm To Barrel (Dark Pumpkin Sour)

you can download the data here:
pumpkinBeer

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Wynkoop – Pumpkin Ale
ABV: 5.5%
Type: Ale
Description: ale brewed with pumpkin, honey and spices
Nose: sweet honey
Tasting Notes: sweet nose, average pumpkin mid, not much of an end
Rating: 1/5
An: 1, Av: 3, Bi: 2, Br: 2, Gl: 3

IMG_6763
Anderson Valley – Fall Hornin’
ABV: 6.0%
Type: Ale
Description: ale brewed with pumpkin and spices
Nose: pumpkin, nutmeg
Tasting Notes: light nose, bland, very subtle pumpkin/bitterness at the end
Rating: 0.9/5
An: 2, Av: 2, Bi: 4, Br: 2.5, Gl: 2

IMG_6762
Southampton – Pumpkin Ale
ABV: 5.5%
Type: Ale
Description: ale brewed with pumpkin, spices and vanilla extract
Nose: more alcoholic, sour
Tasting Notes: non existant nose, kinda chardonnay feel, very light
Rating: 0.9/5
An: 3, Av: 4, Bi: 2, Br: 3, Gl: 1.5

IMG_6761
St-Ambroise – Pumpkin
ABV: N/A
Type: Ale
Nose: strong spices, vanilla
Tasting Notes: light nose, plain mid, beer/bitter pumpkin end
Rating: 1.2/5
An: 3, Av: 1, Bi: 3, Br: 3.5, Gl: 1

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Hoppin’ Frog – Frog’s Hollow Double Pumpkin Ale
ABV: 8.4%
Type: Ale
Nose: strong sweet pumpkin, vanilla, all spice
Tasting Notes: light all over, spice kick, refreshing, slightly sweet end
Rating: 2.3/5
An: 3, Av: 2, Bi: 2, Br: 3, Gl: N/A

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Southern Tier – Warlock
ABV: 8.6%
Type: Malt
Nose: sweet coffee pumpkin, nice creme brûlée dessert like
Tasting Notes: sweet pumpkin front-mid, dark, molasses end
Rating: 3.7/5
An: 1, Av: 3, Bi: 2, Br: 3, Gl: N/A

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Southern Tier – Pumking
ABV: 8.6%
Type: Ale
Notes: sweet pumpkin pie, vanilla
Tasting Notes: light front, with pumpkin pie like taste, slightly burnt sugar, butter end
Rating: 3.5/5
An: 4, Av: 3, Bi: 3, Br: 4, Gl: N/A

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Epic Brewing – Fermentation without Representation (Imperial Pumpkin Porter)
ABV: 8.4%
Type: Porter
Nose: malty, belgian-ish
Tasting Notes: light front, dark sweet and coffee-ish interesting mid, carbonated end
Rating: 2.7/5
An: 4, Av: 2, Bi: 3, Br: 2, Gl: N/A

IMG_6756
Dry Dock – Imperial Pumpkin
ABV: 9%
Type: Ale
Description: autumn in a glass
Nose: sweet pumpkin
Tasting Notes: sweet front, strong nutmeg, spice mid , slightly bitter end
Rating: 1.7/5
An: 1, Av: 3, Bi: 1, Br: 3.5, Gl: N/A

IMG_6755
Elysian – Punkuccino
ABV: 5%
Type: Ale
Description: packs a short shot of stumptown coffee, shake of cinnamon and nutmeg
Nose: very strong coffee, vanilla
Tasting Notes: light nose, coffee caramel mid, slightly bitter end
Rating: 3/5
An: 1.5, Av: 0.5, Bi: 3, Br: 4, Gl: 4

IMG_6754
Elysian – Dark O’ The Moon
ABV:6.5%
Type: Stout
Description: stout brewed with pumpkin and pumpkin seeds with cinnamon
Nose: candied apple cinnamon
Tasting Notes: very coffee-ish mid, bitter/carbonated end (missing pumpkin)
Rating: 1.3/5
An: 1, Av: 2, Bi: 2, Br: 2.5, Gl: N/A

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Cambridge Brewing Co – The Great Pumpkin Ale
ABV: 5.47%
Type: Malt
Nose: sour-ish
Tasting Notes: mid nose, carbonated mid, slight tart end
Rating: 2.3/5
An: 4, Av: 4.5, Bi: 4, Br: 4, Gl: N/A

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Almanac – Farm To Barrel (Dark Pumpkin Sour)
ABV: 7.0%
Type: Sour
Description: ale brewed with pumpkin and spices, aged in wine barrels
Nose: sweet malty, strong sour
Tasting Notes: can’t tell the pumpkin, strawberry sour, hints of bitterness
Rating: 3/5
An: 5, Av: 4.5, Bi: 4, Br: 5, Gl: N/A

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Shipyard – Smashed Pumpkin
ABV: 9.0%
Type: Ale
Nose: medium pumpkin/spices
Tasting Notes: sweet front, mid/end hoppy-ness
Rating: 1.5/5
An: 2, Av: 1, Bi: 1.5, Br: 3, Gl: 0.5

IMG_6747
Shipyard – Pumpkinhead
ABV: 4.5%
Type: Ale
Nose: light pumpkin spice, ginger
Tasting Notes: sweet front, light mid and end
Rating: 2.5/5
An: 4, Av: 3, Bi: 2.5, Br: 4, Gl: 2

IMG_6746
Avery – Rumpkin
ABV: 16.73%
Type: Ale
Description: Ale brewed with pumpkin and spices, aged in rum barrels
Nose: toasted pumpkin seeds, banana bread
Tasting Notes: fortified with raisin, very sweet end (complex)
Rating: 3.3/5
An: 0.5, Av: 0.5, Bi: 1, Br: 2, Gl: N/A

IMG_6744
Avery – Pump[ky]n
ABV: 17.22%
Type: Porter
Description: Porter brewed with pumpkin and spices, aged in bourbon barrles
Nose: sweet, sugary, coconut
Tasting Notes: super strong sweet, coconut end
Rating: 3.2/5
An: 1, Av: 0.5, Bi: 1, Br: 2, Gl: N/A

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Magic hat – Wilhelm “Scream”
ABV: 5.4%
Type: Ale
Nose: medium pumpkin
Tasting Notes:light nose, strong mid flavor, dark , approachable end
Rating: 1.2/5
An: 3.5, Av: 3, Bi: 4, Br: 3, Gl: 1

IMG_6741
HornyCopia – Pumpkin Ale
ABV:6.3%
Type: Ale
Notes: strong pumpkin
Tasting Notes: light nose, hoppy-ness, very bitter end
Rating: 1/5
An: 2.5, Av: 3, Bi: 3.5, Br: 3.5, Gl: 1