The guidelines for this month were to bring only Pumpkin or Oktoberfest Beers. I was a tad worried that only Pumpkin beers would make any sort of worthwhile representation, but it was fairly split down the middle as you will see and both styles made fairly good showings.
Here's notes on what we tried:
1) Brauerei Beck's Oktoberfest - the lightest beer of the night, very little aroma, a light hop bitterness at the tail, a tad skunky, I didn't check the bottle to see if this was brewed in the US or exported, but I think the lightness of the bottle contributed to this, a slight apple flavor, and a touch of alcohol, amber color. 5% ABV.
2) Harpoon Octoberfest - Nice malt aroma, apple again, sicky sweet almost, semi-dry, grayish-white foamy legs, lager malt aroma comes out more as the nose acclimates to the aroma. 5.3% ABV. More here.
3) Dundee Oktoberfest - Sweet, but more like a lager (without much other flavor adding to the lager taste), little aroma, tiny prickles of hops on the tongue in the aftertaste, watery legs, thick mouthfeel, alcohol was a little too much (as I've encountered with other Dundee Ales). 5.5% ABV. More here.
4) Yuengling Oktoberfest - Roast turkey, honey, less sweet than some of the previous beers, but with a definite residual sugariness (which incidentally is not very appropriate for the style), a touch of apple, dark amber color with a decent mouthfeel. 5.4% ABV.
5) Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale - A very interesting beer, tasted like a cinnamon fireball or big red bubble gum, pumpkin spice, nutmeg, a good head, apple cider, drinkable, smooth, golden color, soft mouthfeel. 4.5% ABV. More here.
6) Harpoon UFO Pumpkin - wonderful pumpkin nose, ginger shines through with aroma and spice, cinnamon, hazy dark gold, medium full mouthfeel, creamy and semi-dry. This would be a go to session pumpkin beer for me. 5.9% ABV. More here.
7) Firestone Walker OAKtoberfest - Not much aroma, some bitterness, vanilla, smooth then bitey, thick legs, semi-dry, clear dark straw color and I think a better example of a genuine Oktoberfest style than the others. 5% ABV. More here.
8) Samuel Adams Fat Jack Double Pumpkin - Ginger, maple, yams, toffee, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cough syrup mouthfeel (and taste if you think about it), red Amber color, nice head, smokiness, full mouthfeel, a definite flavor explosion. Perhaps my favorite pumpkin ale. 8.5% ABV. More here.
9) Southern Tier Warlock - Milk, almonds, chocolate, nutmeg, cereal, stale milk and cereal, ginger?, roasty, creamy like cream cheese (goes well with carrot cake apparently), semi-light mouthfeel, semi-dry. 8.6% ABV. More here.
10) Dogfish Head Punkin Ale - Not a huge aroma, pumpkin flavor throughout, carbonation level is high, spices, gold color, hazy, dry, grapes or yeast or champagne notes, medium mouthfeel. 7% ABV. More here.
11) Southern Tier Imperial Pumking - Milk again, cereal, stale, vanilla, sweeter than the Warlock, nutmeg, cinnamon, pecans, copper color, particulate. Weird how both Southern Tier's give me that milky cereal aroma, I almost wonder if that is because the beer was off or something? Anyone have a similar experience? 8.6% ABV. More here.
Favorite of the night; actually I'll give two, one Oktoberfest and one pumpkin.
Oktoberfest - Firestone Walker OAKtoberfest! Clean and true to the style.
Pumpkin - Sam Adams Fat Jack Double Pumpkin! Complex and a huge burst of immediate flavor.
5) Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale - A very interesting beer, tasted like a cinnamon fireball or big red bubble gum, pumpkin spice, nutmeg, a good head, apple cider, drinkable, smooth, golden color, soft mouthfeel. 4.5% ABV. More here.
6) Harpoon UFO Pumpkin - wonderful pumpkin nose, ginger shines through with aroma and spice, cinnamon, hazy dark gold, medium full mouthfeel, creamy and semi-dry. This would be a go to session pumpkin beer for me. 5.9% ABV. More here.
7) Firestone Walker OAKtoberfest - Not much aroma, some bitterness, vanilla, smooth then bitey, thick legs, semi-dry, clear dark straw color and I think a better example of a genuine Oktoberfest style than the others. 5% ABV. More here.
8) Samuel Adams Fat Jack Double Pumpkin - Ginger, maple, yams, toffee, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cough syrup mouthfeel (and taste if you think about it), red Amber color, nice head, smokiness, full mouthfeel, a definite flavor explosion. Perhaps my favorite pumpkin ale. 8.5% ABV. More here.
9) Southern Tier Warlock - Milk, almonds, chocolate, nutmeg, cereal, stale milk and cereal, ginger?, roasty, creamy like cream cheese (goes well with carrot cake apparently), semi-light mouthfeel, semi-dry. 8.6% ABV. More here.
10) Dogfish Head Punkin Ale - Not a huge aroma, pumpkin flavor throughout, carbonation level is high, spices, gold color, hazy, dry, grapes or yeast or champagne notes, medium mouthfeel. 7% ABV. More here.
11) Southern Tier Imperial Pumking - Milk again, cereal, stale, vanilla, sweeter than the Warlock, nutmeg, cinnamon, pecans, copper color, particulate. Weird how both Southern Tier's give me that milky cereal aroma, I almost wonder if that is because the beer was off or something? Anyone have a similar experience? 8.6% ABV. More here.
Favorite of the night; actually I'll give two, one Oktoberfest and one pumpkin.
Oktoberfest - Firestone Walker OAKtoberfest! Clean and true to the style.
Pumpkin - Sam Adams Fat Jack Double Pumpkin! Complex and a huge burst of immediate flavor.
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