My Good Friend Matt and I Do Some Tasting

With summer weather winding down and Fall already here, it's no surprise that the beers we went for on our day of adventuring to the local homebrew shop and a new beer store in town were Oktoberfest, Pumpkin and IPAs. Actually that's somewhat of a surprise for my friend, who is a huge Hefeweizen fan.

First stop, The Owl House. Check out their restaurant website here. Love that place and their selection is always changing and awesome.
We both got 5 samplers each and a sip of another, I don't have notes on what Matt tried, but here are mine:
1) Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale - Very roasty nose, pumpkin, cinnamon, had only a taste but liked it very much. 5.9% ABV, more here.
2) Brouwerij De Babendere Bavik Premium Pils - Honey nose, crisp, spicy hops, breadiness, touch of champagne, supposedly Belgium's best Pilsner by award and one of the hold outs to the mighty Labbat company that goes around buying up Belgium breweries and closing them. 5.2% ABV, more here.
3) Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck Kasteel Inglemunster Pumpkin - Pumpkin, roasty, sweet yam, overpowering pumpkin sweetness actually, warming, pumpkin pie or cassarole, dry. 8.5% ABV, their website here.
4) Bell's Best Brown Ale - Strawberry, cranberry, malty sweetness wins over the bitter, brown amber color. 5.8% ABV, more here.
5) Dark Horse Single Hop Series: Falconer's Flight - apparently this is a single hop variety of thier Crooked Tree IPA and may be referred to as FF Dekoorc Eert (from what I have seen on BeerPulse, here), aromatic, pungent hop taste, mango, grassy, piney, tropical fruit, a lot going on for 1 hop variety. 5.9? ABV or IBU, Dark Horse's list of beers here.
6) Stone/Heretic/Beechwood (Collaboration) Unapologetic IPA - Honey, alcohol, pine, syrupy smooth, lemon, slight haze, drippy legs. 8.8% ABV, tons of details here.

Second Stop, AJ's Beer Warehouse and then my place. Here's what we tried:

1) Ninkasi Oktoberfest Festbier Lager - A little orange, citrus hops, lingering sweet bitterness, sugar, carbonation was high, lemon. 5.9% ABV, more here.
2) Rogue Farms Pumpkin Patch Ale - Pumpkin, cardamom, smooth, slightly hoppy finish, spicy, semi-dry, nitro pour?, low to no carbonation, nice legs/head retention, dark amber color. 6.1% ABV, more here.
3) Shipyard Pugsley Signature Series: Smashed Pumpkin - pumpkin, honey, semi-sweet, acidic, good head retention, clove?, balanced, hides the alcohol really well. 9% ABV, more here.
4) Elysian Space Dust IPA - Lasting mouthfeel, spicy, nice lacy legs, a good bitterness, gritty?, grainy?, grapefruit, melon, lime, tropical fruit, floral aroma is slight. 7.2% ABV, more here.
5) Shipyard Puglsey Signature Series: XXXX IPA - high alcohol present but acceptable, thick legs, citrus, grapfruit, some pine, full mouthfeel, golden dark color with good head. 9.25% ABV, more here.
6) Atlantic Brewing Co. Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale - my favorite blueberry ale, it is a beer first, with hoppiness present, blueberry is tart yet sweet, malty backbone, citrus and peel, nothing else like Maine blueberries and the aroma they impart. 5.1% ABV, more here.

Best of the day: tie between Elysian Space Dust IPA and the Dark Horse Falconer's Flight Single Hop IPA, I was surprised by both and enjoyed them immensely.