Get the full reviews: 14 in 2011 | 3 in 2012 | 15 in 2013 | 9 in 2014 | 5 in 2015 | 9 in 2016
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Beer Name
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Brewery
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Location
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Style
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ABV
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Our Rating
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BA Rating
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Review
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Year
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| Pumpkin Ale | Wasatch Brewery | Ale | 4.0% | 7 | 82 | Smooth, not spicy, a bit of a pie-like creaminess | 2011 | |
| UFO Pumpkin | Harpoon Brewery | Ale | 5.9% | 6 | 81 | Slight spiciness, good pumpkin taste, very drinkable | 2011 | |
| Spicy Pumpkin Ale | Indian Wells Brewing Company | Ale | 5.5% | 6 | 68 | Just the right amount of spice to make it interesting, yet still very drinkable. | 2011 | |
| Hipp-O-Lantern | River Horse Brewing Co. | Ale | 5.9% | 6 | 85 | Not spicy, not much pumpkin flavor | 2011 | |
| Pumpkinhead Ale | Shipyard | Ale | 4.7% | 6 | 69 | Our winner last year, a great balance of spice and smoothness | 2011 | |
| Punk’n Ale | Uinta Brewing Company | Ale | 5.0% | 5 | 76 | Smells of cinnamon & nutmeg, not pumpkin, light body | 2011 | |
| Pumpkin Wheat | Shock Top | Wheat | 5.2% | 4 | 71 | Good light beer, but barely any pumpkin taste whatsoever | 2011 | |
| Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale | Blue Moon | Ale | 5.7% | 3 | 71 | Like Sam Adams, tastes like a Fall blend but nothing like pumpkins | 2011 | |
| La Parcela | Jolly Pumpkin Brewing | Michigan | Ale | 6.0% | 3 | 87 | Very sour, no pumpkin taste, great head | 2011 |
| Smashed Pumpkin (Pugsley’s Signature Series) | Shipyard | Ale | 9.0% | 3 | 84 | Very strong at 9% ABV, medium pumpkin taste, very thin | 2011 | |
| Pumpkin Ale | Buffalo Bill’s Brewery | Ale | 6.0% | 2 | 68 | Slight pumpkin taste, terrible and undrinkable beer | 2011 | |
| Punkin Ale | Dogfish Head Craft Brewery | Ale | 7.0% | 2 | 89 | Too bitter to enjoy. Not a great taste. | 2011 | |
| Harvest Pumpkin Ale | Samuel Adams Brewery | Ale | 5.7% | 2 | 79 | Tastes suspiciously like their Oktoberfest blend- is this pumpkin ale? | 2011 | |
| Oak Jacked Imperial Pumpkin Ale | Uinta Brewing Company | Ale | 10.3% | 0 | 89 | Too strong (10.31% ABV), yet light and tasteless | 2011 | |
| (Imperial) Pumking | Southern Tier Brewing | Ale | 8.6% | 7 | 91 | Crisp IPA with a strong pumpkin aroma and initial taste. Light color, standard head. “Bewitched and brewed with pagan spirit”. | 2012 | |
| Fruit Crate Pumpkin Ale | Hermitage Brewing | Ale | 9.0% | 4 | 67 | Brown ale lacking pumpkin flavor or spice. A nice change from the typical pumpkin lager, but disappointing overall. | 2012 | |
| Ace Pumpkin Cider | The California Cider Company | Cider | 5.0% | 3 | N/A | Vaguely interesting at first, but the novelty wears off quickly midway through a six-pack. Too thin, too sweet, and pretty bad overall. | 2012 | |
| Pumpkin Patch Ale | Rogue Farms | Ale | 5.6% | 10 | 86 | Delicious with lots of pumpkin. This is what pumpkin ales should taste like. | 2013 | |
| Fall Hornin | Anderson Valley | Ale | 6.0% | 9 | 81 | Yum! Medium bodied with strong pumpkin taste | 2013 | |
| Pumpkin Ale | Long Trail Brewing Co | Ale | 5.5% | 8 | 77 | Light, crisp. Pumpkin aftertaste | 2013 | |
| Great Punkin | Renaissance Brewing | Ale | 7.2% | 8 | 82 | Dark, full bodied, rich pumpkin pie spice taste. Tasted in 2013 and rated 7, re-tasted in 2015 and rated 8 | 2013 | |
| Heirloom Pumpkin Barleywine | Almanac Beer Co | Barleywine | 12.8% | 8 | 94 | 500lbs of heirloom pumpkins makes for a strong and spicy barleywine. Yum. | 2013 | |
| Maverick’s Pumpkin Harvest Ale | Half Moon Bay Brewing Co. | Ale | 4.8% | 7.5 | 81 | Pumpkin pie aroma, sharp mouthfeel. Decent beer overall. | 2013 | |
| The Great Pumpkin Ale | Cambridge Brewing Company | Ale | 4.4% | 6 | 88 | Claims to be New England’s first pumpkin ale, which, having just seen the plethora of pumpkin ales in New England, seems to a bit unlikely given that the brewery’s only been around since 1989. Nevertheless, the ale is good, with a hint of pumpkin flavor and a delightful lack of the “pumpkin pie spices” that seems to characterize most pumpkin ales. | 2013 | |
| Pumple Drumkin Spiced Ale | Cisco Brewers Inc | Ale | 6.0% | 6 | 79 | Light, good beer. Little pumpkin taste | 2013 | |
| Jacko Traveler Shandy | The Traveler Beer Co. | Shandy | 4.4% | 6 | 81 | An enjoyable drink, very heavy on the lemon flavoring. Too sweet to drink more than a glass. | 2013 | |
| Imperial Pumpkin | Long Trail Brewing Co | Ale | 8.0% | 5 | 83 | Dark, caramel, higher alcohol, not very pumpkin | 2013 | |
| Fat Jack | Samuel Adams Brewery | Ale | 8.5% | 4 | 82 | Nothing special here | 2013 | |
| Roadsmary’s Baby | Two Roads Brewing Company | Ale | 6.8% | 4 | 83 | Darker beer, somewhat spicy | 2013 | |
| Imperial Pumpkin Ale | Weyerbacher Brewing Co | Ale | 8.0% | 4 | 87 | This bottle cracked when opening which may have skewed my opinion slightly. Decent dark beer, faint spice, reminiscent of chai, but not really pumpkin. | 2013 | |
| Pumpkin Porter | Red Hook Brewing | Porter | 5.8% | 4 | 79 | Better than Alaskan. Not ashy. Not really pumpkiny. | 2013 | |
| Pumpkin Porter | Alaskan Brewing | Porter | 7.0% | 2 | 85 | Terrible smokey/ashey aftertaste (approx 4.5 seconds after). Doesn’t taste like pumpkins. Tastes like bad beer. | 2013 | |
| Witch's Hair Pumpkin Ale | Twisted Manzanita Ales | Ale | 9.5% | 9 | 82 | Fantastic! Somewhat sweet, but very drinkable for the ABV. Good pumpkin flavor, some spice elements as well. | 2014 | |
| Pumpkick | New Belgium Brewing | Ale | 6.0% | 8.5 | 77 | Smooth, drinkable. A little tart, presumably from the cranberries. Very good! | 2014 | |
| Pinchy Jeek Barl | Anderson Valley Brewing Company | Ale | 8.5% | 8 | 78 | Wow! If this is what happens when you age beer, I can't wait to age beer. Or cocktails. Or cats. But seriously, this was some great beer. Maybe not great pumpkin beer, but great beer. And that 8.5% was appreciated. | 2014 | |
| Gore'd | Avery Brewing | Ale | 5.3% | 8 | 83 | Smooth, well balanced beer with a light nutmeg and allspice aroma. Not a strong pumpkin flavor – more towards pumpkin pie spice. | 2014 | |
| Pumpkineater | Howe Sound Inn & Brewing Company | Ale | 8.0% | 8 | 87 | Our first Canadian pumpkin beer! Amazingly drinkable for an 8.2% beer. Not particularly pumpkiny, but a nice spicy flavor and a full body. Good with friends given the liter bottle! Great label design with a lot of info- maybe that's a Canadian thing, but we wholeheartedly agree that IBUs, color, hop variety, etc. should be on bottles! | 2014 | |
| The Great Pumpkin Ale | Steamworks Brewing Company | Ale | 5.2% | 7.5 | 87 | Strangely we found our second Canadian entry right after we drank the first. Same great label info in another pretty design. But onto the beer! It contains several spices, none of which is overwhelming. The style is not too heavy or too light. Overall a solid beer, that's just not quite as good as its B.C. neighbor. | 2014 | |
| Fermentation Without Representation | Epic & DC Brau Brewing Co | Imperial Porter | 8.3% | 6 | 87 | Kristan liked it more than Max. Good, but not great. Low pumpkin content. | 2014 | |
| Gourdgeous | Hangar 24 | Imperial Porter | 8.5% | 6 | 86 | Good imperial porter. But it's not a pumpkin beer. Molasses beer, maybe…. | 2014 | |
| Dark Pumpkin Sour | Almanac Beer Co. | Sour | 7.0% | 6 | 88 | Max abstained from this tasting because he doesn't care for sour beers in general. Great flavor, though not very pumpkiny. It was flat and full of sediment though, so it seems like we got a dud bottle. Will try again and revise! | 2014 | |
| Superstition | Black Market Brewing Co. | Ale | 6.8% | 5.5 | N/A | We couldn't decide if we did or didn't like this one, but we did manage to finish 22oz. Neither pumpkiny or spicy, Superstition had a caramel flavor with vanilla notes on the finish. Not bad, but unexpected for a pumpkin ale. | 2014 | |
| Saranac Pumpkin Ale | Matt Brewing Company | Ale | 5.4% | 5 | 78 | Somewhat flat, not very flavorful. | 2014 | |
| Treat | Midnight Sun Brewing Co. | Imperial Chocolate Porter | 7.8% | 5 | 91 | Ladies and gentlemen, we have a porter. Unfortunately, one with no discernible pumpkin or spiced flavours.Maybe we're just sick of pumpkin beers at this point — this was our second to last taste for 2014. | 2014 | |
| Pumpkin Ale | Bootlegger's Brewery | Ale | 6.1% | 4 | 85 | Max didn't like this at all, but Kristan drank most of the bottle. But she agrees, it's not great. There's a taste that we can't place that reminds Max of cleaning products. | 2014 | |
| Trickster | Midnight Sun Brewing Co. | Ale | 7.0% | 4 | 82 | Bitter and one dimensional. | 2014 | |
| He Said (Baltic Porter) | 21st Amendment Brewery / Elysian Brewing | Porter | 8.2% | 4 | 84 | Better than the Tripel in that the style seemed more "fall", but we ended up using most of it to put out a campfire. | 2014 | |
| He Said (Tripel) | 21st Amendment Brewery / Elysian Brewing | Tripel | 8.2% | 4 | 85 | Too strong, not pumpkiny, not even really spicy. Bland strong beer. Really wanted it to be better. | 2014 | |
| Smoked Pumpkin Cider | Tieton Cider Works | Cider | 6.9% | 2 | N/A | Reminiscent of orange soda. In a bad way. No discernible pumpkin or spice or smoke. | 2014 | |
| Pumpkin Lager Beer | Lakefront Brewery, Inc. | WI | Ale | 6.0% | 7 | 78 | Pumpkin flavor, somewhat sweet. | 2015 |
| Pumpkin Pedaler | Stormbreaker | Portland | Ale | 7.3% | 7 | N/A | Solid pumpkin beer, with a sweet finish. | 2015 |
| Pumpkin Lambicus | Timmermans | Lambic | 4.0% | 7 | 82 | Tastes great. Very drinkable. No pumpkin at all. | 2015 | |
| Black Pumpkin Oatmeal Stout | Buffalo Bill's Brewery | Oatmeal Stout | 7.5% | 7 | 85 | Surprisingly good for Buffalo Bill's! We all liked it. | 2015 | |
| Sour Pumpkin 2015 | Almanac | San Francisco | Sour | 8.5% | 7 | 90 | Draft. Toasty flavors with a nice sour kick. Not particularly pumpkiny or spicy, but very drinkable (for a high proof sour). | 2015 |
| Pumpkin Ale | Alaskan Brewing | Ale | 6.0% | 6 | 82 | Average pumpkin beer. But sweeter than the norm! | 2015 | |
| Pumpkin Falls | American River | Ale | 6.0% | 6 | N/A | Great paired with a fall-ish quinoa bowl. A little sweetness, a little spice – solid. | 2015 | |
| The Dapper Skeleton | Burnside Brewing Co | Portland | Ale | 5.9% | 6 | N/A | Smoky like mezcal, but not particularly pumpkiny. Nice spice/heat level if you're into that. (Max abstains from rating.) | 2015 |
| Red Betty Spiced Pumpkin Ale | Central City Brewers + Distillers | British Columbia, Canada | Ale | 5.0% | 6 | N/A | Nicely spiced. Drinkable. Creamy. | 2015 |
| Crooked Tooth Pumpkin Ale | Phillips Brewing Company | British Columbia, Canada | Ale | 5.0% | 6 | N/A | Lovely pumpkin flavor | 2015 |
| Night Owl Pumpkin Ale | Elysian Brewing Company | WA | Ale | 6.7% | 5 | 88 | Overwhelming cinnamon and nutmeg flavors. Drinkable. | 2015 |
| Pumpkin Ale | Mendocino Brewing Company | Ale | 5.0% | 5 | 80 | Starts nicer than it finishes. Some pumpkin spice flavor. We didn't like the cocoa. | 2015 | |
| Crooked'er Tooth Barrel Aged Pumpkin Ale | Phillips Brewing Company | British Columbia, Canada | Ale | 7.3% | 5 | N/A | Heavy ginger notes – good, but too big of a flavor. | 2015 |
| Pumpkin Batch | Samuel Adams | MA | Ale | 5.6% | 5 | 80 | Drinkable, hoppy on the finish. Not much pumpkin flavor. | 2015 |
| Bourbon Barrel Aged Smashed Pumpkin | Shipyard | Ale | 12.0% | 5 | 87 | Bourbon notes and high proof make great cocktails. | 2015 | |
| Barking Pumpkin | Magnolia | San Francisco | Brown Ale | 6.6% | 5 | N/A | Drinkable brown ale. No trace of pumpkin. | 2015 |
| Post Road Pumpkin Ale | Brooklyn Brewery | NY | Ale | 5.0% | 4 | 80 | Below average. Gets worse as you drink it. | 2015 |
| Patrick O' Pumpkin | Central City Brewers + Distillers | British Columbia, Canada | Ale | 8.0% | 4 | N/A | Dark and heavy – good if you're into that. (Serious bonus: Hilarious comic back story on their website!) | 2015 |
| Pumpkin Ale | Laurelwood | Portland | Ale | 7.5% | 4 | N/A | Your average pumpkin beer. | 2015 |
| Engine 45 | Mendocino Brewing | Ukiah | Ale | 5.0% | 4 | N/A | Boring. Not enthused. | 2015 |
| Imperial Pumpkin Sleigh'r | Ninkasi | Oregon | Imperial Ale | 9.0% | 4 | N/A | Dark. Strong. Not worth drinking. | 2015 |
| Schadenfreude | Parallel 49 | British Columbia, Canada | Oktoberfest | 5.0% | 4 | N/A | Some say this tastes like cherry cough syrup. Others beg to differ and think it's a decent malty pumpkin ale. | 2015 |
| Punk' In Drublic Imperial Pumpkin Ale | Coronado Brewing Company | Imperial Ale | 8.0% | 3 | 85 | Malty, somewhat bitter. Not pumpkin. Didn't want to drink it. | 2015 | |
| Pumpkin Down | Ballast Point | San Diego | Scottish Ale | 5.8% | 3 | 85 | Cough syrup? No pumpkin at all. Hardly drinkable. | 2015 |
| Funky Pumpkin | Boulevard Brewing Co. | Missouri | Sour | 5.8% | 2 | 84 | Strangely tastes like ginger ale to start, then on the finish shifts to a lackluster nothingness of flavor. | 2015 |
| "Rumpkin" Imperial Pumpkin Ale in Rum Barrels | Avery Brewing | Colorado | Imperial Ale | 17.4% | 8 | 90 | Very sweet. Complex. Drinks like a fall cocktail. | 2016 |
| Basic Fish | Ballast Point | San Diego | Gose | 4.2% | 7 | N/A | pumpkin spice gose containing lactose; good dose of spices but not so much pumpkin. Tangy and drinkable! | 2016 |
| Los Vivos y Los Muertos | Jolly Pumpkin Brewing | Michigan | Saison | 4.2% | 7 | N/A | Made with lime and pumpkin, yet somehow subtlely sour. No overt pumpkin flavor but very drinkable. Good with spicy food. | 2016 |
| Funkier Pumpkin | Boulevard Brewing Co. | Missouri | Sour | 8.5% | 7 | 87 | Kinda of sweet with allspice notes in the back of your throat at the finish. Not particularly pumpkiny but good. | 2016 |
| Oakdale Pumpkin Ale | Laughing Monk | San Francisco | Ale | 7.7% | 6 | N/A | Clean. Sweet. Very spiced. Pumpkin forward, poor finish. | 2016 |
| "Pump[KY]n" Bourbon Barrel Aged Ale with Spices | Avery Brewing | Colorado | Imperial Ale | 18.8% | 6 | 91 | Too sweet. Not balanced. | 2016 |
| Pumpkin Milk Stout | Belching Beaver | Milk Stout | 5.3% | 5 | 85 | "One of the best stouts I've had in awhile", but not really pumpkin or pie spiced | 2016 | |
| Pumpkin Pie De Brettaville | Almanac Brewing Co | San Francisco | Sour | 7.5% | 5 | N/A | Tastes like apple cider vinegar spritzer. | 2016 |
| Pumpkin Ale | Tap Room No. 21 / Rivertown Brewing Co | Ale | 5.3% | 3 | N/A | Smells sweet. Tastes bland. Like off brand cola. | 2016 | |
| Pumpkin Smash 2014 | Cascade | Oregon | Sour | 12.5% | 8 | 88 | Baking spices on the finish, but only after you've soured your palate. A great sour! | 2017 |
| Pumpkin Ale | Kern River Brewing Company | California | Ale | 6.0% | 4 | 73 | Some spices. Not the worst. | 2018 |
| Voodoo Ranger Special Release Atomic Pumpkin | New Belgium Brewing | Ale | 6.40% | 7 | 86 | Spicy! Starts sweet with cinnanamon, then turns into a lingering jalapano heat | 2019 | |
| Dark Knife | Elysian Brewing Company | German Schwarzbier | 4.30% | 5 | 83 | Very little pumpkin or spice flavor. Good dark beer overall though | 2019 | |
| Howling Gourds | Trader Joe's Brewing Company | Ale | 7.00% | 6.3 | 81 | A little heavy on the spice (particularly clove), a little light on the body. Overall nice though. (Scott & Elisse) | 2019 |
Get the full reviews: 14 in 2011 | 3 in 2012 | 15 in 2013 | 9 in 2014 | 5 in 2015 | 9 in 2016