Pumpkin Beer Taste Test

After weeks of planning and looking for pumpkin beers, we were able to find 5 pumpkin beers and 3 autumn beers to taste test.  We gathered the testers for our first annual Pumpkin beer taste test.  Mom, Christie, Patti and I were the lucky and thirsty judges. I printed off some official beer scoring sheets and we were set to go.

Of course, we had some yummy appetizers. Cabernet cheese and jalapeno cheddar.

And this delicious velvetta, cream cheese and green onions dip, simple and yummy.

*Note: we are drinking from my dad’s vintage beer glasses, so don’t pay attention to the labels on the glasses, just the beer bottles.

We started with Woodchuck Hard Pumpkin Cider.

This cider had a wonderful smell, was very fruity, and smooth to drink, high alcohol content at 6.9%.  We were all in agreement that it was very enjoyable to drink and we would probably buy more.

The next beer was WA Satch Pumpkin Seasonal Ale, found at Whole foods.

This beer had a pretty color and strong spicy smell, the taste was extremely strong clove flavor, and had a bad aftertaste.  We were all in agreement that we would never drink this again, in fact, we barely drank half of our glasses.

Next up was Shock-Top Pumpkin Wheat.

We agreed that this was the most pumpkin-y tasting beer, and, in fact, my favorite.  Had a good color, was easy to drink, and  was slightly spicy.

Buffalo Bill’s Pumpkin Ale  was a disappointment to all of us.  In fact, it lacked everything, just a mild beer flavor, no spices, no pumpkin, no head with a metallic after taste.

We concluded the Pumpkin Beer taste test with Blue Moon Harvest Pumpkin Ale.

At this point our notes start getting a little sketchy, though this beer is the clear winner.  It had a beautiful head on each glass poured, clear color, taste was hearty and smooth, very mild spicy flavor.

We wanted to test some more beers so we bought a variety of autumn seasonal ales.

Saint Arnolds, Oktoberfest.

Light and bubbly ale,  good mouth-feel and easy to drink.  Had some varying opinion on this one; 2 liked it a lot and 2 not so much.

Next up Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

All in agreement that this was bad.  Metallic, thin, bitter, yeasty.

We also sampled Shiner Bock Double Wheat (pictured in the group shot below).  The beer must have been getting to me, because I forgot to take a picture of the Shiner. We liked this beer very much, smooth, wheaty and fruity.

To save the day yet again,  Blue Moon Winter Abbey Ale.

Love this beer, too bad it’s seasonal.  Great head, dark color, smells very good, smooth, and easy to drink.

We scored them in order from first through last.

1. Blue Moon Harvest Pumpkin Ale– favorite overall, great presentation and taste.

2. Woodchuck Hard Pumpkin Cider– sweet, easy to drink hard cider.

3. Shock-top Pumpkin Wheat– most overall pumpkin flavor.

4. Buffalo Bill’s Pumpkin Ale– mild, no flavor at all beer.

5. WA Satch, Pumpkin seasonal ale.–  spicy, in a bad way!

And the non-pumpkin special ales.

1. Blue Moon Winter Abbey Ale– such a wonderful beer, run out and buy some now!!

2. Saint Arnold, Oktoberfest– light and easy to drink.

3. Shiner Bock, Double Wheat– will be buying more of this.

4. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale– umm, bitter beer face.

Overall, we had a great time sampling and drinking the beers.

Thanks ladies, it was tons of fun!

We are already discussing our next tasting, I am thinking it will be winterish beers.  Any suggestions?