SWMBO and I bought a bunch of different pumpkin brews (all we could find) and did a short little comparison, here is the lineup, and the results: I based the scores simply on a 5 point scale. Nothing tricky about it. 5 is the best, 0 is the worst. I based the scale on sight, aroma, taste and intangibles. Our intent was not so much to critique the "beer", but how the pumpkin and spices were integrated into it. The goal is simply to decide which pumpkin beer of the lot was the best one, and which one we'd buy.
The competitors:
Blue Moon Pumpkin
Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale
Weyerbacker Imperial Pumpkin
Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale
Dogfish Head Punkin' Ale
Smuttynose Pumpkin
Post Road Pumpkin Ale
The results:
Blue Moon Pumpkin: Faint nose of pumpkin, spices. Bland, no hint of pumpkin in the beer, only faint spices.
Dude score: 2/5 SWMBO score: 2.5/5
Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale: More prevalent spices, not much pumpkin itself in the aroma. Tastes fairly bland, but stronger spices than the Blue Moon sample. I'm not sure this even has pumpkin in it.
Dude: 2.5/5 SWMBO: 2.5/5
Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin: Strong notes of pumpkin and spices. Taste is slightly alcholic with prevalent spices and pumpkin. All-around excellently done.
Dude: 5/5 SWMBO: 5/5
Dogfish Head Punkin Ale: Well integrated pumpkin and spices. Nice, malty backbone to go with the pumpkin spices which are not overdone. IMHO, a pumpkin beer needs to have a bit of sweetness, this one has it.
Dude: 4.5/5 SWMBO: 4/5
The competitors:
Blue Moon Pumpkin
Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale
Weyerbacker Imperial Pumpkin
Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale
Dogfish Head Punkin' Ale
Smuttynose Pumpkin
Post Road Pumpkin Ale
The results:
Blue Moon Pumpkin: Faint nose of pumpkin, spices. Bland, no hint of pumpkin in the beer, only faint spices.
Dude score: 2/5 SWMBO score: 2.5/5
Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale: More prevalent spices, not much pumpkin itself in the aroma. Tastes fairly bland, but stronger spices than the Blue Moon sample. I'm not sure this even has pumpkin in it.
Dude: 2.5/5 SWMBO: 2.5/5
Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin: Strong notes of pumpkin and spices. Taste is slightly alcholic with prevalent spices and pumpkin. All-around excellently done.
Dude: 5/5 SWMBO: 5/5
Dogfish Head Punkin Ale: Well integrated pumpkin and spices. Nice, malty backbone to go with the pumpkin spices which are not overdone. IMHO, a pumpkin beer needs to have a bit of sweetness, this one has it.
Dude: 4.5/5 SWMBO: 4/5