It's a real thicket out there in the beer-aisle pumpkin patch. Check out these recommendations before you buy.

As summer’s cauldron continues to bubble the mercury in Savannah’s thermometers, many brewers are already coming to market with the distinctive flavors found only in the fall seasonal offerings of pumpkin ales.

For nearly three centuries, brewers – especially those in America – have sought out alternative sources of fermentable ingredients. Barley is the preferred choice, but soon corn and rice found places on the grain bill. Assorted fruits were an easy choice. Pumpkin and its inherent starchiness was a natural – especially as a fall beer that more or less mirrors our fondness of pumpkin pie.

Pumpkin ales are often an acquired taste – and not necessarily a beer that you’ll drink in volume. Picking one from the shelves can leave a bad taste in your mouth – pun intended. Some drinkers prefer the bold, sweet and spicy pumpkin pie flavors; others want a more subtle, crafted beer with hints of the orange gourd.

Sitting among ales like Linus in the “Peanuts” pumpkin patch won’t help you choose. But beer drinking pals Chuck Mobley and Tim Rutherford tag-teamed this feature and took the bullet for you. Read their reviews, and then grab a pumpkin ale that fits your expectations. 

Tim’s Pumpkin Ales

Buffalo Bill’s Pumpkin Ale – 6 ABV
buffalobillsbrewery.com 
America’s Original Pumpkin Ale was first brewed in 1985 at this Hayward, CA, brewpub and brewery. Made with real pumpkin, it has a golden amber color, and the sweet aroma of pumpkin pie.
Yes Chuck, it is, like the label warns, pumpkin pie in a bottle – if you like your pie watery and a tad sour. I didn’t find much to like about this beer – although I suspect its inherent sweetness and holiday spice will appeal to some. Cloudy roasted pumpkin-orange color; the head – oops, it’s gone – leaving me with a pint glass of something I’d rather swap for a poke in the eye.

Shipyard Brewery Pumpkinhead – 4.5 ABV
shipyard.com
There are some great beers coming out of Maine, and this pumpkin entry from Shipyard Brewing Co. in Portland is no exception.
This golden-colored wheat ale has among its malt bill a dose of malted wheat – which shines through the complexity like the North Star pointing the way toward Maine. Yeah, there’s spice and sweetness but the wheat platform seems to be the best foundation upon which to craft pumpkin ale. Pumpkinhead has aromatics that are pleasing, not sickeningly overbearing. Its tolerably low ABV makes it an easy drinker – the beer’s complexity makes it interesting without being such a spiced up seasonal nod to fall. Solid, cream-colored head sustains for a bit and then lingers in a ring around the glass.
Chuck, I know that we both think the wheat style is often overworked. However, the team at Shipyard proves that you can make an appealing beer with weizen at the root.

UFO Pumpkin – 5.9 ABV
harpoonbrewery.com
If it’s a UFO from Harpoon – then it’s a rich and flavorful unfiltered beer. The brewery’s hazy, amber-colored pumpkin beer is brewed with a mélange of Yankee pumpkins, sweet barley and the delicious variety of Northwestern hops that gives it pleasing bitterness on the finish. Kudos to Harpoon brewers for NOT spicing this beer to the point of cloying sweetness. Still I detected a nostalgic hint of clove – like the Clove Gum of my childhood – that subsided as the ale took hold of my palate. This is genuinely pleasing pumpkin ale – well played!

Cisco Pumple Drumkin – 6 ABV
ciscobrewers.com/brewery
This Nantucket-based brewery doesn’t get much shelf space in Savannah – or much attention from craft beer drinkers. And, Chuck, I know you weren’t enamored with this pumpkin ale finalist – but I found the earthy, raw pumpkin aroma unusually appealing. Not overly spiced or sweetened. The beer drinks very clean with some hops bite. If you're looking for the hint of fall with a clean finish, this may be the pumpkin ale for you! 

Chuck’s Pumpkin Ales

Southern Tier Pumking – 8.6 ABV
stbcbeer.com
Pumpkin beers go back to the earliest days of America. A circa-1643 New England folk song includes this ditty: “For we can make liquor, to sweeten our lips, of pumpkins and parsnips and walnut-tree chips.” Now, 271 years later, Pumking – an audacious seasonal from Southern Tier – is a sweet, spicy reminder that fall is approaching, even if it will take its time getting to Savannah. In addition to what you’d expect, pumpkin, of course, along with cinnamon and nutmeg, Southern Tier has added a dainty dollop of vanilla. No parsnips here, Tim, just a creamy pumpkin pie that will make you consider adding a chaser of Cool Whip.

Southern Tier Warlock – 8.6 ABV
stbcbeer.com
Warlock, which Southern Tier describes as an “Imperial Stout Brewed with Pumpkins,” reminded me of my first marriage, Tim. I kept taking sips, trying to talk myself into continuing, even when I knew the relationship was going down in flames. There’s no grace, no style here – just dark, dominating malts with faint hues of pumpkin crying out for attention. Warlock is much like a temptress, purring “hey, you loved Pumking, put down a few buck and give this a try.” There will be no second serving of it at the Mobley house.

Shipyard Brewery Smashed Pumpkin – 9 ABV
shipyard.com
Tim, I’m going to echo the high praise you gave Shipyard Brewery. Its attention to detail is impressively evident on the back label of Smashed Pumpkin, which lists the inclusion of pale ale, wheat and light Munich malts, along with Willamette and Hallertau hops. The result is refined and refreshing. Light in color, it’s a tad sweeter and less spicy than most of its pumpkin counterparts. Its 9-percent ABV gives it pronounced, pleasing warmth and encourages you to slowly sip it. For me, Tim, this would be the perfect fall dessert beer, a grand companion to a pumpkin or pecan pie.

At top, a flight of beers from Blue Mountain Brewery at a restaurant in Williamsburg. Below, the beer aisle at Total Wine, and there were additional stacks of beer throughout the store.

Enjoying beers, earning badges in the shadow 

of national monuments and museums

The beer aisle at Total Wine. The beer list at Bungalow Alehouse. The primo lunch at We, The Pizza.

Those are some of the highlights of a recent trip to Washington, D.C., and Williamsburg, Va., a week-long excursion my wife Shelly and I set up to celebrate our 30^th wedding anniversary. We toured several of the Smithsonian museums, marveled at the collections in the Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue and walked the first settlement at Jamestown and the battle lines at Yorktown.

Through it all, I also sought out also high-quality beers, particularly ones that are not available in Savannah. On our first evening in suburban D.C., we dined at the Bungalow Alehouse in Woodbridge. I started with a Big Daddy IPA, and followed that up with a Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA. As I was enjoying them, I was also texting with good friend Tim Rutherford (do your palate a favor and follow him at www.savannahfoodie.com), and he advised me to shoot for as many Untapped badges as possible during the trip. In all, I accumulated three: “Pale as the Moon, Level 5” “I Believe in IPA, Level 10” and, my favorite, “Drinking Your Paycheck.”

Later in the week, at Total Wine in Springfield, Va., I spend just as much time shopping as my wife did in the Talbot’s Outlet next door. I bought far too many bottles to list here: The receipt is close to 18-inches long. Included in that number are two that merited places on the Craft Beer Bucket List recently put together by www.seriouseats.com - Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter and Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA. I also purchased bottles of Duclaw Sweet Baby Jesus, a chocolate peanut butter porter, and Adriaen Brouwer Dark Gold Ale, a beer that I enjoyed several times during my 2012 excursion to Belgium.

Look for more on those selections, and an afternoon at Alewerks Craft Brewery in Williamsburg, Va., in my next post.