Pumpkin Beer Tasting -Glenbrook Farms Oktoberfestr

My friend Jeff recently invited me to Glen Brook Farms for an Oktoberfest with his friends and family.  Not only was this a great financial deal, but it was an absolute blast.  We drank endless amounts of great beers and experienced loads of dried meats, homemade beers, and dangerous Polish alcohols.  On Saturday, after attending the local Garlic Festival, we conducted a pumpkin beer tasting. Between 10 men, we indulged in tasting and finishing 21 pumpkin beers, 18 of which were provided by Jeff's friend Dan.  Seeing an opportunity for a great blog topic, I asked each participant to rank each beer as went along.  Each person was to rank each beer on a 0-5 point scale.  At the end, I was to average the results and reveal the rank of each beer.  This turned out to be an extremely fun time that also kickstarted the heavy amount of alcohol that would be consumed later in the evening.  Below are the results of the pumpkin beer tasting.

Pumpkin Beer Tasting

First, here is the panel of very dignified, intelligent alcoholics.  



 

 

Finishing in dead last was Smuttynose's Pumpkin Ale.  Personally, this beer did nothing for me.  I find it very weak and lacking any real body or great flavor.



 

Finishing next to last was the CBC Great Pumpkin Ale.  Derrick brought this one from a local brew pub in Boston, and I think he may have wasted his money.  Not much to it.

 

Finishing in 19th place, was Fisherman's Pumpkin Stout offering.  A pumpkin stout sounds amazing, but this stout lacked anything to allow it to stand out. 

At 18th, Elysian's Night Owl took the honors.  I, personally, enjoy this beer a lot.  However, the panel disagreed.  Elysian is a brewery that I have been really into lately.  Lots of good stuff.

Surprisingly, Terrapin's PumpkinFest finished in 17th.  I enjoy most of Terrapins offering, but this one did not stand out to me.  It definitely wasn't bad, but also did not blow any minds.

 

 At 16,  was Long Trail's Imperial Pumpkin.  A solid strong pumpkin ale from a brewery that generally puts out some middle of the road beer; never amazing, but never terrible.

Epic Brewery's Imperial Pumpkin finished in 15th place.  Epic seems to always put out some interesting brews.  This beer was good, but definitely didn't wow the stingy crowd.

As we approached the second tier of beers, Southern Tier's Pumpking finished surprisingly low.  This beer packs a huge pumpkin flavor.  In some ways, it is overwhelming, in others, it is delicious.  Although it has an almost artificial flavor, I do always pick up one Pumpking each fall season

At 13th, Billy Corgan's favorite, Shipyard's Smashed Pumpkin.  (Get it?) A solid, pumpkin blast in a bottle.  This beer is like sipping a liquefied version of a pumpkin pie.  Also, it has some great artwork.  A solid pumpkin brew.  Could be overpowering for some. 

 

 

 

Surprisingly, Sam Adam's Harvest Pumpkin Ale finished in a respectable 12th place.  Sam offers a nice, crisp, and refreshing pumpkin brew.  This is very easy to drink and as smoothe as any pumpkin ale.  Solid.

Woodchuck makes a pumpkin cider?  Yes.  And somehow it finished in the top tier of the 21 pumpkin brews at hand.  I think this is because after 21 pumpkin beers, anything different tastes great.  Interesting taste, but I wouldn't buy it again.

We enter the top ten. Surprisingly, Harpoon's UFO pumpkin sits at number ten.  This beer was actually excellent.  Very smooth, nice finish of pumpkin.  I would definitely buy it again.

 

Ithaca...a brewery that is just kinda...there.  However, Ithaca has proven that their fruit beers are excellent. (ie. Apricot wheat)  THe country pumpkin was deserving of a ninth place finish.

What else can you say about River Horse?  They continue to turn out great beers.   Almost every Riverhorse beer is boldly flavored, high in alcohol, and delicious.  The Hippo Lantern Imperial Pumpkin is no different.  Riverhorse surely makes New Jersey proud. 8th place and deserving.

Hopping frog? Really?  Yes, this beer has absolutely the worst artwork and packaging ever.  No, they don't have anything else worth paying decent money for.  However, their pumpkin offering pleased the crowd.  A solid, easy drinking pumpkin beer. 7th place.

 

Old reliable, Dogfish head's Punkin Ale took 6th place.  One of the first pumpkin beers I ever had, Dogfish head puts out a great seasonal brew.  Punkin ale focuses is not overwhelming, and definitely doesn't punch you in the face with pumpkin flavor.  However, as far as body and taste, Punkin is a great beer.  I look forward to it every year.

Weyerbacher is known to put out some solid beers.  The Imperial pumpkin is definitely an example of why this beer finished so high. Bold, big, and pumpkiny? Solid beer.

 

 

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Fegley's Pumpkin Ale was excellent.  Great body, huge flavor.  Fegley's seems to be hit or miss.  This was a freakin hit.  Great beer! 4th place!

For whatever reason, I forgot to take a picture of the 3rd place beer.  Probably because we had at least 11 tastings at this point.  Anyways, Schafly's pumpkin ale was amazing.  Personally, this was my favorite.  Creamy, bold, and giant pumpkin taste.  Awesome beer.

 

And.. the runner up..gos to to Whole Hog's Pumpkin Ale.  What a great beer.  Super smooth, lots of pumpkin, and tons of mouthfeel and body.  I had never had this beer prior to the tasting.  Can't wait to look for this one next year.

 

And the winner goes too...SAM ADAM'S FAT JACK.  I thought this beer was excellent.  Two weeks prior, I wrote about the deliciousness that this beer brings.  Sam is definitely back.   They are releasing numerous solid beers.  Fat Jack is such a great combination of strength and flavor.  Nice job Koch!

 

 

Overall, this was an awesome time had by all.  Although the results are not my personal opinions, it was such an enjoyable experience had by all.  Who wouldn't want to drink 21 pumpkin beers on a nice crisp fall day in Upstate NY?  Looking forward to next fall!