It’s that time of the year, the leaves are starting to turn colors, the infamous Pumpkin Spice Latte is available for all to enjoy and pumpkin beers are hitting the shelves in your favorite bottle shop.
Despite season creep forcing most breweries to put their pumpkin brews out in August we’ve held off on drinking them, but now that the airs got a little more chill in it we can safely say here are the 5 best Pennsylvania pumpkin beers to get excited about.
Baked Pumpkin Ale – Lancaster Brewing Company (7.5% ABV)
A staple at every Thanksgiving dessert table is the pumpkin pie and Lancaster Brewing has now taken that same sweet pumpkin flavor and put it into one of their brews. With all the cinnamon spice and pumpkin body you’d expect it is the vanilla finish that will remind drinkers of that last bite of pumpkin pie where the pie’s sweetness meets the crusts buttery goodness.
The Devil’s Dark Side Pumpkin Stout – Lavery Brewing Company (7.0% ABV)
Far and away the most common kind of pumpkin beer is the pumpkin ale, which Lavery also offers, but then there’s this, the pumpkin stout, a dark, more sinister version of its sister ale. Brewed with real pumpkins this stout has pumpkin flavor, but alongside it are notes of chocolate, caramel, roasted malts and cinnamon. Devil’s Dark Side is like if a pumpkin spice latte had a child with a robust stout, forget Rosemary’s baby, this is PSL’s baby.
Imperial Pumpkin Ale – Weyerbacher Brewing Company (8.0% ABV)
Not everyone can be born into royalty and not every pumpkin beer can be an imperial, but this offering from Weyerbacher certainly can. Primary flavors of pumpkin and caramel paired with a higher ABV will make you wonder what a pumpkin bourbon would taste like. This ale specifically tastes like your favorite slice of pumpkin pie made by your uncle Marty (you know, the one that always shows up to holidays with a bottle of Jim Beam).
Pumking – Southern Tier Brewing (8.6% ABV)
All Hallow’s Eve is a time of the year when spirits can make contact with the physical world, and when magic is most potent. It is thought that we harness this magic to brew our powerful pumpkin ale. Not so, but it is with great respect to the magic of their trade that our brewers produce this fine beer. Take a whiff of this complex ale and your journey has just begun. At first sip, a magical spell will bewitch your taste buds, yet another victim enraptured by the Pumking.
Punkless Dunkel – Neshaminy Creek Brewing (8.8% ABV)
This beer was created by brewing an imperial version of their Dunks Ferry, but by adding pumpkin to the mash and pumpkin pie spices to the kettle. They added dark brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice to the boil as well to pair with the banana esters and spicy clove imparted by the yeast during fermentation.
