I just found this blog post about Pumpkin Ales. Thought it might be interesting to read another opinion about a few of the beers mentioned in this thread:
http://drinkcraftbeer.com/editorial/...-tasteoff.html
Quote:
Originally Posted by Poronico
One of my favorite Pumpkin Ales is the Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale, 150lbs of pumpkin per batch along with the traditional spices. Its pretty epic imo
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That sounds like a lot of pumpkin although I don't know how big the batches are. I've seen quite a range of fermenting tanks in my day. The Sam Adams Brewery in Boston has tanks about 68 barrels in size and the Coors brewery in Golden, CO has fermenting tanks over 1400 barrels in size.
Also, it looks like Elysian is in WA so I'm not sure I'd ever see that beer out here on the other coast.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark C
I agree with your tasting notes for the beers you listed. I generally prefer stronger pumpkin pie spice flavors in my pumpkin beer, the ones you mentioned are a little too subtle for me (except the Shipyard, as you noted).
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I enjoy the Pumpkin Ales where you can taste the pumpkin pie spices but sometimes brewers do go over the top with it. The Shipyard IMO is a nice level of spice. I would say though overall I prefer a more subtle pumpkin pie spice flavor with a stronger note of actual pumpkin which is why the Smuttynose is at the top of my list. It's not overly sweet either which is another place brewers can go wrong with this style IMO.