October 22, 2012
Once October hit, pumpkin beer was everywhere at every market, by every brewer. Has it always been around in these big numbers? Maybe, I never noticed before, but now our home is under Harry Potter’s spell and all these bottles of ale conjure up images of drinking butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade (I know, I know, I’m such a geek).
Since I’m forever going on about seasonal living, I thought it’d be fun to try out a few bottles and see if pumpkin beer deserved a place at my fall table. The verdict: overall, maybe the pumpkins should stay in the patch.
The majority we tried fell into two categories— dirty, old shoe or pumpkin pie spices added to beer. Trust me, neither make you want to toast the cool, crisp days of autumn.
There was one that did pass the test though, Buffalo Bill’s Brewery Pumpkin Ale. With a Hefeweizen body and just a little bit of spice, it made me want to build a fire, grab a bowl of chili and watch some football.
I can see the novelty in those orange bottle tops, but at the end of the day (or season in this case), I would rather reach for my trusty Victoria for beer drinking.
