Certain images, tastes, sounds and smells are associated with this time of year. Crisp air and crisp apples. Apple cider. Cider doughnuts. Detect a theme here?
And of course pumpkins. Pumpkin muffins. Pumpkin pie. And now that you're lucky enough to be of legal drinking age - Pumpkin Ale.
Personally I think Pumpkin Ale is an over-anticipated sign of the season in that it sounds better in theory than it turns out to be in reality.
And yet every fall season I go right back in. Have to drink those pumpkin brews while they're available! It must be the association with my favorite season, autumn, and its sights, smells, tastes, etc as referenced above.
My experience has been that the best Pumpkin Ales have been those tasted at their point of origin. I recall having one at the Boston Beer Works, a brewpub across the street from Fenway Park, while awaiting a Red Sox-Yankees matchup. Maybe it was the anticipation of the game but I remembered it as being delicious. I also recall having one at a small brewpub in South Orange, New Jersey when visiting our son for parents weekend at Seton Hall University. I remember that brew as very satisfying.
This year though all my exposure to Pumpkin brews has been of the bottled variety, brewed elsewhere, and then delivered either to my door or the local liquor store. Pumpkin Ale definitely loses something in the travel. Or maybe the styles required for bottling as opposed to serving on tap at the brewery are the difference. All I know for sure is that Pumpkin Ale is not one of my favorite fall pleasures.
Recently I have tasted two samples, Sam Adams Harvest Pumpkin Ale and McAuslan Brewing's St. Ambroise Citrouille. St. Ambroise is the street in Montreal where McAuslan is located and Citrouille is French for Pumpkin Ale.
Obviously Sam Adams brews are found far and wide and this came from their Fall Harvest collection 12 pack picked up at a local supermarket. McAuslan I had not seen before but it was one of the offerings in this month's Microbrew of the Month club selections that arrived the other day.
I definitely prefer the McAuslan. It has the usual spices that hit your nose as soon as you pour it. It smells like a pumpkin pie. But it is not as sweet as one and so is quite drinkable. But still the combination of pumpkin and spice is just not to my taste. It's good and balanced and not cloying. I can just think of autumnal brews I'd rather be drinking. And I love pumpkin pie!
McAuslan gets 7 mugs out of 10.
Sam Adams Harvest Pumpkin Ale is up to its usual standards. It is solid, well crafted, and again not too sweet. It is also very drinkable. However I did not like it as much as the McAuslan version. The spices were more noticeable in both the aroma and the taste. It tasted a little more like a pumpkin pie, which for me means it was a tad too sweet. And while the McAuslan was a pleasing brownish color with a hint of red, the Sam Adams was much darker in the glass. So it wasn't visually as appealing either. 
Sam Adams Harvest Pumpkin Ale gets 6 mugs out of 10.
Can't wait to drink and report on more of this latest monthly Microbrew of the Month Club selections!

Last Friday evening a few of us went to some local outlets in the Berkshires to do some shopping. The most exciting part of the evening was when we decided to go home an alternate route that would take us through Great Barrington, Massachusetts. This gave us the opportunity to stop and have dinner at one of our favorite brew pubs, the Barrington Brewery. I believe this was my reward for chaufferring the others on a shopping trip where I myself hadn't found what I was looking for.
We first found this brew pub a few years ago when we were invited to take a bus tour of western Massachusetts brew pubs. That was a fun day. The Barrington Brewery was our first stop. We got a tour of the brewing facilities and an explanation of the brewing process from grain through finished product. And of course we were able to sample some of their offerings. I bought a growler of their IPA and still have the empty bottle as a memento.
On the way another member of our party expressed the hope the brewery would have a Pumpkin Ale. I concurred and admit that put me in the mood for one. I was looking forward to sampling a crisp brew with the hint of pumpkin and spice. It helped that the evening felt more like an October evening even though it is still technically summer.
Alas when we arrived and were seated we learned that their seasonal options did not include a pumpkin brew. They had a Scotch Ale and an Octoberfest available along with their usual lineup. Naturally I had to sample both of their seasonal brews. The others in our party had the Raspberry Ale, which is a lighter but refreshing brew. Have you gotten the impression yet that I was the only male in our party? If so then you are perceptive.
I'll save a discussion of the Scotch Ale for another day. I was especially interested in the Octoberfest as I have been sampling the Octoberfest offerings from two of New England's microbrew heavyweights, Sam Adams and Harpoon. The Octoberfests were included in their Harvest and Football Tailgater variety 12 packs respectively. As you may recall those were the variety packs I supplied to our Football Fantasy draft night. So these versions were fresh in my mind if not on my palate.
The Octoberfest from Barrington Brewery was superior to the brews from Sam Adams and Harpoon. This is not surprising. I mean you are drinking beer dispensed in the same building in which it is brewed. It cannot be any fresher. But it went beyond that. I would simply say that the Octoberfest from the brew pub was smoother and tastier than the Sam Adams and Harpoon Octoberfests. It has a nice body and flavor with no hint of bitterness. And it is not so heavy that you couldn't drink it as your one beer of the night if you were so inclined.
The Octoberfests from Sam Adams and Harpoon are certainly good. I've never had complaints about either. While not as smooth as Barrington Brewery's verson, they certainly go down easily enough and have the same basic flavor characteristics. If either was the only brew available to you for an evening you would be more than satisfied. Whether it's the freshness and not having to travel or just a superior recipe is difficult to get at, but the brew pub's beer is just better. 
So I'm giving Barrington Brewery Octoberfest 8 mugs out of 10. I would have rated it a 7, but based on the discussion above that would mean rating the Octoberfests from Sam Adams and Harpoon at 6 mugs out of 10. And they are certainly better than that. They are not far behind the brew pub offering. But my system does not allow for scores involving a fraction of a mug.
I mean come on a partial mug? That would be messy and you would lose some beer, a cardinal sin if ever there was one. If I had never tasted Barrington Brewery Octoberfest I would score both Sam Adams and Harpoon 7 mugs out of 10. But I can't score all three 7 mugs if I've said is clearly superior to the others. Hence the 8 mug score for Barrington Brewery. 
Phew! That's a long winded way of saying get out to Barrington Brewery and check them out. And if you can't and want a good Octoberfest beer, you won't go wrong with either Sam Adams or Harpoon.
By the way Barrington Brewery has been in operation since 1995. They have gone solar and advertise themselves as producing Solar Powered Beer. And in case you're wondering the food is good and they try to use local ingredients when possible. As you can imagine beer and beer related ingredients figure into many of their recipes, including dessert!
You can check them out at this link.  



 

Okay so this past Labor Day weekend I violated one of my cardinal rules of beer drinking. I indulged in fall/harvest brews while it is still summer. I purchased the Samuel Adams Harvest Collection and the Harpoon Tailgater variety 12-pack.
Normally I eschew the fall brews until there is a definite nip in the air, the leaves have begun turning, and/or the calendar says it's autumn. I hate seeing Octoberfest beers in stores when it's mid-August and I'm walking around in shorts and flip flops. Don't worry I'm wearing a shirt as well.
But I had an excuse. I was providing beer for the annual Fantasy Football League draft. I wasn't sure what beers to bring, so when I saw the Harpoon Tailgater how could I pass that up? And then knowing that 12 brews would not be sufficient I decided to stick with the theme and picked up the Sam Adams fall variety pack as well. 
The draft went well and everyone enjoyed the beers. For those who might be curious I have Matthew Stafford again as my premier quarterback and Ray Rice as my top running back. They were on my team last year as well and I made the playoffs so I'm hoping that's a good sign. Besides this year I also landed Calvin Johnson to team up with Stafford, so even better. And all this while having the 8th pick on an 8 team league. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. We're making the move this year from a scoring only league where you only received points for touchdowns, extra points, field goals, etc. to a more traditional league with points for rushing and receiving and passing yards as well as scores. So we'll see how that works out. 

Okay so to be technically correct this is not a rant about short beer. Rather it is a short rant about beer. 
Specifically what has gotten under my skin is the sighting this week of Octoberfest and Pumpkin Ale offerings in our local package stores and grocery stores where brews are sold.
Come on gang it's the middle of August. It's still summer, time to be sippin those Summer seasonal brews or lighter more refreshing beers. 
Even for a fan of stronger, darker brews it is too soon to turn to the autumnal seasonals.  Of course I noticed Halloween costumes out on display in some stores this week so this may be a lost cause, just as it is now pointless to complain about Christmas wares being in the stores in October. 
But it doesn't mean we need to succumb to the madness.
I was already miffed at the first sighting of Harvest and Octoberfest brews from Sam Adams, Harpoon and others when I noticed a tweet today from @DrinkCraftBeer stating that craft beer cellar (craftbeercellar.com) is banning all fall seasonals until September. 
That's a good policy as far as I'm concerned. I'd extend it a few days and say no discussion or drinking of fall brews until after Labor Day.
We'll save a rant for how soon Holiday brews show up in stores for another time.