I love pumpkin beer.

So why not have a pumpkin beer taste-off. Inspired by a pint a couple of weekends ago, I decided I needed to know which pumpkin beer is my favorite. We hit a beer snag right away when the beer I wanted to test the most was sold out (and reportedly selling for $8 a glass in the KC metro area).

So I made due and decided to have a second round of tastings ASAP.

Josh and I were the tasters. John the pourer and photographer.

We judged using some of my beer tasting learnings from my Sam Addams Tour a few years ago: clarity of the beer (is it cloudy and it shouldn’t be), scent, and how does it taste when you swish it all around your mouth.

We added some specific pumpkin tasting qualifications (which we made our finally judgements on) pumpkin flavor, autumn color, seasonal flavors, and overall rating.

Let the pumpkin awesomeness begin.

The contestants:

The official opener:

Beer number one:

Scores for contestant 1:

Pumpkin flavor: 0
Autumn Color: 3
Seasonal taste: Mostly tastes like a sweet wheat
Overall rating: 1

Second contestant:

Scores for contestant 2:

Pumpkin flavor: 2
Autumn Color: 1
Season flavors: All Spice, not so much a pumpkin flavor
Overall rating: 2

Contestant Number 3:

 

Scores for contestant 3:

Pumpkin flavor: 2 1/2
Autumn Color: By the third tasting we forgot to rate color- a sign of a good tasting.
Season flavors: Cinnamon, Nutmeg and a hint of pumpkin in the after taste.
Overall rating: 2

The O’Fallen was our overall favorite for this round of beer tasting. Stay tuned fir more pumpkin beer events!
If you have suggestions for round two let me know!