Dogfish Head Punkin' Ale

Tonight's stop on the pumpkin tour is the Dogfish Head Punkin' Ale. This is a pumpkin beer that started my love of pumpkin beers, and I'm excited to try it again this year.

Pours out a burnt orange color, on the darker side of amber. The foam is quite lively, a thick, fluffy, off-white head. The foam lasts for a relatively long time, and leaves a nice sticky lacing on the sides of the glass.

The aromas are a nice combination of pumpkin and spices. The pumpkin is not over-whelming, and neither are the spices, but it's a nice over-all balance between the two. So far this year, this smells the most like pumpkin pie of all these brews, which is (in my opinion) what I'm looking for in a pumpkin beer.

The palate and the mouth-feel is perfectly in-sync with the aromas. There's hefty amount of pumpkin flavors right up front, but then progresses nicely into a variety of pumpkin pie spices. It's not super-sweet, but there's definitely a hefty presence of malts here. As the Punkin' Ale warms, but sweetness fades a bit, and the spices really start to come through.

Well this is definitely a treat, the Dogfish Punkin' Ale is the best pumpkin beer I've had yet this year! Great amount of pumpkin flavors, as well as spices, and the two are balanced nicely. I really enjoy the Smashed Pumpkin for it's heavy, up-front pumpkin flavors; and the Heavy Seas Great Pumpkin for it's heavy use of pumpkin pie spices. The Dogfish Punkin' Ale is not too intense in any direction or the other, it's balanced just right.

Dogfish Head

Punkin' Ale

TCSH Rating: 9/10

Aka - As delicious as I remember

Eli

Bibo Ergo Sum