Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale

A tale of two tastings...

About two years ago, I was at the Sea Dog brewery with some friends. Sea Dog is owned by Shipyard I believe so they were selling both products there. Being a huge fan of fall beers, I tried the Pumpkinhead and was pleasantly surprised at what I found.

This, however, was not the case tonight. I purchased a six pack of this beer I remembered fondly and was quite disappointed.

The smell was quite a bit softer than I remembered and the taste was much lighter. It was dominated by the cinnamon when one would be led to believe that pumpkin should be the numero uno flavor. It's not a bad beer by any stretch of the imagination, it's just not as good as I remember it. Whether that's due to the difference of bottle versus on tap, or the fact that I probably had too many on that night two years ago, thus clouding my judgement.

If you're into pumpkin beers, I'd give this a whirl (mostly because it has one of the best labels around). You won't fall in love with it, but it won't sit in your fridge for six months either. I'm going to give Pumkinhead a mediocre 2.5 . The 4.5%abv doesn't exactly help its cause either. If it's only going to taste so-so, at least give it some kick!