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Shipyard Pumpkin Ale

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Category: Boozin'

Created on Sunday, 23 November 2014 20:18

Written by Phil

Shipyard Pumpkin Ale:  Fuck you pumpkin pie, I have pumpkin AND alcohol.

Well, Thanksgiving is right around the corner and it’s time to stuff your face with turkey, stuffing, shitty vegetable dishes, and pumpkin beer! Of all the shit people spray with pumpkin flavor when Fall comes around, I have to say fortifying beer with pumpkin reigns supreme.

This brings me to the pumpkin ale I grabbed out of a pile of other pumpkin beers at the grocery store: Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale (4.5% ABV). If you’re looking for full on “fuck-you pumpkin pie” flavor with spices, this beer is for you. As soon as I opened the bottle, I could smell the pumpkin and spices, which is great for me. When I try a pumpkin beer around this time of the year, you bet your ass I want plenty of pumpkin flavor to wash down my turkey dinner.

With my first swig of this brew, I tasted a ton of nutmeg, cinnamon, clove and, of course, pumpkin. If you don’t like the spices I’ve just listed, this beer is not for you. It’s filled to the brim with these flavors, which create a warm spiced taste that isn’t fortified or forced, but just naturally brewed. As far as pumpkin goes, it definitely has that “fuck-you pumpkin pie” flavor I was hoping for as opposed to other pumpkin ales I’ve tried (Blue Moon’s Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale, Samuel Adam’s Harvest Pumpkin Ale and Brooklyn Brewery’s Post Road Pumpkin Ale, just to name a few).

This isn’t a beer I would make a part of my beer repertoire (if it was sold on a regular basis), but it’s a solid seasonal beer to drink a few sixers once a year. So go ahead and replace that slice of pumpkin pie you were going to shove down your pie hole after Thanksgiving dinner with a bottle of Shipyard’s Pumpkinhead Ale. At least you’ll get a buzz and a fat ass instead of just a fat ass this Thanksgiving.