GIVE ME YOUR BEER SUGGESTIONS!!

[Factorial]

Do pumpkin beers have the taste of pumpkin or the spices used in, for example, pumpkin pie? Sounds too sweet for me.

[PensFanInDC]

Pumking tastes just like pumpkin pie

[Loaf31]

Pumking tastes just like pumpkin pie

I hate pumpkin pie, but I love Pumking and Warlock

[count2infinity]

Do pumpkin beers have the taste of pumpkin or the spices used in, for example, pumpkin pie? Sounds too sweet for me.

A lot of pumpkin beers just put a little bit of pumpkin in there so that they can say that there's pumpkin in it. There's a lot of reports from some homebrewing networks that people put tons and tons of pumpkin in the beer and it's barely noticeable as far as the actual pumpkin taste. Most of the taste is in the spices to make it taste like pumpkin pie rather that actual pumpkin taste.

[count2infinity]

Pumking tastes just like pumpkin pie

I hate pumpkin pie, but I love Pumking and Warlock

Warlock>>>>Pumking

[Loaf31]

Pumking tastes just like pumpkin pie

I hate pumpkin pie, but I love Pumking and Warlock

Warlock>>>>Pumking

Completely agree... That's my favorite pumpkin beer

[shafnutz05]

pumking, while good, is just so sweet to me. I need a pumking light.

+1. Pumking is just way, way too much.

Seriously, Pumking in early August? Come on man.

[the wicked child]

From a taste standpoint, I didn't mind Pumking. However, it had an unpalatable aftertaste for me.

I haven't had a ton of pumpkin beers, but the best of the ones I've had was Uinta's. Only got a small sample, but it actually had pumpkin flavor, not just pumpkin pie spices.

[the wicked child]

Also, one of my friends managed to find a store in Ohio that could acquire cases of the various Weihenstephaners and thus ordered a case of their dunkel weizen and Vitus, which we have since split. He also got me a bottle of their doppelbock, Korbinian, to try. A bit pricey, but oh so worth it.

[slappybrown]

What's interesting to me about pumpkin beers is not so much the sweetness, or the body, or carbonation, or "heaviness", but rather the fact that they all taste like complete **** and should be poured down the drain.

[columbia]

I'm pretty indifferent on pumpkin beers, but I'd probably prefer a bowl of pumpkin soup + a märzen.

[count2infinity]

tell us how you really feel, slappy...

[slappybrown]

tell us how you really feel, slappy...

Seriously though, I echo Shad's comment above, leaving aside the fact that I don't like the style at all: pumpkin beers in August is so dumb. Beer creep is real.

On the upside, that means Xmas ales and the like should be available in 2-3 weeks at this rate, which is a great thing.

[canaan]

It's always enjoyable to be reading beeradvocate reviews and come across an el gippers review.

[the wicked child]

Millvale beer fest was fun, but probably weaker than last year's overall.

[canaan]

Any beverages of significant note?

[the wicked child]

I'll post a full review later. Getting ready to nom the crap out of some pizza.

[count2infinity]

Monks cafe tonight. The wife had dogfish head theobroma (much better than I thought it'd be) and I had the Russian river damnation and of course a monks cafe sour. Both were fantastic. I really wish Russian river would distribute in all of PA and not just Philly.

[the wicked child]

The fest seemed more crowded this year... or at least it was harder to move around in the tent area.

There were some missing local breweries I had expected to see there... Arsenal Cider House, Roundabout, Hop Farm and Church Brew Works. The latter had a space but were nowhere to be found. I especially missed Arsenal.

Draai Laag only had Cru and Ragnarok, both of which were pretty good, but I've had the latter before.

I really wanted to like Grist House, but all 3 beers I tried were average.

Best beers:

Oskar Blues Gubna
Anderson Valley Heelch O' Hops
Weterbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale (by far the best pumpkin there and I tried at least 4)
Smuttynose Farmhouse Ale
Troegs Hop Knife

I have to say I completely disagree with the classification of Block House Pumpkin as a good beer. It smells like cinnamon (which is fine), but has an unpleasant mouth feel and tastes syrupy. The aftertaste is french toast, which isn't bad, but I would never drink this again, ever.

I was super disappointed as Victory ran out of Wild Devil while I was in line to try it.

The food this year was by the same people that did the last 2 years (The Flame BBQ), but they somewhat mailed it in compared to last year. You got a choice of pulled pork or hot sausage, potato salad (made with Miracle Whip - yuck!), pasta salad (not bad, not amazing) and then some various greens for a salad. I got the hot sausage which paired with some of their sweet BBQ sauce was actually solid.

However, compare that to last year where they gave you a pulled pork sandwich AND a "boss dog" (which was a hot dog with pulled pork, coleslaw, pickles and BBQ sauce), salad, tortilla chips and some kind of hashbrown concoction.

This was better than the Penn Brew fest, not as good as the Pittsburgh Summer Beerfest.

[shmenguin]

Monks cafe tonight. The wife had dogfish head theobroma (much better than I thought it'd be) and I had the Russian river damnation and of course a monks cafe sour. Both were fantastic. I really wish Russian river would distribute in all of PA and not just Philly.

Russian river is very good, but not good enough that I would ever buy it off the shelves at that price point.

[columbia]

The Weihenstephaner Vitus was - in contrast - great.

[Kraftster]

That's true of damnation--we're in agreement on that. Their sours, though, are as good as it gets.

I personally think the Monks sour is pretty average, actually. You've got to try a russian river sour if you can next time, c2i.

[the wicked child]

How could I forget... Late in the fest, there was a group of drunken yinzers singing Jesus Saves.

[the wicked child]

The Weihenstephaner Vitus was - in contrast - great.

This post is twc approved.

[MWB]

Had Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale tonight. Liked it. Obviously not nearly as heavy as a bourbon stout, but a nice bourbon flavor.