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Description:
A full-bodied brown ale with smooth hints of pumpkin and brown sugar. We brew our Punkin Ale with pumpkin meat, brown sugar and spices. As the season cools, this is the perfect beer to warm up with. Punkin Ale is named after the seriously off-centered southern Delaware extravaganza Punkin Chunkin (check out some of these Discovery Channel videos of Punkin Chunkin, you gotta see it to believe it!). In fact, Punkin Ale made its debut as it claimed first prize in the 1994 Punkin Chunkin Recipe Contest. Yes, that was a full 6 months before we even opened our doors for business! (Description provided by company)
Brewer:
Beer Style:
ABV:
7.00% ABV
Availability Frequency:
Fall
Containers Available:
bottle
draft
Locations Where Available:
Northeast
Southeast
Southwest
West Coast
Great Lakes
Alaska
Store/Serve Temperature:
45-54 degrees F
Comments
All other pumpkin beers can go home
Dogfish Head's Punkin Ale pours an appetizing copper color with a little bit of head retention. The smell is brown sugar with a touch of cinnamon and pumpkin. I'm not sure how it's possible, but the heavy-on-the-brown-sugar flavor of this beer manages to not be overbearing or overly sweet. It has just the right blend of pumpkin and spice and everything nice, and is carbonated enough to provide a refreshing bite.
This is a fantastic beer. The best pumpkin ale I've had the pleasure of trying. If I see it in a store, I cannot resist buying it. You should not resist either.
Chunkin' this Punkin'
Pours a clear and reddish-copper amber, with a thin head.
Lots of pumpkin and pumpkin pie aromas - nutmeg cinnamon, cloves,. A lot of caramel malt sweetness and toastiness as well, along with a hint of a crisper, pale malt.
Although the aroma is pretty nice, the flavor is a weird combination of sweeter pumpkin pie flavors and bright herbal and floral hop flavors that have a moderately-low bitterness. Although sweeter and bitter flavors are usually present in a single beer, in this case they just seem more haphazardly thrown together, and don't really balance each other out well. A long aftertaste, which doesn't really help the weird dual identity.
I'm not sure if I got a weird serving of this beer (it was a draught), since I've heard such good things about it (and the aroma was pretty nice), but my beer had some very strange flavors. I may have to try this one again from a bottle, just to see if I have the same experience.