Pumpkin Passion

Name: Three Lakes Winery’s Pumpkin Wine
Purchased At: It was a gift
Price: $9.95
Availability: Seasonal

I’ve always considered September 1st to be the official kick-off to Pumpkin Eatin’ Season. To celebrate the arrival of another pumpkin season, I would like to propose a toast with Three Lakes Winery’s Pumpkin Wine. WTF, did I say pumpkin wine? Yup, I did.

This was given to me by a friend from work who also deserves a toast because he was married over Labor Day weekend. Congratulations Andrew! I wish you nothing but happiness. He got it for me on a trip to Chicago but if I’m not mistaken it was purchased on a drive to Milwaukee at a location I can’t remember.

The Three Lakes Winery is located in Three Lakes Wisconsin and specializes in fruity dessert-like wine. They have other interesting flavors like blueberry, cranberry, and apricot. The website says that the pumpkin wine was originally made only for the Three Lakes’ PumpkinFest. They currently offer it in limited quantities during the fall season.

The winery describes the pumpkin wine as “It IS actually made only from pie pumpkins, and the smooth, pleasant flavor surprises all who try it at our Tasting Counter because it DOESN’T taste like pumpkin pie. It has been described as having qualities of a semi-sweet Chardonnay, and we have yet to find another Pumpkin Wine made by anyone.” Well, they weren’t kidding about the “DOESN’T taste like pumpkin pie.” Unless you saw the bottle, you would never know it was made from pumpkins but I can’t really begrudge them. Pumpkins don’t have a particularly strong taste. However, I wouldn’t have described it as a semi-sweet wine. It’s really sweet but I like sweet wines.

I shared it with three other people. One person hated it and described it as GROSS (she’s super picky) but everyone else, including myself, gave it was a lukewarm good. It tastes different than what you’d expect. There’s an indescribable aftertaste that isn’t bad but not great either. It only took one glass to get my cheeks red and to make me a tad bit tipsy.

I think the novelty factor of serving a pumpkin wine at Thanksgiving or at a fall dinner party is this wine’s best asset. I would purchase and drink this wine again but it’s not something I’ll hope becomes available all year round.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Okay, the ranking are probably really obvious but here we go:

4th Place– The Shipyard Brewing Company’s Pumpkinhead Ale, which tastes as much like pumpkin as it probably tastes like head, gets 2 out of 10 ranking.

3rd Place– The Coors Brewing Company’s Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale, it was kinda okay but very chemicalish tasting, gets a 4 out of 10 ranking.

2nd Place– The Sea Dog Brewing Company’s Pumpkin Ale gets a 5 out of 10 ranking.

1st Place– Buffalo Bill’s Brewery’s Pumpkin Ale gets a 7.5 out of 10 ranking to make it the first place winner!!!

For additional pictures of the contestants go here.

Name: Pumpkin Ale
Brand: Buffalo Bill’s Brewery
Purchased At: Cost Plus-but I’ve seen it lots of other places
Price: $5.99, give or take a dollar

This is the first pumpkin ale I have ever tasted. It’s been almost 3 years since I saw it in a Liquor Barn, grabbed it and then nearly skipped with urgent glee towards the registers. This seems to be the Pumpkin Ale that most people are familiar with if they also have a passion for pumpkins. It’s the standard, and in my book, all others are mere copycats.

There’s a pumpkin smell and an actual pumpkin TASTE in nearly every mouthful. It’s kind of astonishing because this is the darkest and strongest tasting ale out of all. If they could just take the pumpkin flavor and put it in a lighter ale this would be AMAZING.

When I started this Ale Off, I really thought that several of these other brands would win praise over the Buffalo Bill’s ale. In comparison, this is the BEST pumpkin ale out there but I still think that someone else could do better, maybe next pumpkin-eattin’ season . . . .

Name: Pumpkin Ale
Brand: The Sea Dog Brewing Company
Purchased At: Trader Joe’s
Price: $5.99, give or take a dollar

What happened to Sea Dog? I use to see several different types of Sea Dog Ales at Traders Joes but they don’t seem to carry it at all any more. Does this mean no Sea Dog Pumpkin Ale next year? If so, I’m not all that upset.

The taste of this ale is just weak and flat. When I first opened the bottle I caught a whiff of pumpkin spice but the taste just wasn’t there. Not being a beer person, I enjoyed that it didn’t much taste like beer. It wasn’t bitter and there wasn’t any aftertaste. I’d say that it tasted more like beer-flavored soda that was left out overnight. You could probably drink an entire six-pack and still be able to follow the dialogue of an episode of “Gilmore Girls.”

It’s still going to rank pretty high on the Pumpkin Ale Off, primarily because it’s not gross but not because it’s particularly good.

Name: Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale
Brand: The Coors Brewing Company
Purchased At: Albertsons
Price: $5.99, give or take a dollar
Availability: Seasonal

Okay, that explains it! I just googled this ale and found out that it’s a Coors brand. I don’t know much about beer but I do know that Coors is to beer what Shasta is to soda. I also found some other interesting facts from my search: As for men, the scent that really got the ol’ penile blood flowing – up to 40 percent – was the scent of pumpkin. Ummm, okay and now we’ll move on?!?!

This Pumpkin Ale has a moderately dark color and a moderately strong alcohol/beer taste. Primarily the taste was sour/bitter. While there was as a faint taste and smell of pumpkin, it seemed to come and go. The pumpkin flavor somehow seemed overwhelmingly artificial. I wouldn’t buy it again but I’d drink it if it was close by and free.

Name: Pumpkinhead Ale
Brand: The Shipyard Brewing Company
Purchased At: Henry’s Marketplace
Price: $6.99
Availability: Seasonal

This beer/ale is simply gross but not sooo gross that I feel the need to pour it down the drain. Towards the end of my second bottle, it began to taste a little bit like burnt plastic. I don’t at all claim to be a beer expert. I drink Coronas and Samuel Adams, not very high brow, but I’m pretty sure BURNT PLASTIC does not taste like pumpkin. It’s WEAK and I just taste beer-it’s 4.5% alcohol by volume. There isn’t much pumpkin flavor; actually, there isn’t much flavor at all. I can’t even smell anything even resembling pumpkin.

The lack of pumpkin flavor could be because the label reads, “malt beverage with pumpkin spice added.” If you’re going to have a pumpkin on the bottle and call it Pumpkinhead there should be SOME pumpkin or else just stick a picture of cinnamon or allspice or nutmeg on the bottle. Even the label is disappointing.

Even the label is disappointing. It looks like someone just learned how to use Photoshop and couldn’t wait to put a pumpkinhead on top of a strangely colored headless horseman. One more thing, why is the pumpkinhead horseman holding a can of his own ale when it doesn’t come in cans? I’m confused.

In summation, Yuck!