Pumpkin Beer Snob

I honestly can't help eating and drinking pumpkin-flavored foods this time of year. Hopefully y'all feel the same way, but if not, just go with it today.

Our Saturday started with some pumpkin french toast, which was absolutely delicious! If you haven't noticed on Instagram, I've been trying out different pumpkin breakfast recipes. We've got two of my husband's friends coming to visit this week and I figure pancakes and french toast are easy to make in large quantities.

Recipe from Emily Bites

After watching the Gators lose (boo!) and running errands in an attempt to get our master bedroom completed, my husband and I dropped by a local brewhouse for their Pumpkinfest. I'm sure none of you are surprised that as soon as I heard about this event I knew we had to go, so I managed to talk my husband into going before the big Clemson/Florida State game started.

This place was great, no televisions so it was just us, our conversations, beer, and the annoying 21 year-old idiot in the opposite corner with his buddies. I can laugh at him now that I'm much older and wiser... ha!

We got right into it with our pumpkin beer taste testing. I like to think I've tried all of the pumpkin beers out there via the selection at World Market but I was totally wrong! Look at this list of beers they had at the brewhouse! Heaven!

I don't know all of the snooty beer tasting terms but my favorites were Thomas Creek Pumpkin Ale and Southern Tier Pumpking. Both of these happen to be pretty high in alcohol content, but you wouldn't know it because the pumpkin-flavoring and spices hide it pretty well. The Thomas Creek smells amazing. RJ Rockers and Dogfish Head were good, but a little plain compared to the others. The only one I wasn't a fan of was the Red Hook because I don't like porters.

A friend of mine said to try the Southern Tier with crushed honey graham cracker and cinnamon on the rim, which sounds amazing and is definitely on the to-do list!

After we did the taste-testing, the hubs ordered an Octoberfest beer and I went straight for the Timmermans Pumpkin Lambicus, which came with a free glass. I'm a sucker for free glasses so I ordered without realizing this was a 25-ounce beer I was about to get.

I felt like I was drinking beer out of a wine glass! The Timmermans was really good, but it had more of an apple spice taste than pumpkin. Maybe its because its a lambic, but it didn't seem like I was drinking beer. This might be a good option for anyone who doesn't like beer but wants to try something pumpkin-flavored.

Overall, my go-to pumpkin beers would have to be Saranac Pumpkin Ale, Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale, and Thomas Creek. Anyone have any other favorite pumpkin or Octoberfest beers?

I hope you all had a great Fall weekend! I can't believe we're nearing the end of October already!