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Almost a decade ago, the folks at Carolina Beer Co. in Mooresville decided to unveil a pumpkin ale at a Charlotte beer festival. The brewery didn't have a label for the tap handle, so tasters weren't sure exactly they were tasting. They did, however, think it was familiar.
"What IS that?" they asked president John Stritch, who gave them a hint: Think of Thanksgiving.
"The light came on for them," he remembers. "They said, 'Pumpkin Pie!'"
Today, there are more pumpkin ales on Charlotte shelves than ever - 15 by our unofficial count this week. While the recent increase might be due to a global hops shortage that has nudged brewers into experimenting with more spiced ales - including pumpkin - Stritch has a simpler explanation: They sell like mad.
"People are just really passionate about the pumpkin ale," he said. "They love them."
Perhaps that's because pumpkin ales, more than any other seasonal brew, offer a visceral connection to the season in which they arrive. Sure, summer wheats are refreshing, and winter stouts are warming, but who thinks "wheat" when they think "summer"? Pumpkins, simply, signal autumn.
(The flip side: Once Thanksgiving arrives, it's over for pumpkin ales. "People kind of just drop it," Stritch says.)
When they are done well, pumpkin ales follow through with the nutmegs and cinnamons and cloves of autumn treats. When they're not done well? That's why we're here. We tried all 15 of the pumpkin ales we found in Charlotte. The best had a balance of spices and malts, with a few adding a pleasant hop kick. The worst were harshly or hardly spiced, more like your niece's first pumpkin pie than your grandmother's hundredth.
Our favorite three
Punkin Ale, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (Deleware), about $10 a four-pack: A perennial favorite, this is a brown ale with real pumpkin meat. Smooth and rich.
Cottonwood Pumpkin Ale, Carolina Beer Co. (Mooresville), about $9 per six-pack: The most subtle of the three - intentionally so, says Stritch - Cottonwood still has unmistakable ginger and cinnamon flavors. A very pleasant, easy brew.
Imperial Pumpkin Ale, Weyerbacher Brewing Co. (Pennsylvania), about $11 per four pack: A pumpkin ale that bites back at you. Very hoppy, with enough spice to stand up to the bitterness. The Atomic Fireball of pumpkin ales.
Pass on these pumpkins
Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale (Blue Moon Brewing, Colorado) is filmy and spiceless, as was Pumpkinhead Ale (Shipyard Brewing Co., Maine). Post Road Pumpkin Ale (Brooklyn Brewery, New York) is uneven, with a bitter cinnamon overload.
