Punkin Ale - Dogfish Head Brewery

7out

Illinois

1.15/5  rDev -71%
look: 3 | smell: 1 | taste: 1 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1

Bad. Really bad. Tastes nothing at all like pumpkin and there are no discernible spice notes. Nice rich copper color but no head. Smells very alcoholy. Tastes just like diluted Jagermeister with a little farmhouse funk thrown in. I had high hopes for this one but was quite disappointed.

Serving type: bottle

09-18-2011 07:09:47 | More by 7out

deaconoflove

Pennsylvania

1.5/5  rDev -62.2%
look: 2 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 1 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 1

ap. color is a beautiful coppery golden brown with no head at all. Could be too cold?
sm. Immediate hit of spice, punkin and/or squash insides.
ta. Spice! punkin pie gone south. Reminds me of the compost can under the sink. More closely resembles a burned punkin pie. Sourish finish.
mf. A little thin, little carbonation.
dr. I am such a tightwad that I'll finish it, but this is one offensive beer. It's the third bottle (three different days) of a four-pack, so I've given it a fair chance I think.

Serving type: bottle

10-19-2009 21:12:21 | More by deaconoflove

livingregret

Washington

1.6/5  rDev -59.7%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 1

Serving Type: Standard 12 oz bottle

Appearance: Pours a "dirty" orange w/ no head and no lacing

Smell: Very mute smell....Biscuity malt, no pumpkin and very little spice

Taste: Very light spice, light hops, no pumpkin. Nothing to great here at all. You taste more alcohol than anything else

Mouthfeel: No carbonation...goes down quickly. Not that much there. I feel more alcohol than anything else

Drinkability: Horrible. To much alcohol...no pumpkin. I enjoy Pumpkin ales when they actually taste something like pumpkin and spice. This one really has neither.

Serving type: bottle

09-04-2007 01:23:42 | More by livingregret

Mitchster

Michigan

1.75/5  rDev -55.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 1

Pours out to a sparkingly clear orange(pumpkin)-amber, forming a soapy off-white head with good retention and average lacing. Aroma is spicy with cinnamon and nutmeg, reminding me of a Xmas ale which I brewed many years back (I hated it so all my friends drank it)..no real pumpkin aroma. A touch of smoky ham becomes evident when swirled, and is the best part of this brew. Carbonation is mild to moderate. Mouthfeel is soft with a medium-dense body. Taste starts with off-putting herbal hops, followed by the nauseating spices, followed by amber malt husk bitterness, brown sugar alcohol bleh, and nasty Dogfish Head ruddiness. Aftertaste is limited to wet cardboard, diacetyl yuck, a mouthfull of copper pennies and sickening spice.

This beer sucks pumpkin ass.

Serving type: bottle

12-12-2004 20:23:02 | More by Mitchster

nickhiller

Texas

1.8/5  rDev -54.7%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 1 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

A: copper, little head, no lacing.

S: spice, clove, smells a bit like a Pilsner, malt.

T: punkin [sic], spice, some vomit, it's kind of like an elementary school classroom during Halloween. Or Bath & Bodyworks.

M: well carbonated, leaves a sickly sweet taste in the back of your throat that is rather unpleasant.

D: gross. That's pretty much all I have to say. I'm huge fan of almost everything DFH does, but this is unacceptable. I'm not sure who they're trying to appeal to here (the Blue Moon Harvest Moon crowd maybe?) but I'm not buying it.

Serving type: on-tap

09-18-2010 22:54:17 | More by nickhiller

phattysbox

New York

1.83/5  rDev -53.9%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

12oz bottle stating that it has been brewed with real pumpkins and spices. Poured into regular pint glass. Initial 1/2 inch head dissapears into a whispy thin lace. Nice dark orange color however.

Smell took me back a bit. No pumpkin in the nose and and odd spice smell that seemed to fail around. I could not tease out individual spices such as allspice, nutmeg or cinnamon. A pungent maltiness also got in the way a bit. Hoping the taste would pick up the smell but unfortunately was even worse. Spices were were chaotic and produced strange twang followed by a strange malt backbone. No pumpkin that I can tell and the fusel alcohol further confused the palate. The brew gave me a puckering effect that was not due to hops.

A strange brew indeed that misses the mark in my opinion of what a pumpkin ale should be. No balance whatsoever and had to drain pour. Interesting, many of the DFH unique brews go this unbalanced route for me since the DFH 90 Minute is so fantastic. Seems like the beer was trying to do to much. Still waiting for another showstopper from DFH besides 90.

Serving type: bottle

09-22-2008 15:22:10 | More by phattysbox

moebeer385

Arizona

1.85/5  rDev -53.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 1 | feel: 3 | overall: 1.5

While I've never had a bad Dogfish Head brew (no matter how experimental), this one takes the cake, or pie rather, pumpkin pie. And I really don't want to leave a negetive review, but I almost couldn't finish this one. This has never happened to me before.

At the pop of the cap, I was refreshed with the scent of a decent IPA. Not bad, but I had hoped for a more spicy aroma. I cought a very, very slight hint of pumpkin and spice behind the bitterness.

On to the pour...NICE! Good look, and a nice head that stayed around for a while, without leaving a lacing on the top of my glass. When looking through it, I saw a not to dark/not to light amber with a extra hint of red/orange to it. Looked beautiful.

That first mouthfull...felt good, thin but not watered down. Decent carbonation. Then the taste...sadness overcame me. I was quickly brought back to my teenage years, when the "dirty-30" pack of Keystone Light was a great deal. Unfortunatly- it was the "funneled too many", hurled over the toilet till the sun came up, I need my toothbrush! taste I was reminded of. Honestly, this was the first thought that came to mind.

As for drinkability, I'll leave it at that. Maybe I just had a bad bottle, but I wont risk wasting another beer that somebody else may like to try it again.

Serving type: bottle

10-02-2009 21:31:54 | More by moebeer385

Givekidsmeth

Washington

1.93/5  rDev -51.4%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1 | overall: 1.5

Terrible example of a pumpkin ale. One of the worst.

Appearance - nothing special.

Smell - Not bad. I'm getting some of the spices, but there's something off-putting about it. kind of a cleanser-ey smell that lingers as you withdraw.

Taste - Terrible. There's not a hint of pumpkin as you'd wish. It seems like they just mashed raw pumpkin into the beer and expected pumpkin pie. There's a tiny bit of spice, but it's immediately buried under a thick pile of bitter hoppiness and alcoholic burn. It's like someone put cinnamon sticks in a badly made IPA. You don't want hoppiness in this kind of beer, you want warm malts to compliment the warm spices.

Mouthfeel - Even worse. This stuff is carbonated beyond all belief. You literally cannot drink it from the bottle. Mixes very badly with the astringent alcohol taste/burn and just amplifies it.

Overall - This stuff is flipping expensive for a severely disappointing beer (paid $10.45 for a four pack of 12oz bottles.) It's a drinkable beer, don't get me wrong, but I could never in good conscience suggest this to a friend or buy it again myself.

Don't know how anyone could rate this highly. I love pumpkin beers and this, considering the price, is as bad as buffalo bill's cheap swill.

Serving type: bottle

11-03-2011 01:43:43 | More by Givekidsmeth

johndrinkspliny

California

2/5  rDev -49.6%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

I can't understand why this beer is described as a "full-bodied brown ale" on the box. Coming from one of my favorite breweries, and one that excels at Brown Ales (see Indian Brown and Palo Santo Maroon), I was thoroughly disappointed. Subtlety is not a word that I'd use to describe Dogfish Head, but this beer was so disappointing. I bought three 4-packs today out of sheer excitement and I've never been more let down with a beer.

Serving type: bottle

09-08-2011 06:37:44 | More by johndrinkspliny

liquidnoise

Illinois

2.13/5  rDev -46.3%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2

A few years ago, a friend got me interested in pumpkin ales after telling me he drank one and it tasted just like pumpkin pie. Since then, out of all the seasonal beer styles I've probably tried more pumpkin ales than any other in search of this mystical liquified pumpkin pie, and each time I am let down.

This one was unique with respect to others I've tried, basically because of the high alcohol content and the prominence of alcohol in the flavor. Hardly any "pumpkin" was recognizable, and the alcohol stood out so much it felt like I was drinking hard liquor at times.

Drinkability was low, I had to take my time.

Not a very enjoyable pumpkin ale, I'll pass on this in the future.

Serving type: bottle

09-30-2007 03:21:52 | More by liquidnoise

mjc410

Virginia

2.28/5  rDev -42.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2

The pour into my Fuller's nonic raises a one finger creamy light tan head over a clear copper body. It looks thin. Lacing is sudsy but still somewhat substantial. The head falls slowly to a glass ring. The nose is all about the strong pumpkin pie spices: nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice. The pumpkin scent also comes through strongly, and I can easily pick out the brown sugar, too. There's also a dry toasty aroma that doesn't jive well with the rest of the nose. The taste is fairly dry, and dominated first by bitter toastiness, with the spices and pumpkin flavor in the background. The artertaste is fairly clean, too. There's nothing stand-out about this here. The body is medium, with sharp carbonation. I feel that a smoother and sweeter beer would be much better than this dry mess.

Serving type: bottle

10-02-2006 21:07:10 | More by mjc410

rembrant

Ohio

2.33/5  rDev -41.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

Look Slightly hazy amber with a little head
(no,the head does not look like a dogfish)

AROMA Some lager type yeasts,some various uncertain spices. Really not a Pumpkin Pie scent

Taste- Nutmeg dominates after a little caramel tease. Pumpkin shows up in the aftertaste and in that context comes off more as underbaked unsweetened pumpkin than pumpkin pie. I happen to like nutmeg a lot but here I don't think it works,the choice of a German tasting yeast and a rather blunt wooden German type hops killed off the subtle sweet touch of the Nutmeg and amplified it's bitter side. I guess the idea was to merge pumpkin and malts,and merge the nutmeg and hops,but the whole never seemed at all in balance. I don't know if "cloying" can apply when there's hardly any sweetness but I had just 2/3 of the bottle and even so that last gulp was a bit forced

Mouthfeel- Body,texture,carbo,no problem.
Aftertaste....unsweet pumpkin,some yeast that hit my belly like a brick,and a harsh underbuffered,overdone nutmeg blast accented by a hops that brought out the wrong things...just not for me.

Drinkability Low

I LOVE Pumpkin Pie. I hand grate a lot of nutmeg when I make egg nog....somehow DFH missed badly if I found it hard to handle.

My sister in law isn't generally a beer person,but I've been giving her small samples of beers. She's liked some big stouts and handled some hoppy IPA okay. She liked Saranac's sweet but uninspired Pumpkin Ale. This...was the first beer she handed back to me...could not finish a 3 oz sample.

Serving type: bottle

10-27-2010 06:15:12 | More by rembrant

NJpadreFan

New Jersey

2.35/5  rDev -40.8%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5

Dogfish Head- Punkin Ale

Appearance- light golden amber with a thick lacing head.
Smell- Light Pumpkin with hazelnut and nutmeg.
Taste- Alcohol is the first thing tasted!? Followed up by a roasted hazelnut, blended with light pumpkin, nutmeg, and vanilla.
Mouthfeel- Alcohol burns at first, Flavors come through in the middle, and more alcohol in the end.

Overall- Not a good 1! I don't know many people who like Pumpkin Ale's, (I personally enjoy them) but this is a huge disappointment. Alcohol is too present and the pumpkin is too weak!
Give me a Post Road!!

Serving type: bottle

09-03-2006 22:14:40 | More by NJpadreFan

doppelmeup

North Carolina

2.35/5  rDev -40.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

Poured into a pint glass.

Not a bad looking ale. Medium amber colored. Half-inch thick creamy head and a bit of lacing all the way down. Unfortunately, this was about the only good thing I could say about this beer.

Aromas of spice and alchohol. Not much pumpkin. Most of the other pumpkin ales I've tried have smelled better than this.

Taste was quite disappointing. Very bitter alcohol taste. Some spiciness. Reminds me of cheap malt-liquor. The more I sip this beer the less I like it.

The mouthfeel is simultaneously sticky and dry and watery.

Overall, I really didn't care for this beer. It is one of the worst pumpkin ales I've tried. Quite disappointing. I may pour it down the drain instead of fnishing it. I hope people who try this as their first pumpkin ale will not give up on the style. There are many other ones out there that IMO are much better--Cottonwood, Edenton, and Post Road all come to mind.

Serving type: bottle

10-20-2006 01:32:53 | More by doppelmeup

PDXHops

South Carolina

2.35/5  rDev -40.8%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

12 ounce bottle poured into a La Chouffe tulip. A frothy off white head builds through the narrow part of the tulip to an impressive height, but mostly disappears rather quickly. A little scattered lacing. Slight haze to the amber body.

Nose is somewhat reminiscent of the carmelized stuff on the edges of a pumpkin pie. Unfortunately, any real pumpkin flavor seems to be drowned out by a wave of the usual suspect pie spices. Enjoyable bready malts aplenty underneath it all, but there's a certain metallic quality to the spiciness that just doesn't mesh well with the malts. And again, actual pumpkin flavor is rather lacking.

Overall impression: Enough with the gimmicky pie spice beers. I hope to find a decent pumpkin offering this year (Weyerbacher and Smuttynose, here I come). In the meantime, I'll pass on this one unless I find it on tap with the brown sugar rim that is apparently all the rage.

Serving type: bottle

09-08-2010 14:35:13 | More by PDXHops

TinusTime

Virginia

2.38/5  rDev -40.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

Im usually a fan of DFH beers and enjoy their beers that push the envelope, but this beer IMO was a train wreck.

Pours a medium brownish with some golden ruby highlights and a sort of khaki head. Smell is of spice and a bit of vegetable and pumpkin. The taste is pumpkiny up front and then just melds into a spicy malty mess followed by a drying hop finish that just jumps the train off the track. Drinkabilty was low as i was able to finish the beer, but wasnt going begging for another. Not one of the best pumpkin beers I had last year. Cottonwood was by far a more well rounded beer IMO.

Serving type: bottle

12-26-2003 19:42:48 | More by TinusTime

monkeybutler

Vermont

2.4/5  rDev -39.5%
look: 1 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2 | overall: 1.5

Appearance...ugh.

I have to stop here. I love Dogfish Head. I love their beer. I've been down to their brewpub in Rehoboth, and it's a very long drive from my house. I admire and respect Sam to no end.

Okay. Appearance: poured a flat, almost still red-orange with no head. It really has nothing going for it in the appearance department. If I drink another of the 3 out of the 4-pack and it is carbonated, I'll come back and change this portion of the review. Also, before I get too far. A 4-pack? Really? That's...um...lousy. It's not WWS. It's not even 90 minute. Give me a whole damn 6 pack.

The smell is all spice, with a smidge of sqash/pumpkin, but mostly clove and cinnamon and... allspice, I guess. A slight alco-pop aroma of malt is somewhere in there too.

Taste is okay, really. I'm getting some cinnamon all over my mouth, and a little pumpkin essence, but mostly, it's essentially another pumpkin soda with some alcohol. Except of course for the complete lack of carbonation.

Mouthfeel. Yeah. Whatever that may be. I'm getting some cinnamon grittiness on top of a pile of "punkin". Maybe we've been punkd?

Oh god. I'm not going to drink another one of these. I will crack another one open to see if it's carbonated, but the rest are going to my mom who happens to like alcoholic pumpkin soda.

Serving type: bottle

10-10-2006 22:45:38 | More by monkeybutler

beer1018

Ohio

2.45/5  rDev -38.3%
look: 4 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Poured into a snifter, nice 1 inch head. Color is amber with a touch of red. Smells of Cinnamon and nutmeg, getting some sort of smell rotting vegitibles as well. Taste is mostly nutmeg with alltile cinnamon, i am getting no hints punkin flavor. Really this taste more like some winter warmers to me. Mouthfeel is slightly creamy but nothing to write home about. Though the flavors are not offensive this beer let me down and after i finish the rest of my pack i doubt i will buy this again let alone taste unless this is included at an event i attend. Not reccomended, so far the best i have had for the style is Punking.

Serving type: bottle

09-28-2009 23:42:27 | More by beer1018

JDV

Texas

2.48/5  rDev -37.5%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5

Light, transluscent amber color with a light offwhite head. Smell was lightly metallic, mild pumpkin spice, and fucking alcohol. assholes. Taste was dry, very lightly flavored of standard pumpkin pie flavor, with noticeable alcohol present. Why the fuck make this 7% so you can taste the alcohol, and leave the base so weak, and mildly flavored? Christ. Not even as good as the Shipyard pumpkin beer which I hear is simply their summer beer with pumpkin spice added. This was a huge disappointment coming from DFH when they usually at least put out some creative, good beers. Very bland, dry and tastes, smells and looks like this was the recipe:

1 part water
1 part light beer
1 part vodka
stingy dash of pumpkin pie spice.

Serving type: bottle

02-22-2008 05:53:37 | More by JDV

lester619

Wisconsin

2.5/5  rDev -37%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 1.5

Pours a deep orangish copper/brown. Bubbly head that settles at a thin film after about ten seconds. Very strong pumpkin pie spice smell. Clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, anise, all these and probably more are in there. There is also a fresh pumpkin smell like when you carve into a jack-o-lantern. Flavor is malty sweet and fruity at first. More of that fresh pumpking smell/taste comes out. The spice takes over every other flavor quickly. In the end, the only other flavor is a hint of booze on my lips. I've never been a fan of the spiced pumpkin beers. Every fall I try to keep an open mind, but the spices always turn me off. It was hard to finish the bottle. If you are into pumpkin beers, this is a probably a great one. It's just not for me.

Serving type: bottle

11-16-2010 22:30:13 | More by lester619

velkyal

Virginia

2.53/5  rDev -36.3%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

ight - light amber, almost no head to speak of

Smell - very spicy, lots of cinnamon and a slight cideriness

Taste - syrupy, caramel and spices

Sweet - 3.5/5

Bitter - 1/5

This was very sweet, but not cloyingly though sufficiently sweet to be sickly if you drank more than a few ounces. Not what I would have expected from Dogfish Head.

Serving type: bottle

09-20-2010 17:05:21 | More by velkyal

JackRose

Georgia

2.58/5  rDev -35%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5

Not impressed and probably the weakest of Dogfish Head's offerings (with the exception of the Namaste' which I feel bad about reviewing). Sam and his team of brewers are super creative and have done much to promote and grow craft brewing, but I do not always like their beers.

I tried this beer for three seasons in the past four - always wondering if it was just me or maybe I had purchased a beer leftover from the past year and not in the best shape, but alas it has always disappointed. Fans of it tell me that it is unique in that their is a significant hop presence. I just find it muddled and murky with regards to flavors, although I like their clean lines/packaging with regards to the bottle. I will stick with my choices of The Bruery Autumn Maple (not truly a pumpkin beer), Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin, and Southern Tier's Pumpkin (although it is not as good as past years and it seems that it is has much more vanilla flavor this year). Trying hard to get a friend to buy some CCB Good Gourd.

Serving type: bottle

10-01-2011 23:34:38 | More by JackRose

charlesw

New York

2.6/5  rDev -34.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5

Perfect light amber color with a small whitish head that is gone within the minute leaving nothing. I suppose this isn't surprising given the light and fizzy body. Smells like sweet maple syrup - maybe a touch or coriander thrown in for good measure. Tastes, ah, shucks. Bummer. Well, you know, I read the bottle and I was expecting a horror like the Shipyard. Thankfully, it's not that. The spices are light and easy. Ok, half way through the bottle I now get a whiff of pumpkin pie spice on the nose. But the flavor... It's awfully dry (and crisp) - which I find very surprising. Then there are these Thanksgiving spices floating around, and all, but there is an overwhelming sour note to it all. Is that the hops? Do I have a bad bottle? I don't know! I don't know what it's supposed to taste like! I'll certainly be fair and give this one another go at some point, but, whoa.

Serving type: bottle

07-16-2006 22:51:30 | More by charlesw

Erdinger2003

Iowa

2.6/5  rDev -34.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

Appearance looks great! A clear crisp and inviting brownish orange with a thin foamy head with a strong lacing. Smell is strange and sour with pumkin flavors. The taste is very sour pumkin rind flavor with the sweeter pumkin aftertaste, I'm not fond of this style I don't think. Mouthfeel is a bit watery and light bodied with much carbonation. Overall this was a bit dissapointing and I don't think I'll ever try this again.

Serving type: bottle

09-04-2006 04:33:43 | More by Erdinger2003

Wetpaperbag

Washington

2.6/5  rDev -34.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

A- Clear orange/copper colored brew. The head was a half a finger width that stayed to play for a while.

S- There is a nice roasted nutty/earthy smell coming from this beer. I'm also getting some of the 7% abv though the smell as well.

T- The roasted nutty/earthy smell is there in the taste as well. The taste is sharp and almost feels like a shot of cheep vodka was dropped into this beer. The after taste is bitter and not appealing.

M- The bitter after taste is not what I was wanting in this beer and it has its way with your tongue.

D- I've had much better pumpkin ales such as Night Owl from Elysian.

Serving type: bottle

09-15-2008 23:45:19 | More by Wetpaperbag