Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale - Buffalo Bill's Brewery

bkilpatr

Oregon

1.88/5  rDev -35.4%
look: 2 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

Poured from a 12 oz bottle into a pint glass. 11/05/08.

Pours a clear golden-orange color with about a finger of whitish head. The head quickly dropped to nothing, no lacing. Aroma is pumpkin, cinnamon, clove, and cherry cough syrup.

Taste is very similar to the aroma. Strong with pumpkin, cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg. No malt or hop taste. Has a sickly sweetness to it. The taste seems rather hollow and empty. Feel is thin and watery. Very fizzy like soda. Drinkability is decent because there's not much there. But the sweetness and fizzyness kill it.

Not a very pleasant beer. There are many better pumpkin beers out there.

Serving type: bottle

11-06-2008 02:02:07 | More by bkilpatr

DaftCaskBC

British Columbia (Canada)

1.88/5  rDev -35.4%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 2

A: Very little head over cloudy deep amber liquid.

S: Cloves and ginger.

T: Cloves and ginger up front with a corn finish.

M: Thin viscosity with large carbonation. Very similar to soda.

O: Maybe I have been spoiled by the pumpkin ales I have had locally, but my suggestion is to avoid this one.

Serving type: bottle

10-19-2011 00:52:20 | More by DaftCaskBC

alexrichman

Oregon

1.9/5  rDev -34.7%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 1.5

Poured from a 12oz bottle into a pint glass

A - The brew produced a 1-finger head that quickly dissapeared into absolutely nothing. What was left was a clear, orange-straw colored brew.

S - Sweet and spicy with a hint of malt ... reminds me of egg nog or pumpkin pie...

T - Much like the smell, the taste is very sweet and spicey up front. It finishes with a weak malt profile although the spicey pumpkin-pie taste sticks with you.

M - Light, carbonated, feels a lot like soda

D - If you can tolerate the pumpkin taste the beer is light and drinkable.

All in all this is a pretty awful beer. It's interesting but not in a way most enthusiasts would find enjoyable. A huge dissapointment for me.

Serving type: bottle

10-02-2009 23:52:55 | More by alexrichman

acevenom

Louisiana

1.9/5  rDev -34.7%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 1 | overall: 2

Poured into a pint glass. Pours orangish copper with a thin white head that dissipates quickly. There are a lot of visible tiny bubbles in this beer. There isn't much of an aroma. I pick up some pumpkin and some of those spices. There's some sweetness in the flavor as well as some pumpkin and faint spices. I get some malt too. There just isn't much going on here. There's some sweetness in the flavor as well as some pumpkin and faint spices. I get some malt too. There just isn't much going on here. This is a disappointing beer. If this is supposed to be America's "original" pumpkin beer, it's a wonder this style ever got off the ground.

Serving type: bottle

10-16-2012 01:34:12 | More by acevenom

SolipsismalCat

Pennsylvania

1.9/5  rDev -34.7%
look: 1.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

Poured into a glass mug.

A: Hazy orange-brown with tow-finger, fizzy, white head that lasted less than a minute. No lacing.

S: Very subtle pumpkin. Smells like a wheat beer which is not a good thing.

T: Light sweetness and light bitterness. Faint pumpkin. No spice really.

M: Light to medium bodied with soft carbonation. Kind of watery.

O: This is a bad beer. Nothing good about it. It's like a macro with a hint of pumpkin.

Serving type: bottle

10-16-2012 02:31:22 | More by SolipsismalCat

4000qtrap

Missouri

1.93/5  rDev -33.7%
look: 2 | smell: 3 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 1.5

Source/Serving: 12 oz. bottle. No expiration date.

Smell: Surprisingly quite pumpkiny. Cloves and nutmeg and also a little bit of astringent alcohol.

Taste: Tastes much more of toast than pumpkin, but there is a really strange - almost fake - sweet flavor to it that keeps getting worse as you drink it. Its malt profile is very light and overall not overly spicy. Finish is yeasty and bready but clean. Mild carbonation.

Notes: The fake sweet flavor is a no-go and really ruins it. Pretty bad, actually, and only appropriate when organizing a fall/pumpkin beer tasting as I was.

Serving type: bottle

12-26-2009 07:58:03 | More by 4000qtrap

beersarang

California

1.95/5  rDev -33%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 1

Pours a dark copper color, orange would have been better if they could have pulled it off. No head retention.

Cidery pumpkin aroma followed by huge spices.

Big sweetness, thin pumpkin flavor, heavy spicing with no hops. Spices are not only overdone but not well thought out, the clove and nutmeg don't give the cinnamon a chance and the aftertaste is just bad. Finishes sweet.

Soda like thin body with crisp carbonation, cidery.

I can't say that I'll ever want to drink this again, I'll try next years to see if I am crazy or not.

Serving type: bottle

10-21-2005 18:59:46 | More by beersarang

cannabanaceae

Washington

1.95/5  rDev -33%
look: 1 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

Poured with no head whatsoever, yellowish orange. Smell was of slight pumpkin cinnamon and all spice.. slightly yeasty.

Taste was spicy in front with a lagery taste in middle with little to no hop bitterness. Slightly metallic pumpkin taste.

Finished like a low grade lager, easy to drink at first but hard to finish the glass.

They should only brew this beer in one facility and perfect it.

Skip this one.

Serving type: bottle

08-13-2008 22:41:09 | More by cannabanaceae

Murrhey

Montana

1.95/5  rDev -33%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 2

Poured from a 12oz bottle into a pint glass. Reviewed from notes.

A- Poured out a quarter inch white head that dissolved almost immediately. Soapy bubble on top. Cloudy orange-brown color. Kinda yucky looking.

S- Pumpkin pie smells, sickly sweet pumpkin and molasses, brown sugar. Smells like a fall candle.

T- Begins sweet, almost cidery. Then ends with a musky taste like I'm drinking cobwebs. Certainly not good, but not gagging me either.

M- Water with a smidge of malt body.

O- Avoid this brew.

Serving type: bottle

12-17-2012 03:50:41 | More by Murrhey

hoffman

Nebraska

1.98/5  rDev -32%
look: 4 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

Man it sure looks nice in the glass. A full frothy white/tan head rises to nearly two fingers before disipating and lacing 1/4" above the brew on the glass at all times holding it's way down. The smell is overwhelming, spice, spice, spice, like pumpkin pie filling. The taste on this one is not good, very spicy up front and no hint of a finish at all. The watery finish of nothing feels like ambesol...that stuff that numbs your mouth. The spice coupled with this is terrible. The moutfeel is very watery and oddly flat. Will never buy this one again.

Serving type: bottle

10-25-2005 01:51:46 | More by hoffman

DogFood11

California

1.98/5  rDev -32%
look: 2.5 | smell: 1 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Poured into a pils glass it forms an active fizzy head that falls to an ultra thin sheet. No lacing. Copper body, clean clarity, rows of fine carbonation.

Faint hints at pumpkin. Candy Corn, Medicinal, brown sugar, nutmeg and assorted spices. Potpouri florist showroom Jones. Tea like flavor with some hard candy. Doughy malts give this a bakery feel to the profile.

Notes: This is more like the pumkin pie crust with brown sugar on top. It was drinkable although that doesn't say much considering I've yet to drain a beer. This is novelty beer and brewed as such.

Serving type: bottle

10-23-2006 01:10:54 | More by DogFood11

goochpunch

Texas

2/5  rDev -31.3%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

Pours a bright orange that looks almost artificially colored. Lots of carbonation results in a thick head. Unfortunately this completely fizzles out into nothing: no lace, no light ring of bubbles. Smells really thin and sweet, almost like a spiced cream soda. Really harsh on the spices. Tastes almost like a Pier One or Cost Plus World Market smells. Really strong cinnamon comes out like chewing on a cinnamon stick. Thin and soda-like mouthfeel with a harsh tannin feel almost as if chewing on a cinnamon stick. Even if I believed in pouring beer down the drain, I still wouldn't consider this a drain pour. I plain don't like it.

Serving type: bottle

10-03-2006 03:39:09 | More by goochpunch

jerrymiller

Nevada

2/5  rDev -31.3%
look: 2 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5

This beer was given to my by my brother-in-law, presumably because I am a Buffalo Bills fan. (thanks anyway Mark)

Serving was from a 12 oz. bottle.

Appearance: Medium yellow orange body with minimal head that completely disappears in a minute.

Smell: Lots of cloves, cinnamon, cumin and allspice. It all smells manufactured, not like natural pumpkin, but more like liquid concentrate pumpkin… yeah. You can only imagine.

Taste: Artificial, shallow and candylike. Not very much body.

Mouthfeel is a little too thin and cottony. Moderate carbonation, very thin finish.

Overall: A noble effort at mass marketing a novelty/seasonal beer to masses. I couldn't honestly drink too many of these.

Serving type: bottle

09-28-2007 18:49:34 | More by jerrymiller

madtowndmb1

Wisconsin

2/5  rDev -31.3%
look: 2 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 1.5

A: A plain gold with no head.

S: It smelled like a pumkin ale, had all the right scents

T: I wish I would've stopped at the scent. real thin taste, NO depth to the pumkin part. And didn't linger, which may have been a positive

M: Nothing great, watery, lacking spices and that pumpkin coating that some of the good ones will leave you with

D: didn't even finish it. Not worth the ABV.

Serving type: bottle

11-01-2008 17:20:24 | More by madtowndmb1

CuriousMonk

Virginia

2/5  rDev -31.3%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

From fall brew tasting notes (2010): Pours a light yellow-orange color with a weird head that fizzles away rapidly like soda, leaving not so much as a single bubble on top. Aroma is extremely strong nutmeg and cinnamon. Cloves come in at the end. No beer aroma, just spices. Taste is offputtingly spicy. No pumpkin character here until late in the aftertaste, but it definitely gets better as it warms. The taste is extremely over-spiced. This one is really rough on the palate.

Serving type: bottle

02-14-2011 17:18:00 | More by CuriousMonk

MaximalC

Illinois

2/5  rDev -31.3%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

Pours a hazy amber color with a minimal white head that is gone in a flash. The aroma smells of spices and a modest dose of pumpkin with little else to speak of. Flavor is unlike anything I've tried before. A vague, unnatural juiciness presents up front, augmented by a spiciness that feels out of place with such a watery mouthfeel. There is an almost bile-like quality lurking in the wash. This initial assault soon evaporates, leaving a mild, wheaty haze at the finish. I think I may detect some hops near the back end as well, but it's hard to say. Very hard to find anything positive to say here.

Serving type: bottle

10-12-2012 01:14:00 | More by MaximalC

nickd717

California

2.03/5  rDev -30.2%
look: 1.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 2

Bottle from Whole Foods, poured into pint glass. Tried it out of morbid curiosity after my friend from PA told me it was "just as good" as Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin, which I had shared with him earlier. After drinking this, I do not see any way that he could think that. It is god-awful. Figured I had to try it though since I live about 15 miles from the brewery.

A - Hazy orange color with a sizzling white head that sounds like the steaming fajitas plate from a Mexican restaurant as it violently fizzles down to absolutely nothing.

S - Decent pumpkin spice as well as apple juice. Not much to it, but not terribly offensive.

T - Very strange flavor. A little artificial-tasting pumpkin spice and some apple juice. Finish is almost like a wild ale, with a strange tartness, almost bretty.

M - Watery and weak, with a harsh astringency.

D - Bad. Couldn't finish the bottle. This is terrible. I actually had this at my uncle's place a few years ago and thought it was pretty good. Wow, how my palate has changed.

I don't know, maybe this was meant to be drank out of the bottle for some reason. Smelled better out of the bottle than the glass, and it would actually be a good thing to lighten the flavor of this mess of a beer.

Serving type: bottle

10-17-2009 02:58:29 | More by nickd717

BeerAngel

Texas

2.05/5  rDev -29.6%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

This beer pours slightly hazed burnt orange color with practically no head to speak of.

The aroma will smack you in the face from a distance revealing super strong spicing with a hint of pumpkin. Nothing else can poke through this pumpkin pie in a bottle.

The taste if you can imagine would be similar if you took pumpkin flavoring, spices, and tonic water and made some confounded cocktail with it. It is a repeat of the aroma. Bleck!

This is a very light bodied brew with a slick watery finish.

Drinkability suffers greatly with the off-putting amount of spicing used in this beer. Not recommended...don't buy it!

Serving type: bottle

11-12-2006 20:36:09 | More by BeerAngel

IrishRedRock

Pennsylvania

2.08/5  rDev -28.5%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 1.5

I'd always heard this was pretty bad, and always having better pumpkin ales on hand, this is one I'd never tried. Until now. And I should have kept on without it. Pours a lackluster golden color (where's the orange glow?) Smells of women's perfume and cinnamon hard candy. That latter flavor dominates the brew, making it difficult to pick out anything else. Lots of sugary cinnamon here, and I think I'd actually enjoy it more if it had some heat to it, like those red hot candies, but it doesn't. Can't find the hops. The mouthfeel is lacking any carbonation bite or noticeable body. Yikes. I love this style...but this is just bad.

Serving type: bottle

09-21-2005 01:22:49 | More by IrishRedRock

UnderPressure

South Carolina

2.08/5  rDev -28.5%
look: 2 | smell: 4 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1 | overall: 2

Twist off. Not a good sign.

Slightly cloudy orange color. Fizzy, not foamy "head" completely disappears almost instantly.

Standard pumpkin pie spice aroma. Good, but, nothing special. Malty background.

I'm getting almost nothing in the flavor department. Slightly vegetal, very subtle pumpkin pie spice in the finish. Very delicately flavored beer.

Terrible mouthfeel. Watery. Overly fizzy. There's nothing about the mouthfeel that I like at all.

This is one of those mass-market pumpkin beers. Probably the worst one I've had. I guess I should have done some research before I bought it. If this truly is "the original" pumpkin beer, I'm glad other breweries have done much better things with this sub-style since this.

Serving type: bottle

10-24-2011 22:02:24 | More by UnderPressure

TastyTaste

Minnesota

2.1/5  rDev -27.8%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 2

Very light copper color, with just a small white froth on top of the beer. Not much lacing to account for. Smells like moldy pumpkin pie, or old Chai. Some pumpkin, but still very musty. Very different, but not in a good way, slightly smokey and bitter, bringing it far away from what I would expect a pumpkin beer. Body is far too thin, not a very good pumpkin beer experience.

Serving type: bottle

08-29-2005 21:11:48 | More by TastyTaste

mashedpotatoes

Ohio

2.1/5  rDev -27.8%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5

Pours pure copper to a small and active head that fizzles like soda. Quickly dissipates with no trace and no lacing. Smell is a combination of herbs and spices, reminds me of one of those antique stores run by somebody's grandma. Taste is more spicy than pumpkiny, however there is a predominance of acidity that is just too uncomfortable to deal with. Mouthfeel is thin and metallic, not anywhere near the robustness I had expected. All in all, I'm thoroughly unimpressed with this beer. I won't buy it again and I don't recommend it.

Serving type: bottle

09-25-2008 00:46:11 | More by mashedpotatoes

merc7186

New York

2.1/5  rDev -27.8%
look: 2 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

I had this beer poured from a bottle into a pint glass.

The beer pours an amber, golden color with almost no head and no lacing at all. The beer smells like a mild pumpkin scent that lingers. The taste is overly carbonated carbonated and bubbly with a mild pumpkin back end. The mouthfeel is over carbonated and somewhat watery. Overall, this was one of the worst pumpkin ales I've ever a had. If you don't like pumpkin and want carbonation...then this is your beer.

Serving type: bottle

10-12-2011 01:05:03 | More by merc7186

theformula

Virginia

2.13/5  rDev -26.8%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2

What in the name of the beer gods is this? Ummmm....

Pours a nice copper, burnt orange color, but the thin head disappeared instantly w/ no lacing.

It doesn't smell much at all, with a light pumpkin and nutmeg if I had to say so.

Spice and pumpkin are faint, with slightly bitter hops. It feels okay in the mouth, but there's not much to it.

Aftertaste is short and dismal. I've had much better and this is pretty shameful. Unfortunately a lame pumpkin ale that doesn't have much going for it. Even the foundational ale is uninspiring.

Sheesh.

Serving type: bottle

10-02-2006 01:53:14 | More by theformula

jdanyeur

Oregon

2.13/5  rDev -26.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 2.5

I cracked open this beer recently and the smell was actually pretty good. it poured an nice orangish-red color. After sipping it, the mouthfeel reminded me of Budweiser or PBR, pretty carbonated and thin. The flavor was almost overwhelmingly sweet to me; they could have used less malt or a some more hops.

Two of my roommates who aren't big beer drinkers actually loved the flavor and said it was a great beer though.

Serving type: bottle

09-11-2011 21:33:20 | More by jdanyeur