Brewing pumpkin beer comes with very little structure or rules that must be followed. You can find pumpkin beers with a base of a standard ale, a heavy stout, a coffee porter, a sour ale, a Märzen lager, and so many other styles that can be utilized with pumpkin.

Most pumpkin beers taste great, but my second reason for being so interested in this style is that pumpkin/yam beers were a popular style in early American societies. Many scholars believe that, around 1620, colonial brewers used pumpkins and squash—among many other adjuncts containing natural sugars—to help with fermentation. In Joshua M. Bernstein’s The Complete Beer Course, he explains:

“To stretch out the costly grain, crafty brewers grabbed anything and everything that contained fermentable sugars and flavor, such as Jerusalem artichokes, persimmons, spruce tips, molasses, corn, and pumpkins.”

When enjoying pumpkin beer, we can go out on a limb and say that we’re drinking ales and lagers similar to what colonials consumed over 400 years ago. Thankfully, our society has the resources to craft more palatable pumpkin beers than those brewed by our ancestors. Read on to learn about some of Houston’s own renditions of this broad style!

“Pumpkin Spice Oktoberfest” – Saloon Door Brewing

While I’m not sure how German brewers feel about it, I’m a big fan of using pumpkin to add a little fun to a classic Märzen-style lager.

This version of Saloon Door’s classic Oktoberfest lager has organic pumpkin puree and spices added. The brewers achieved a perfect balance in what I believe was the intent of this brew. The adjuncts are present and welcome but not too robust, allowing the base beverage to shine. I enjoyed the light scent of cinnamon and subtle taste of pumpkin upfront, with the malty, lightly hoppy finish you’d expect from a quality Oktoberfest/Märzen lager.

“Nightmare on 1st Street” – No Label Brewing Company

If you enjoy vintage slasher films like I do, you might appreciate this beer just for its name. Of course, it comes with cool artwork and marketing to match.

As fun as this beer is, drink it slowly—it clocks in at 9.27% ABV, making it the second-strongest beer on this list.

What makes this pumpkin beer unique is No Label’s use of an imperial amber ale as the base. The beer is bready and malty, with light notes of caramel or toffee. On top of that, cinnamon and ginger take center stage as the dominant flavors. No Label suggests pairing this beer with roast turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie, and I think they nailed it.

“Nightmare on 1st Street” is a perfect addition to this list of late fall treats, guaranteed to warm you up on a cool Houston night.

“Pumpkin Coffee Porter” – H Town Brewing Co.

H Town Brewing Co. may have been first this season to release a pumpkin beer in the greater Houston area.

“Pumpkin Coffee Porter” is a coffee porter first and a pumpkin beer second. It has a rich coffee flavor with a light scent of pumpkin to complement it. The beer’s consistency is on the lighter side for a porter, a welcome trait when enjoyed outdoors on a warm September afternoon.

“Yeller Weller Pumpkin Spice” – Elder Son Brewery

Elder Son Brewery has a seasonal milk stout called “Yeller Weller,” a semi-sweet, well-balanced dark beer with vanilla bean added. This October, they released both the seasonal ale and a pumpkin variant called “Yeller Weller Pumpkin Spice.”

This 5.7% ABV milk stout has light coffee and chocolate notes from its base beer, complemented by fall spices and pumpkin flavor. This beer is a sweet treat and my current favorite dessert beer in town.

“Pumpkinator (2024)” – Saint Arnold Brewing Company

No list of Houston-area pumpkin beers would be complete without our region’s most popular pumpkin beer: “Pumpkinator.”

This heavily layered, complex stout is perfect for sipping slowly. Each sip brings new flavors to the palate. The 2024 version offers robust notes of pumpkin, brown sugar, and molasses up front, balanced by the black coffee flavors typical of this style.

“Pumpkinator” earns high regard not just for its flavor but also for being brewed with real pumpkin—a brewing practice that seems to be fading.

Finally, one of my favorite things about “Pumpkinator” is the bottle. Packaged in a 22oz bomber, “Pumpkinator” can be enjoyed by one’s self, but it is quite a commitment. The other purpose of this size bottle is to enjoy it with someone you care about. 22oz of this beer with a friend or family member is the perfect vehicle to enjoy one’s company, share memories and
make new ones.

“Old Gourd” – Vallensons’ Brewing Company

Although the beers in this article aren’t ranked, Vallensons’ “Old Gourd” is my personal favorite of the season.

This ale contains real pumpkin, a rare but admirable choice among brewers. It’s packed with flavor, making other traditional pumpkin ales seem bland. The beer features squash flavors complemented by cinnamon and other spices. At just 5% ABV, it’s a flavorful yet sessionable option.

Honorable Mentions

Here are a few more pumpkin beers from the Houston area that I’ve heard great things about but haven’t tried yet. If you enjoy any beers mentioned—or others I’ve missed—let me know your thoughts!

• “Pumpkin Annihilation” – Spicy Pumpkin Barleywine – Excalibur Brewing
• “Gourd in the Stone” – Pumpkin Imperial Stout – Excalibur Brewing
• “Smashing Pumpkin” – Pumpkin Ale – Galveston Island Brewing
• “Haunted Toffee Harvest” – Pumpkin Toffee Cream Ale – Saloon Door Brewing
• “Scared of the Dark” – Pumpkin Pie Spiced Stout – Holler Brewing

Enjoy the rest of pumpkin beer season, Houston!

Cheers!

The post Pumpkin Beer Season is Still Upon Us, Houston first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Pumpkin Beer Season is Still Upon Us, Houston appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

Saint Arnold Pumpkinator aged in Bourbon Barrels

Although pumpkin beers have been around for centuries, their popularity has definitely increased in proportion with other pumpkin spiced goods. Go down the grocery store beer aisle, and there will be countless pumpkin spiced options. Some of these beers are good, some seem just to be following the fad, and some stand out above the crowd.

Saint Arnold Pumpkinator recently won Gold in the pumpkin beer category at The Great American Beer Festival, and it’s easy to see why. I fell in love with this beer in its original release as Divine Reserve 9 way back in 2009. The dessert-like qualities of the beer brought to mind Thanksgiving and pumpkin pie. Now it’s a beer I enjoy every Thanksgiving as I’m laying around watching football in a food coma. In 2015, Saint Arnold decided to age this wonderful beer in Woodford Reserve bourbon barrels and released it as Bishop Barrel #9. I, of course, tracked this down at a local bar and thoroughly enjoyed it. When the opportunity arose to get a bottle of this year’s bourbon barrel aged Pumpkinator in advance of its public release, I jumped on it. I was excited to see this beer finally being released at a retail level, instead of the bar/restaurant-only level of the older Bishop Barrels. I also thought this would be a fantastic opportunity to crack open my last Bishop Barrel #9 (BB9) from my cellar for a side by side review. I’ve always sworn by the practice of aging the original Pumpkinator between 1-2 years before enjoying; it’s one of the few beers out there that I think improves with a little age. So naturally, I was curious to see what had developed with the aging process on the bourbon barrel aged version of Pumpkinator as well.

Saint Arnold Bishop Barrel 9 and 2017 Pumpkinator Aged in Bourbon Barrels

When you drink Pumpkinator, you want to let it warm up some to bring out the spices and body. Saint Arnold recommends that you let t warm to at least 50 degrees Fahrenheit. I pulled both bottles out of my fridge about 30 minutes before opening them. I poured about 1/3 of each bottle into separate snifters. I opened the BB9 first, and the smell absolutely brought me everything I was looking for. It smelled just like pumpkin pie baking in the oven. There’s always that moment of wondering when you open an older bottle – Did it last? Did it oxidize? Is it infected? The answer to all of these questions was “No” for this bottle. The younger bottle produced an identical aroma, and even sitting on the patio on a muggy night, the smell in the air was wonderful. I tasted the older BB9 first, and it was everything I was hoping for. Thick mouthfeel, flavors of pumpkin, clove, and nutmeg, and such great qualities coming from the bourbon barrel – vanilla, oak, a hair char, and some lingering booze. It was a special treat.

The newer release of bourbon barrel aged Pumpkinator was significantly different than the older BB9. Although also aged in Woodford Reserve bourbon barrels, the newer bottle came across much more boozy than BB9. If I were blind tasting these two beers, I would have immediately thought the older one was aged with an older bourbon barrel than the newer one. Instead of the flavors melding together like the older version, the newer beer is less complex. The flavors that were harder to detect in the new bottle were those coming from the barrel itself. The vanilla, oak, and char were mostly absent or at least less pronounced. The newer version also has a thinner mouthfeel, and it was harder to detect the pumpkin itself. Although I intuitively know that the newer bottle should have a stronger spice flavor, I thought the booze was masking it too much in comparison to the flavors of the older bottle. I still enjoyed the newer version quite a bit, but they were significantly different beers.

I shared the rest of both bottles with a few beer loving friends in order to gather their opinions as well. Everyone that tasted the two liked the older BB9 more. When I explained they were the same beer, just 2.5 years release difference, everyone said they’re going to buy some on Monday to forget about for a couple of years. It’s a complete argument against the Drink Now movement, but if you can get your hands on a couple of the new barrel aged Pumkinator I’d strongly encourage you to pop one now and save one for later. I think you’ll be happy you did.

The post Saint Arnold Releases Bourbon Barrel Aged Pumpkinator first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Saint Arnold Releases Bourbon Barrel Aged Pumpkinator appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.