Haters Are Wrong About Pumpkin Beer

Pumpkin beer season is officially here! Each year, breweries across the country release beers evoking the familiar, comforting flavors of fall pumpkin desserts.

This long-standing tradition dates back centuries—pumpkin beer originated during the American colonial era, with pumpkin pulp being used as a replacement for malt—but didn’t reach its full-fledged saccharine form until the 1980s. That’s when the first examples using pumpkin pie spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and allspice hit the market.

Nowadays, these squash-flavored brews start showing up on store shelves as early as July, which has led to plenty of complaints about seasonal creep. But, according to a long-time beer buyer for several popular craft beer shops in Ohio, pumpkin beers have always shown up on shelves well before autumn.

“More and more people complain every year about how early they arrive, but it’s always been that way in my time,” says Sara Levin, former co-owner of The Barrel House in downtown Dayton. “It’s the same time every year.”

The eye-rolling about the early arrival of pumpkin beers each summer is a barometer for the general discourse around these beers. Craft beer has something of a love-hate relationship with the style.

Well, actually, that’s not entirely true. Most of the craft beer scene is made up of folks who either love pumpkin beers or don’t love them but are perfectly willing to let other people enjoy the things they do. A small, chronically online contingent of the scene, however, loves to hate on these seasonal beers and let others know about it.

Both Beloved and Derided

While not liking pumpkin beer is up to the individual, the haters seem to take great umbrage with anyone liking them.

“When I first got into beer it felt like the more wholesome good ol’ days, like ‘Look at what we can do with different flavors,’” says Courtney Iseman, a beer writer from New York City, explaining the transition that led to more vocal gatekeeping against pumpkin beer. “As more IPA domination settled in, it could feel like you were only into beer if you liked those styles.”

While the online haters are annoying, the most troubling part of the pumpkin beer discourse is the clearly gendered nature of many of the criticisms, whether inferred or blatant. It seems that some think pumpkin beers are—the horror—girly. While the fact that these brave defenders of masculine beer flavors can think of no greater insult is quite revealing, it is hardly surprising. Spiced, dessert-inspired beers have often come under this criticism (and let’s not even start on the sexist sputtering aimed at glitter beer).

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“I think the pumpkin spice latte noise affected beer too,” says Iseman. “Pumpkin gets a bad rap as a basic flavor, like if you want pumpkin spice you want girl beer, you don’t really like real beer.”

Beyond being obviously incorrect—there are no such things as gendered flavors or drink preferences—this beard-clutching dismay misses the oft-overlooked fact that brewing pumpkin beer well is actually pretty hard. They need to be sweet enough to pull off a comforting flavor profile, but not so sweet they’re cloying. The spices need to be apparent without being harsh. You need to make people think “dessert” while they’re drinking it without letting them forget it is, in fact, beer. None of that is easy.

A good pumpkin beer is nostalgic, fun, and delicious—all qualities we value in beer across all styles. Ignore the haters. Drink a pumpkin beer. We rounded up a few of the best ones below.

The Best Pumpkin Beers, According to Pros

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Schlafly Pumpkin Ale

Image Courtesy of Total Wine and More

This St. Louis stalwart is a perennial favorite both for fans of the style and—perhaps more tellingly—even for folks who don’t typically like pumpkin beers.

“Schlafly’s is a classic for a reason: Real pumpkin; grahammy, caramelly malt; a bit of heat from spices like cinnamon and a finish that tempers lingering sweetness with crisp dryness,” says Iseman.

Jolly Pumpkin La Parcela

Michigan’s Jolly Pumpkin was a trailblazer in the world of American sour ales, and they carried that pioneering spirit into the pumpkin beer space with this oak-aged, mixed-fermentation delight.

“So many pumpkin ales follow the same basic format. La Parcela is an outlier, offering intriguing funk and acidity to change things up,” says Melinda Guerra, editor of beer zine Final Gravity.

Southern Tier Pumking

Hailing from southeastern New York, Pumking is pumpkin beer royalty, weighing in at a hefty 8.6% abv.

“You crack that bottle, the room smells like someone just took a pie out of the oven,” says Iseman.

Whole Hog Pumpkin Ale

Wisconsin’s Whole Hog Pumpkin Ale, brewed with real pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg, is the platonic ideal most fans of the style have in mind when they think “pumpkin beer”—lightly sweet, moderately-spiced, and as comforting as your favorite flannel shirt.

This is a fan favorite, like liquid pumpkin pie. “It’s also a personal favorite,” says Levin, “and I look forward to it every year.”

New Holland Ichabod

New Holland Brewing Ichabod Pumpkin Ale Beer — Image Courtesy of Woods Whole Sale Wine

New Holland in Michigan goes against the high-alcohol pumpkin beer trend with this 4.5% abv offering named for the main character of Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

“Being from the Great Lakes region, Ichabod is a seasonal staple for me,” says Guerra. “With so many pumpkin beers being heavier and stronger, it’s nice to have an option you can have more than one of without getting your gourd smashed.”

Wayfinder Beer Corpo Seco

Corpo Seco Wayfinder — Image Courtesy of Beer Search Party

Not all spice comes from, well, spices. This Portland, Oregon brewery looks to an unlikely source to put those comforting notes into Corpo Seco.

“Wayfinder Brewing has created a showstopper. [Brewmaster Natalie Rose Baldwin] double-decocted the pumpkin and treated the beer in Amburana wood barrels. No spices. All magic,” says Cat Wiest, of grower-owned hop purveyor Yakima Chief Hops.

Saint Arnold Pumpkinator

Saint Arnold Bourbon Barrel Pumpkinator — Image Courtesy of Total Wien and More

Houston’s Saint Arnold Brewing puts a twist on the classic pumpkin beer by using an Imperial Stout as the base for the seasonal treatment.

“Pumpkinator is a local legend for a reason, and a far cry from the many pumpkin beers whose synthetic desperation to capture Thanksgiving pudding in a glass leads to oversweet, overspiced, yammy disappointment,” says Texas-based beer writer Ruvani de Silva. “Saint Arnold brews a deep, luxuriant imperial stout that captures the meaty quality of pumpkin flesh, leaning into its natural sweet/savory notes, and using cinnamon, gingerbread, vanilla, and cacao to add subtle warmth.”

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale

This influential Delaware brewery commissions new label art for their Brown Ale brewed with pumpkin and spices every year, using a different artist each time.

“Punkin Ale hits that perfect balance where you get the subtly sweet, earthy pumpkin, and yet the finished product isn’t cloying or too heavy,” says Iseman. “It’s brown sugar-sweet, but stays zippy with its carbonation and drier finish.”

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Talea Basically Pumpkin

NYC darlings Talea have heard the complaints about overly sweet, dessert-like pumpkin beers (and wink at it with the “basic” in the name), and offer a counterpoint with Basically Pumpkin.

“Very light and refreshing,” Iseman says. “For those still crossing their arms, who don’t want a pie in a glass, you get all those flavors but it’s still pretty crisp.”

Starr Hill Wicked Harvest

With whimsical can art and a hefty but not-too-sweet presentation, Wicked Harvest from Virginia is a regional favorite for a reason.

“Wicked Harvest reinvents absolutely nothing—it’s a classic sweet-ish, strong-ish pumpkin spice ale—but it executes the concept extremely well,” says Guerra. “It’s hard to find this familiar format done better.”

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