I found the Blue Moon pumpkin to taste like a slightly better than usual can of silver bullet. I am in agreement I think shipyard has the market on relative mass produced pumpkin ale despite it still tasting pretty avg to me. I think my issue is that it's too sweet and lacking in solid pumpkin flavor.


Also on the mention of Lambic earlier. I made a sorbet with with aspberry lambic that was pretty awesome for the restaurant I was the chef at for 8 years. Flew out the door almost as fast as it was done freezing. Had a pretty damn amazing mouth feel. A little off topic I know.

I really wish we had some better breweries in the area though Maine is pretty boring.

Sup, SN buddy. (Drinking my second Pale Ale of the day as I type this.)

On the topic of seasonal beers, it's been almost two years since I've been able to find Samuel Adams Octoberfest where I live, and I've no idea why we can't get it. I finally said screw it and bought some Paulaner.

I wish I could mail you some Kaubel, I can find it in every grocery store around here. I would say it's the best Sam Adams' beer of their galaxy of beer's that I've had so far. All I could say is road trip to the Carolina's?Found an interesting brown ale from the St. George Brewing Company, very tasty and was a part of some variety pack so it had a couple of non-mentional beers as well, but this one stood out from the six pack.

If you like 1554, I highly recommend you try New Belgium's Abbey Ale. It's similar to the 1554, but with richer and more complex flavors.

Odd. I've had both and don't really remember many similarities. And while the "Abbey" was good, I like 1554 better. It might fun to do an official side-by-side though.

I find it a tad silly that the seasonal beers are appearing sooner and sooner each year. Sierra Nevada (SN) Summerfest is available in the early to mid Spring, and in my area, you end up being unable to find it during the actual Summertime. It isn't even Halloween yet, and the Sam Adams Octoberfest is gone. I just saw the SN Celebration Ale last week, and that's supposed to be a Winter beer - it has poinsettias on the box! I know someone will say to buy it and store it, but I am not one of those willpower guys. I buy my weekend beer on Friday afternoons, and drink it by Sunday night.

All that being said, I did buy a 12 pack of the Celebration Ale for Game 5 in anticipation of a Phillies victory. Let's not even get into that debacle...

I agree, it's really bad with the fall stuff. The Pumpkin Beers started showing up in July! Who drinks a pumpkin beer in July? I just have gotten so used to the fall stuff vannishing before Thanksgiving here in the US, that I started to grab a Pumpkin Beer to store till then.

At least you can still get Gritty McDuffs Halloween Ale at the right time of year. I'm going to be trying a pack of that this Friday for the holiday.

I have to admit a bit of disappointment with Blue Moon's Pumpkin Ale. Perhaps it's just that I haven't had it before and didn't know what to expect. Generally, when I see pumpkin I'm expecting pumpkin pie, and instead I was tasting roasted pumpkin seeds. Not unpleasant, once I wrapped my mind around it, but not what I was expecting to taste.

If this Shipyard doesn't taste like seeds I'll be happy to try it.

That's weird that you can't find it. You might want to try a pub if you just have to have some. The family business here is a brew pub, and we actually have SA Octoberfest on-tap for the moment. Given that brew pubs are in the business of selling beer and lots of it, there must be some local watering hole that caters to its customers and has it available.

Even weirder, I use this thread to get suggestions on what to restock. If I could just get a keg of Hoegaarden... it always seems to be out.

Well, i think no one really likes american beer. The best comes from good old europe

Ill drink one in memory for all of you, who cant enjoy a good cold german beer.

Heads up for the people who like Stone's stuff. The Double Arogant Bastards are going to be for offical sale starting 11/3! You may even find some on the shelves this weekend.

Going to be stocking up on a bunch myself, because they always vannish really fast here.