Make It Last

Fall is HERE, baby. I thought that I should dig up an old friend - a nice, fall-like beer for today. I’ll be serving pumpkin beer this fine Friday.

Yes, I said pumpkin. It’s ok, don’t panic. Have I ever lead you astray before? (No, don't answer that, I remember the unfortunate rum punch episode.) Just trust me this once, grab your kool-aid & follow me.

I would really like to serve this beer. I haven't tried it yet, but I just ordered some online. Can I just say that I love the internet? Anyway, Punkin' Ale, which just sounds cool, is described as a full-bodied, spiced brown ale brewed with real pumpkins, cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar. Dogfish Head Punkin' Ale is named after the annual Punkin' Chunkin Festival held near Lewes, Delaware the weekend after Halloween.

I don't live near the Punkin Chunkin Festival grounds. I live a lot closer to the middle of nowhere than Delaware. (Although I suppose saying the Delaware is somewhere could be argued as well.) Lucky for me, there is a brewery called the O’Fallon Brewery, located in O’Fallon, MO. That’s sort of near St. Louis, for those who are wondering, and their beer is distributed in my city. Their site is pretty rudimentary, so we won’t link to it. But they don’t lose points for that, because when your business is beer, and you make good beer, I’m willing to overlook poor web design. They make a seasonal Pumpkin Ale, released each year on Sept. 1. Feel free to check out the reviews at BeerAdvocate.com . One such review states:

it's lightly cloudy with a weak head, but the color holds a bit of the orange glow, so the appearance mustered up an average rating. sweet aroma with hints of clove and solid cinnamon: nice. the flavor is a great balance of sweetness and a dose of the requisite spices; not overdone as some brewers have the tendency to do. clean finish with lingering pumpkin flavor and cinnamon. a proper pumpkin beer if ever there were one. recommended.

I hope you like it. If you drink too much, you might do something stupid, worse, make yourself sick.