6 best pumpkin beers

Get into the Halloween spirit with a seasonal spiced ale

From lattes to cereal, just when you thought Autumn couldn’t get any more “pumpkin spiced”, America’s favourite gourd has started cropping up in craft beers across the UK.

“Pumpkin ale”, or beer brewed with pumpkin meat and flavoured with pumpkin pie spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, is a style still in its infancy in British brewing. It commands an industry of its own in the US, where the pumpkin spiced season stretches from before Halloween through Thanksgiving and well into December. Seattle-based Elysian Brewery hosts an annual pumpkin beer festival at the beginning of October - from lagers to stouts, this year’s sold-out event hosted more than 80 different pumpkin beers.

In the UK, however, asking a beer aficionado for their thoughts on pumpkin beer can still provoke a reaction as severe as if you’d offered them a can of Budweiser. It’s generally viewed as tacky and a bit gimmicky - the pumpkin spiced latte of the beer world. “We don’t sell any pumpkin ales,” one bearded London barman told me, “because they’re all rubbish.” But for all the criticism, pumpkin beer has a relatively solid pedigree. The idea of adding body to beers with fruit or vegetables is old as brewing itself; in Lithuania, for example, there is a whole strata of traditional ales made with peas. Pumpkin beer specifically has been around since at least the 17th century when, in the US, pumpkins represented a readily available form of sugar with a relatively neutral flavour.

Unfortunately, it’s this neutrality that has earned the beer the ire of present-day hipsters. Pumpkin is, in practice, pretty inoffensive, so brewers amp it up with the infamous “pumpkin spice” blend: nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves. Done well, this results in a beer that pours a glowing amber and is warming, spicy and reassuringly boozey. Done badly, it’s cloyingly sweet and tastes like an out-of-date mulled wine sachet fell into your pale ale. Thankfully, a number of UK brewers have nailed the former - and, in response to growing demand - online stores are beginning to carry some of the best US imports. Here are some of the best home-grown and import pumpkin beers to see you through to winter stout season.

1. Beavertown, Stingy Jack, 7.2%: £2.70 for 330ml, Beavertown

Stingy Jack, a pumpkin beer so outstanding it’s driven most other London brewers out of the pumpkin spiced market, regularly features in lists of the world’s best pumpkin beers - not bad for a brewery based in Tottenham. It’s gently spiced on the nose but outrageous to drink: sweet, boozy, slightly savoury and incredibly perfumed. The meaty pumpkin adds a body that thickens and supports the Christmas cake spices. It pours a thick, burnt orange and is dangerously and enticingly drinkable - unfortunate, because it’s also 7.2 per cent.

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2. Wicked Weed, Xibalba, 8.2%: £12.50 for 500ml, Beer Gonzo

An import from North Carolina’s Wicked Weed brewery, Xibala tastes like a mug of cocoa laced with booze and nutmeg. A thick and abundant imperial (aka strong) ale, its relatively high alcohol level is sharpened by three different kinds of chillies; also present are the ubiquitous “fall spices” for sweetness and cacao nibs for bitterness. Rich and velvety with generous, complex levels of spice and the toasty warmth you’d expect from a stout, it pours a nutty dark brown and at 8.2 per cent is one to savour, slowly.

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3. BrewDog, Pumpkin King, 5.4%: £1.95 for 330ml, Brewdog

With Pumpkin King, BrewDog has managed to achieve a rare thing among pumpkin beers - subtlety. At 5.5 per cent, it’s got the body of a respectable pale ale, but with an added layer of nutmeg, cinnamon and sweetness. Peppery notes add an enjoyable herbiness without overwhelming the beer. It's a good introduction to savoury flavours in beer and a great choice for people who aren’t ready to go full pumpkin or who are looking for an autumnal session beer - because unlike many pumpkin beers, you can drink pints of this without slipping into a Halloween coma.

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4. Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, La Parcela, 5.9%: £17.95 for 750ml, Beer Gonzo

A truly artisanal pumpkin beer for people who think they hate pumpkin beer, La Parcela, by Michigan’s Jolly Pumpkin Brewery, is unique (and has the price tag to match): a sour, oak-aged ale made with real pumpkin meat and cacao. Extremely acidic, it has the refreshing drinkability and hazy yeast of a farmhouse ale with a spicy, creamy finish. The lemony bite might disappoint hop-heads and pumpkin pie fans, but it’s a clean drink that slices through the usual nutmeg haze and doesn’t hide behind syrupy sweetness.

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5. Brooklyn Brewery, Post Road Pumpkin Ale, 5%: £2.59 for 355ml, Beer Hawk

Malty and drinkable, a great balance between fruity, fragrant hops and bitter pumpkin is struck in Brooklyn’s offering. It is heavy on the nutmeg, but that’s counterbalanced by the solid earthiness of the pumpkin - hundreds of pounds of pumpkin meat is blended into the mash of each batch. All this means that Post Road sits at the more accessible end of the pumpkin spiced spectrum - so it would be great paired with hearty autumn stews, roasts and casseroles.

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6. Hobgoblin, Pumpking, 3.8%: £1.25 for 500ml, Morrisons

Significantly lighter than most pumpkin beers, Pumpking is a decent - and cheap - pumpkin beer. Best suited to fans of Hobgoblin’s ubiquitous ruby ale, it doesn’t exactly reek of pumpkin spice, but it pours an earth-y, apricot glass with a surprising punch. It lacks some of the sweetness of stronger pumpkin ales, but that can be a good thing - after the initial, vanilla and spice overload the milder, biscuit-y ale flavours take over.

In stores in November

The Verdict: Pumpkin beers

For price, availability and pumpkin punch, you can’t do better than Beavertown’s Stingy Jack. The beer is also available on keg and makes an amazing Autumn pint. Juicy and accessible, it’s a great introduction to some of the more complex offerings on this list.