Beer Tastings: Dogfish Head Punkin Ale

I think the coolest thing about fall seasonal beers is the extra appreciation you have every time you take a sip of one of these short lived beauties. For two or three months you get to go buck wild hunting down and tasting these beers as much as you can and as often as you can. Dogfish Head Punkin Ale is one of those seasonals I can taste in my mind all year long and can't wait to taste for real every fall.

I just got back from Delaware a few days ago and was hoping that while I was on the Dogfish Brewery Tour I would get to taste some. Lucky, I was not, finding none on the tour, and to add salt to the wound I saw that they had some on tap literally two days after I visited their brewpub. Yesterday, however, my urges were satiated when I finally hunted one down at Bobby's Burger Palace in Hanover.

As I said when I checked into this beauty on untappd, this beer is worth it's weight in gold. The taste is incredible. I don't know how they do it, but the flavor they get from their spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, and all spice) is so well balanced and prominent without ever being cloying. Many times the sharp flavor from these spices takes your taste buds for hostage. Here you just get wonderful flavor and if you close your eyes you almost feel like you're eating the best pumpkin pie you've ever had in your life. If I had to guess, I'd say the brown sugar is what keeps this Ale so well balanced. The extra sweetness and subtle maple flavor does a great job of taking a lot of the bite out of all the other strong spice flavors.

If you don't like beer, try this one out. I guarantee it will make you look at beer in a whole new light. Punkin Ale is that approachable, but it's not so dumbed down that a craft brew veteran won't also be happy. Take my advice and get one ASAP. Punkin Ale is one fall beer you don't want to pass on until September 2013. If the Mayans are right, this is your last chance and it'd be a damn shame for the world to end having never tasted a Punkin Ale.

Style: Brown Ale
ABV:7.0
IBU:  28