United Nations of Beer

Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin ale

by Matt Morgan and Chris Perrin
(Beer Delegates, IL and MO)

Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin ale

There is something inherently special about the fall season. Trick-or-Treat!

The same 55 degree weather that summons the T-shirts in spring, beckons your favorite hoodie in fall.

Raking leaves was an unpleasant household chore and neighborhood hustle growing up that yielded hands calloused and full of cash.

More sugar is moved than a Columbian cartel could handle and smashing pumpkins and shaving cream fights replaced trick-or-treating when you got too old for your molded plastic-faced Luke Skywalker costume. Halloween is fall's Christmas, although more purely pagan.

When the temperature falls with the leaves dry and crunching beneath your feet, pumpkin ale is where it's at. I personally prefer it to Märzen, more widely known as Oktoberfest beers.

Nothing against a good Märzen or Stout beer, it's just that pumpkin beer packs more comfort into its flavor profile for this short time of year.

I've tried only a handful of the offerings out there, but my favorite so far is Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin ale.

A close second is Dogfish Head Punkin’ Ale. Both lend themselves well to comparisons of pumpkin pie.

I tried Buffalo Bill's about four years ago at the only place that carried it at the time. It used to sell out in about a week. I got my uncle, who lays flooring by trade, to retile our kitchen floor three years ago for little more than a case of Buffalo Bill's. Of course it was family, but a square deal and testament to Buffalo Bill’s liquid currency.

Only more recently have I seen other craft brewers marketing this comfort beer. I guess the term comfort beer is a bit redundant, but you get the point.

Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin ale pours a medium orange-brown color with a thin head that dissipates quickly. Clove spice is most prominent on the nose and front of the tongue, with warm sweet cinnamon and nutmeg flavors in the middle.

The aftertaste is the best; it's as if you just had a bite of pumpkin pie. It's very light and crisp, which just seems to go with the crunching noise of fall leaves being walked on, if that makes any sense at all.

What I like most is the pumpkin flavor all the way through. Buffalo Bill's Brewing boasts using real pumpkins in their recipe, which does set them apart from a lot of craft-brewed pumpkin beers. It pairs well with acorn squash bisque.

Try this on for a nice fall retreat; rent some scary movies, prepare some nice turkey sandwiches (preferably Panini), use sourdough bread with cranberry aioli, arugula and Swiss cheese. Sweet potato fries or chips are optional but do complete the theme. Acorn squash bisque is highly recommended.

Then grab some Buffalo Bills Pumpkin ale and your sweetie for a nice cuddle while you watch your movie. Don’t forget to anticipate a suspenseful climax scene and poke your partner in the ribs and scream at the same time, it's that much better!

Matt Morgan

It is October, a month that features two great holidays. In Germany, October is the month of Oktoberfest. In America, October 31st is Halloween, a holiday featuring carved pumpkins, ghost tales, children dressed in costumes and a number of seasonal pumpkin beers.

Pumpkin beers are surprisingly popular at this time of year, as few other brews have their unique blend of sweet and spice, a fact that became distressingly clear as I looked to sample one.

The liquor store I visited were completely sold out of all their pumpkin beers except for Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale, out of Hayward, California.

I will admit to being a bit leery of purchasing the one pumpkin ale that was not sold out. When I got home, though, and poured my first mug, all fears were completely eradicated.

Buffalo Bill's Brewery Pumpkin Ale is about as good a fruit flavored beer as I have ever had the fortune to try.

Its base is a deeper ale, like a Nut Brown rather an white ale. Logically, that may not make sense as the deeper flavor of a darker ale might overwhelm the pumpkin taste and the tanginess of an unfiltered wheat seems to match perfectly with cinnamon and nutmeg.

However, the brewmasters who crafted this beer seem to understand that darker ales overwhelm delicate flavors, so they made their Pumpkin ale anything but delicate.

If I did not know any better, I would say that they had bottled really good pumpkin pie. When the beer hits the tongue, it tastes like a brown ale should, but almost immediately the tongue is overwhelmed with the flavor of pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg and the sweetness of sugar.

The flavor is just a tease, though, as the aftertaste returns back to the original brown ale. Still, that tease worked. It left me wanting more.

If there are any knocks against this beer, it might be that it is too sweet. Sugar is good in a pumpkin pie, but most do not expect it from their beer. Because of the sweetness, this beer is probably going to be just a seasonal, for the vast majority of beer drinkers who tend to prefer more savory beer.

Even those who classify themselves as not liking fruity or sweet beer should give Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin ale a try, even if it is only a bottle or two. It is a refreshing beer and a good change from more traditional beers. Overall, it is definitely worth a try.

Chris Perrin