Our Favorite Pumpkin Beers to Drink This Fall Season

Drinking a hard cider from Samuel Smith is like sipping history. Brewed at Yorkshire’s oldest brewery, established in 1758, Samuel Smith Cider Reserve is made with two varieties of apples for the perfect balance of sweetness and tartness. It’s a perfect choice for warming up at your favorite pub.

Manufacturer: Samuel Smith 

It’s good to be the king when it's Pumking, Southern Tier Brewing’s pumpkin imperial pale ale. This bittersweet medium-bodied beer will have you thinking of Thanksgiving dessert, with its notes of pumpkin pie spices, vanilla, pecan, and butter. Pumking is available August through October from Southern Tier, a Lakewood, New York-based brewer. 

This Croydon, Pennsylvania-based brewer started its signature pumpkin beer with an imperial version of their Dunks Ferry Dunkelweizen and then added pumpkin puree to the mash along with plenty of pumpkin pie spice. Sip this brew and you’ll get hints of dark brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves.

Brewed with pumpkin meat, brown sugar, and the warm, sweet spices associated with grandma’s pumpkin pie, Dogfish Head Punkin comes out from August through November to herald autumn. Dogfish Head gives Punkin a slight cinnamon tingle that’s perfect for warming up. Since it pairs perfectly with roast turkey, include this Milton, Delaware, brew at your Thanksgiving feast. 

Think a summertime shandy-style beer only darker, richer, and pumpkin-infused, and you’re wishing for Samuel Adams Jack-O Pumpkin Ale. The iconic Massachusetts brewery brings out this beer from August through October, just in time for fall. Pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice make this amber pumpkin ale perfect for fall days and nights.

The biggest, boldest pumpkin beer of this batch is Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin. With its 9% ABV, this pumpkin has a kick. Pale ale, wheat, and light Munich malts give this powerful pumpkin beer smoothness, but not without a little nutmeg and spiciness from Saphir and Hallertau hops.

Salty, sweet, and caramel-forward, Salted Caramel Pumpkin Beer from Missouri-based O’Fallon Brewing Company has a creamy sweetness from caramel malts and lactose. Pumpkin puree, pink Himalayan sea salt, and a proprietary spice blend make this a balanced beer that touches all the tastebuds. Salted Caramel Pumpkin Beer is available from August through November.

A deep orange beer, Good Gourd has the color of pumpkins and the flavor of a pumpkin pie with notes of caramel and roasted pumpkin. A Tampa, Florida beer, Good Gourd has a touch of floral hoppy bitterness that balances the sweetness of the pumpkin and cinnamon.

Baltimore, Maryland brewer Heavy Seas gives Great’er Pumpkin a little something extra: bourbon-barrel aging. Available August through October, Great’er Pumpkin mixes the sweetness of pumpkin pie spice and pumpkin with notes of bourbon, oak, and vanilla. With the high ABV, Great’er Pumpkin is a pumpkin beer to sip slowly and savor.

You could warm up with any old pumpkin beer, but this New Belgium pumpkin beer brings the heat. Voodoo Ranger Atomic Pumpkin is brewed with the usual cinnamon and pumpkin that most pumpkin beers have, plus something most don’t: habanero peppers. The result is a smooth pumpkin beer with an afterburner reminiscent of Atomic Fireball candies.

Like a slice of pumpkin pie in a bottle, this pumpkin beer from St. Louis, Missouri-based brewer Schlafly gives its pumpkin ale a little snap from ginger. Schlafly Pumpkin Ale pairs beautifully with fall’s flavors and is as smooth as pumpkin cheesecake with a gingersnap crust.

Pennsylvania-based Tröegs Independent Brewing pours a caramel-forward pumpkin beer that’s perfectly balanced with notes of vanilla bean, cinnamon, nutmeg, and, of course, pumpkin! About 3,000 pounds of locally grown pumpkins are picked and roasted each fall to make this pumpkin beer that’s available from September through October.

Here’s a pumpkin beer that’s so good it’s scary. Roadsmary’s Baby by Two Roads Brewing Company is a traditional pumpkin ale with a unique twist: aging in rum barrels for greater complexity. Notes of rum, oak, vanilla, cinnamon, and smooth pumpkin make this dark beer a must around Halloween.