The best pumpkin beer doesn’t taste like fresh pumpkin. It tastes like a pumpkin’s vibe. It’s spiced and warm and cozy. There’s a lot of pumpkin beer out there, with local craft breweries hopping on the seasonal train. But only a few are available nationwide. We tried those, and we found the best pumpkin beers.
Some people wait for PSLs to hit the menu before donning their UGGs, snuggling into their oversized, Nora Efron movie-inspired oversized sweaters, and officially calling it fall. I wait patiently for the pumpkin beers to make their first appearance. Every year, I get excited when those spooky labels start popping up on liquor store shelves. Every year I get a six-pack. Every year I drink one, maybe two—it’s good pumpkin carving beer. And every year I shrug and move onto the real beverage of fall: whiskey.
That’s all to say that I like pumpkin beer, but I haven’t found one that truly captured that essence of fall and had staying power. So, I was psyched, for the second year in a row, to crack open a selection of the most popular pumpkin beer brands available at grocery stores and find the best pumpkin beer for fall—a pumpkin beer that will keep me coming back for more. Luckily, I didn’t just find one best pumpkin beer, I found the nine best pumpkin beers. Here they are.
- Howling Gourds Pumpkin Ale
Trader Joe’s is good at a few things: frozen appetizers, snacks, cheese, and beer. Their pumpkin ale not only has adorable packaging (another thing TJ’s excels at) featuring fun little pumpkin guys howling at the moon, but it also is the best pumpkin ale for those who want a lot of spice in their pumpkin spice—and it’s also cheap because it’s Trader Joe’s. It smells like pumpkin pie and it tastes like nutmeg and cinnamon and allspice. It comes in at 7% ABV, so it’s a sipper. Try this pumpkin ale with a slice of pie or something else sweet to offset the drying spices.
Credit: Merc / Trader Joe’s
- Southern Tier Pumking Imperial Pumpkin Ale
This pumpkin beer sits firmly on the dessert side of the best pumpkin beer spectrum. It claims to be pumpkin pie in a glass and, guess what? That’s what it tastes like. It’s like if a slice of pumpkin pie and a cream soda had a baby and that baby was 8.6% alcohol. Unlike its dark and moody brother, Warlock (more on that later), this imperial pumpkin ale from Southern Tier is all sunshine and sprinkles. If Warlock is a teen on Mischief Night, then Pumking is a golden-curled trick-or-treater politely asking for just one piece of sweet, sweet candy. Personally speaking, though, I couldn’t have more than one. It’s that indulgent. But it’s worth trying.
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- New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Atomic Pumpkin
This pumpkin beer isn’t pumpkin spice beer. It’s pumpkin spicy beer. It has serious heat to it. And it doesn’t make sense on paper, but it works! Spicy pumpkin spice! It has a clean, fruity pumpkin flavor that is quickly chased by peppery heat. “It tastes like a crafts store smells in the fall and I absolutely love that,” said managing editor Gwynedd Stuart. Even though it’s a reasonable 6.4% ABV, you probably can’t drink a lot of these in one sitting, but it’s more than just a gimmick. It’s a great way to shake up your usual pumpkin beer lineup. And if you like spicy beers, this is definitely the best pumpkin beer you can buy.
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- Left Hand Pumpkin Spice Latte
If you wish your pumpkin spice latte was beer, then behold, this new addition to our list is the best pumpkin beer for you. This nitro pumpkin ale is made with spices and actual coffee and you taste every bit of it. Thanks to its nitro nature, it’s low carbonation and extremely creamy—just like a real, iced PSL. If you’re craving a bubbly beer that tastes like malt and hops, this ain’t it. This is the best pumpkin beer for people who do not technically like beer but do like pumpkin spiced coffee drinks.
Credit: Merc / Total Wine
- 21st Amendment Brewery Pumpkin Haze IPA
Another new addition to our list of the best pumpkin beers, 21st Amendment’s Pumpkin Haze IPA is the exact opposite of Left Hand’s latte-inspired pumpkin beer. This is the best pumpkin beer for people who really looooove beer. It smells fresh and zesty and hoppy. It tastes like a classic hazy IPA—but with the addition of pumpkin pie spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. The sweetness of the beer complements those spices in an unexpected way, and it ends on a pleasant, classic IPA bitter note. This pumpkin IPA is an IPA first and a pumpkin beer second.
Credit: Merc / Total Wine
- Southern Tier Warlock Imperial Pumpkin Stout
This is less of a pumpkin beer and more of a pumpkin pie crust beer. It’s bold and vanilla-forward, dark and complex, with the aroma of a fresh-baked graham cracker crust. It’s sweet but finishes with a delicious bitterness that helps balance out the dessert-friendly beer. Even though it’s not the most pumpkin-y beer on this list, this is the best pumpkin beer to pair with dessert at Thanksgiving. And at 8.6%, it’s one of the booziest pumpkin beers on the list.
Credit: Merc / Total Wine
- Elysian Dark O’ the Moon Pumpkin Stout
Stout lovers, this is the best pumpkin beer for you. It has a lovely spiced aroma and it manages to get those signature bitter stout flavors in while still nodding to some pumpkin notes. The gourd shows itself as hints of acidity, which complement the dark stout’s deep, almost coffee-like quality. “It’s cinnamon-y, but it’s really subtle and nice,” said Gwynedd. “It’s pumpkiny, but not in that wedged-in way. This makes sense.” At 7.5%, this pumpkin stout is the best pumpkin beer to enjoy as a nightcap—something to sip around the campfire.
Credit: Merc / Total Wine
- Dogfish Head Punkin Ale
I love this subtly flavored pumpkin beer. Dogfish Head brews this seasonal brown ale with real, honest-to-Hecate pumpkin meat, along with brown sugar and spices. So, it’s the best pumpkin beer if you want to drink actual pumpkin beer. It channels that sweet, squash-y flavor, which is complemented by the slightest touch of sweetness from the brown sugar. It finishes in a classically brown ale-y way—just slightly bitter and dry. It tastes as cozy as a leaf pile looks (leaf piles look extremely cozy).
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Elysian The Great Pumpkin Imperial
This is a great pumpkin beer—in fact, it’s the best pumpkin beer. It smells like bright, vibrant pumpkin and tastes malty and spiced with plenty of nutmeg. It tastes like fall in the Northeast. This is not the best pumpkin beer for chugging, though, if that’s how you prefer to imbibe your bevies (please don’t do that, please drink your seasonal beers responsibly). It packs a punch at 8.4% ABV and it tastes like it. This is the best pumpkin ale for sipping. Kick back in your flannel and enjoy it.
Credit: Merc / Total Wine
Best Spiced
Best as Dessert
Best Spicy
Best for PSL Lovers
Best for IPA Lovers
Best with Dessert
Best Stout
Best Real Pumpkin
Best of the Best
Other pumpkin beers we tried: Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale, Elysian Punkuccino Coffee Pumpkin Ale, Shipyard Brewing Pumpkin Ale, Saranac Pumpkin, Uinta Pumpkin Ale, Southern Tier Caramel Pumpking
Schlafly has the best pumpkin ale out there!!! Even dontdrinkbeer gave it the #1spot
I think Pumpking is the king of pumpkim beers. Elysian tastes like pumpkin pulp with a bitter aftertaste. Its not bad, but Pumpking and Southern Tier are the best of the best. Pumpking just embodies those fall flavors. To each their own. Thanks for the list.
How many more did you try? There are so damn many of them these days… you could do this every year and never run out.
Same applies for Xmas beers now.
What xmas beers do you like? We’re trying to get our list together now!
Delirium Noel and Ridgeway’s Lump of Coal stout would be my favorite Xmas beers, although the latter is getting hard to find in my neck of the USA.
I actually really enjoyed the Sam Adams Jack-O beer. I am not an IPA fan and a good majority of pumpkin beers are of that ilk. Will definitely try Dogfish though. Doesn’t seem like one.