After years of avoiding the celebrated seasonal favorite, I recently discovered that apparently, I enjoy pumpkin spice… or at least pumpkin ale. Who knew! So to celebrate, I decided to sample a few local varieties, some of which can be found at RI-area breweries or in your favorite liquor store. I’ve managed to taste test a few so far and I’m looking forward to sampling the rest. Ā 

Taproot Brewing Company at Newport Vineyards has a pair of offerings this season. First up, it’s the more traditional “Wicked Squashed” (7.3 ABV), made from pumpkins grown on site. For a really special brew, I’m looking forward to slow sipping the “Imperial Pumpkin,” a 12.0 ABV brew, matured in bourbon barrels for over a year. It’s described as a ā€œrich-bodied beer with big flavors of cinnamon French toast, pumpkin ice cream and brown sugar.ā€ For more, click here.

Cambridge Brewing Company’s ā€œGreat Pumpkin Aleā€ is billed as New England’s first pumpkin ale. I sampled a glass and found it to be quite flavorful, sweetened with cinnamon and allspice. There’s a nice amber hue, and a mellow aftertaste, midway between refreshing and filling. The brew uses locally harvested sugar pumpkins from Lazy Acres farm in Hadley, MA, and has an ABV of 5.5%, slightly lower than similar ales. For more, click here.

Narragansett Brewery has put together a pleasing small batch of pumpkin ale available only in the new Providence brewery. I enjoyed a glass of ā€œGourd Reaperā€ (6.2 ABV) with a cinnamon sugar-rimmed glass. The well-balanced ale went down smooth – it’s a tasty treat for the season. Highly recommended if you stop by the brewery. For more, click here.

Smug Brewery’s ā€œGourd’s Gone Wildā€ certainly wins the contest for best pumpkin ale name. The beer ain’t too bad either. It tasted a little sweeter than most of the others I sampled, likely due to the ā€œtouch of vanillaā€ added to the brew that includes cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice. Highly recommended. For details, click here.

Shipyard Brewing Co.’s ā€œPumpkinheadā€ (4.5ABV) is a little more like a traditional golden ale. Based in Portland, Maine, the brewery has created a refreshing bottled product that should lead to more widespread appeal. It’s tasted fine, certainly not as rich as some of the others on this list, but lighter and more refreshing. A little more like a traditional golden ale. For more, click here.

Whaler’s Brewery in Kingston has brewed up a popular pumpkin beer sure to pack a punch, at 7.8 % ABV, with ā€œnotes of warm pumpkin pie, brown sugar, & cinnamon.ā€ We’ll be sampling this one very soon. For more, click here.


Ken Abrams

Lifestyle Editor Ken Abrams writes about music, the arts and more for What'sUpNewp. He is also a contributor to Providence Monthly, SO RI, Hey Rhody and The Bay magazines. Ken DJ's "The Kingston Coffeehouse,"...