Try Maine's Best Pumpkin Beers of 2022

Come for the leaf peeping & stay for the seasonal beers!

Last year, we had our crew over to do one of my favorite things - a ranked blind taste test! This time, we were hoping to determine the best pumpkin beer from a local Maine brewery. The contestants included Shipyard Brewery, Lone Pine Brewing Company, and Banded Brewing, already some of our favorites.

Rules of the Game:

After purchasing a 4-pack of each of the beers, I carefully wrapped each can with tinfoil and numbered each flavor. Each guest was given a printed copy of the scorecard below and a small cup for tasting (I used mini solo shot glasses). Since I put the game together, I dubbed myself honorary bartender and went around pouring individual tastings for each participant.

As they had a chance to try the beer, each participant gave a 1-5 ranking on the characteristics of appearance, aroma, flavor, mouthfeel, and finish. These numbers could then be added up into a final score, which I did after collecting the scorecard at the end of all 4 rounds. The beer with the highest over-all score at the end of the tasting ranks the highest, and so on!

Alternately for a larger party, you could set up a beer tasting station on a table for participants to try on their own time!

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#1 Pumpkin Head by Shipyard Brewery

Lager

Even in a blind taste test, this popular seasonal beer still came out on top! The blend of spices in this beer just can't be beat.

#2 Pumpkin Party by Lone Pine Brewing Company

Ale

This spiced ale is a little more mellow and is a great easy drinking pumpkin ale.

#3 Gourd Lord my Banded Brewing

Lager

Love the name, and love the take on a pumpkin ale that's truly a little more gourd-forward and less about the pumpkin spice. It tastes like you just bit into a pumpkin, in a good way!

#4 Carnival of Horrors by Lone Pine Brewing Company

Stout

You stout lovers out there will LOVE this beer! Thick and sweet, all the best fall flavors are wrapped up in this tasty beer.

Above is the scorecard I made & used for our event! Peep the 70's vibe - I did forget to mention that this was a 70's themed party on top of the beer tasting event.

Feel free to copy the format above to create your own scorecard & use it to rank any type of beer you want! What will you rank - best beers by City? Flavor profile? Brewery? Let me know in the comments below!