What’s that you say beer drinker? Samuel Adams Pumpkin Batch, another pumpkin beer from Samuel Adams? Ho hum? Well shame on you and consider this: you are the reason why Boston Beer and so many other breweries are constantly tweaking and reinventing their beers. It’s because you, the beer drinking and loving public, are about as fickle as they come. You always want something new, and hey, when brewers give you that, why are you complaining? You shouldn’t. I don’t.

Boston Beer already has done Samuel Adams Harvest Pumpkin and Samuel Adams Fat Jack Double Pumpkin Ale. Samuel Adams Pumpkin Batch is different still, though. To my taste, it’s a lot like a blend of the Harvest Pumpkin with Samuel Adams Harvest Saison, both fall beers available last year. I bought my six-pack of Samuel Adams Pumpkin Batch in very late August, still a little early for pumpkin beers, but hey, we’re almost there folks.

From the label:

New England fields are full of pumpkins this time of year. Our golden, hazy saison bursts with the rich flavors of pumpkin and classic fall spices, revealing an earthy, floral, and spicy spirit. Cheers!

Ingredients from the website:

HOP VARIETIES: East Kent Goldings and Fuggles

MALT VARIETIES: Samuel Adams two-row pale malt blend, Carafoam

YEAST STRAIN: Belgian Ale Yeast

SPECIAL INGREDIENTS: Real pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg & allspice

Samuel Adams Pumpkin Batch has an alcohol content of 5.6% by volume with 26 IBUs. I paid $8.99 for a six-pack at Kroger but then saw it at Target for just $7.59. Quite a deal, that! My bottles are notched as best before February of 2016.

Samuel Adams Pumpkin Batch pours to a brilliant light orange color with a medium head of short-lived foam and a spicy nose of cloves, nutmeg and pumpkin. A thick layer of Brussels lace forms on the sides of my glass and follows the liquid down to the bottom of the glass. Taking a sip, the beer is lighter in body than past Sam Adams Pumpkin brews, and it adds to the stringy pumpkin vegetal notes and spicy dry nutmeg, cinnamon and pungent ginger notes to decided clove notes from the Belgian yeast. Along with black pepper in the very dry, tart, and surprisingly bitter finish.

I very much enjoyed Samuel Adams Pumpkin Batch, and I’m glad I have more bottles left. It’s an excellent refresher for early fall, and I can imagine it going very well with, say, the Thanksgiving bird. If I still have any left by then.

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