It finally feels like October! Like a week before the end of October. As I told my roommate, I want my money back. (“For… October?” she asked. “Did you make a down payment?” “Yes,” I said. “Impulse purchase.”) It is chilly, and I am on vacation from work until Tuesday because my mom is coming to visit and I am very excited, as she is the lady responsible for me being such a lush.

So! I filled up a growler, and got something for myself to sip on whilst I wait for her to arrive from the airport. I love pumpkin beer madly, so I picked one of the larger bottles off the cold shelf. The nice guy who has served me there before, Jon, asked me if I’d had it before, and said it was an interesting one–very pumpkiny, and with a high alcoholic punch.

This does have 9% alcohol, and… wow, it is definitely a pumpkin brew like no other. Most pumpkin ales taste more like ale than pumpkin, but this one gets directly in your face with a heavy toasted sweet scent, like Halloween candy. The beer really is remarkably sweet. There’s caramel malt in the mix, and that comes out strongly, making the final taste in your mouth something akin to candy corn. The scent reminds me of the ridiculous pumpkin scents from goth perfume warehouse Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab.

So, it’s weird, and it’s sweet, and it’s pumpkiny. Do I like it? …yeah, I’d say so. It’s one of the weirdest beers I’ve tasted, but it’s good to mix things up. Most other pumpkin brews start to taste a little the same after a while, without much variety in the mix. And, unexpectedly, this went quite well with a spicy chipotle lamb chili!

BUY IT AGAIN: Probably not, honestly, unless I want to go “Taste this!!” at someone.

Yeah, I had all my ratatat about it not yet being the right weather for pumpkin ales in my last post, but then, after drinking off the rest of that Bluepoint IPA, I decided I needed more beer and staggered across the street to pick up something else. My boozing companion Arielle had mentioned that Blue Moon had a pumpkin brew, and when I saw it, I basically couldn’t resist.

However, Arielle had described it as tasting basically exactly like regular Blue Moon, and by gum, she’s right. It does have a very pleasant aftertaste of pumpkin spices, though. This actually made it a perfect choice for this not-quite-summer/not-quite-fall time of year. It’s still light enough on the tongue to not weight you down at the end of the summer heat, but it has a really great promise of fall. A perfect September beer.

BUY IT AGAIN: For another month, sure.

My first growler refill! They were out of the one I wanted, the Kelso of Brooklyn Hop Lager, so I went for something else guaranteed to be pretty damn hoppy, the Bluepoint IPA. And boy, howdy, does it not disappoint on the hoppiness.

I sort of have to be in the right mood for an IPA. It’s a weird world right now, weather wise, trying to figure out what to drink. Light summery things are not entirely required right now, but you can’t quite go into the heavy red wines and pumpkin ales yet. Oh, how I eagerly await the first crisp day; autumnal drinks and foods are about my favorite things in the world.

So, an IPA seems one of those beverages that’s sort of on the edge right now. That said, though, the Bluepoint is a really good beer. As the name implies, it has no damn apologies about how hoppy it is. The Whole Foods description is, “Huge, earthy, dry hop aroma is followed by a pleasant caramel sweetness.” I’d recommend drinking this beer not so cold; you get more of the sweetness to balance out getting all hopped up in the face.

First day out of the growler, this had a great thick heavy head; 24 hours later, it still has bubbles, but doesn’t foam up much. I’d wager that you can probably get about two days max out of one of these, after you open it up for the first time.

BUY IT AGAIN?: Yeah, though probably moreso later in the month.

Lady pains continued—nay, increased—today, so instead of buying a bottle of Aleve like a normal person who isn’t an alcoholic, I drank more. I actually had plans of going home and taking one of the Tylenol-3’s I have left over from throwing my back out last Christmas, but damn it, I went to check out the Whole Foods Beer Room, and once I was in, there was no turning back. Growler bottles are free this first week, wheras after they’ll be $3, so I couldn’t say no.

The Beer Room itself ended up not being crowded at all, despite my expectations; but everything about the Bowery Whole Foods defies my expectations of yuppie shit in New York. It’s always so nice and not crowded and an easy experience and people are friendly and not douches. Weird! But a very kindly man named Jon filled up my growler, and when the keg got tapped a quarter of the way through, he offered to get me something else if I didn’t want to wait for them to switch kegs, and then it turned out they had a bottle of the Captain Lawrence Liquid Gold sitting in the mini-fridge from a customer who’d changed their mind! I was fine with that, and they put my bottle in a little insulated cold bag and I went home!

The Captain Lawrence Liquid Gold is a freaking delicious beer, and, as promised, a lovely clear gold color, with pretty light carbonation and not much of a head. I’ve been neglecting talk of beers on this blog in favor of wine snobbery, but damn if I didn’t love beer long before I knew half a shit about wine. The description given by Whole Foods is as such: “Aromas of orange, spice, and green grass. Clean, malt-dominated flavor.” These aromas are honestly a little weird, and my first thought as I stuck my nose in the pint glass I stole from my roommate was “cleanser?!” and I worried I hadn’t rinsed the glass out well enough when I washed it. But the taste proved that all was well, and nothing was soap-contaminated. Apparently Moroccan coriander goes into this brew, which probably attributes for some of the odd soapy scent. On the tongue, it’s a nice combo of citrus and malt without too much bitterness, reminding me of some of the good Belgian beers I’ve had at Burp Castle, or some of the wonderful brews from my favorite hometown brewery, Yazoo Brewing Company in Nashville, TN.

Also, it’s kind of a kick in the pants alcohol content-wise. …Maybe it’s because I haven’t eaten dinner yet, but the first glass of this hit me like a truck full of rainbows.

Side dork note: If only this were Captain Laurence beer, then it would be the official beer of the Temeraire novels! …don’t you judge my choice of reading materials.

BUY IT AGAIN: Yes, but probably after I try the other eleven beers the Whole Foods Beer Room has to offer.

Damn it, I really wanted more of the Smuttynose Hanami Ale tonight! It is that nice cool part of early spring before it gets too damn warm, perfect for something so tart and sharp! But alas, I apparently bought the last six-pack in existence last time, and am doomed to crave it forever and never enjoy it again. STUPID SEASONAL BREWS.

So, instead, it was time for old reliable Blue Moon. I go through phases of loving white/wheat beers and being massively “eh” on them. I think it probably changes with the weather. They are crisp and refreshing and none too heavy, and tend to be good with a spicy or rich meal. I just like saying the word “hefeweizen“, even. Blue Moon hits the sweet spot pretty well, staying light and bright on the tongue without totally lacking any body or character at all, like I feel the problem with Hoegaarden is.

Wheat beers are typically consumed with a lemon in them. Blue Moon has a twist on it, and is supposed to be served with an orange. Once upon a time, I tried to shove a wedge of blood orange down the neck of my bottle of Blue Moon. The resulting mess was somewhat ridiculous, but the beer that remained in the bottle when the foam died down was quite tasty. So, note to drinkers out there: if you’re going to cram some goddamned orange in your beer, pour it into a glass first.

BUY IT AGAIN: Of course. It’s not a beer that knocks my socks off, but it’s a reliable, easy drink.

Smuttynose Hanami Ale

I’m a big fan of Smuttynose beer, and the appearance of their Pumpkin Ale on shelves is always a delightful sign that summer is going to end soon. So when I saw the six-pack with the cute little Japanese girl and manekineko on it, I was basically doomed. I’m such a sucker for seasonal beers.

The label promises that the beer is made with an ample dose of cherry juice, which had me a little nervous, because cherry is often one of my least favorite flavors, when it appears in that cloying, maraschino-cough syrup kind of flavor. I’ve tried one other cherry-type beer before, Sam Adams Cherry Wheat, and didn’t like it much at all. I wanted to try something new, though, and Smuttynose has never done me wrong before, so I bought it.

Delightfully enough, there’s none of the cough drop flavor in Hanami Ale. First gulp gives a very bright, sour-sweet, real cherry taste. It’s remarkably sweet and fruity at first, but not so much that you’d confuse it with one of the soda boozes that are so popular with the kids these days. The first cold sip is the sweetest, but as it warms up in your hand and airs out, the cherry mellows out and it tastes like a very sharp beer. Definitely good for drinking just by itself, and chased some spicy noodles quite well.

BUY IT AGAIN: Yes, probably, since it’s only available for a few months! I’m such a sucker for seasonable brews.