Pumpkin beer season is ON.

And for some beer fans, that’s cause for celebration. For others, it means several months of desperately avoiding beers that taste like somebody dumped a pumpkin pie into the fermenter.

It’s not that pumpkin and beer can’t work together. They absolutely can. The problem is that too many pumpkin beers bury everything under mountains of cinnamon, nutmeg and sweetness until the actual beer becomes almost irrelevant.

But there are exceptions. So for this week’s New Beer Alert, we’re going there.

Five pumpkin beers for people who don’t particularly like pumpkin beer.

Two Roads Roadsmary’s Baby

Great name. Even better concept.

Stratford, Connecticut-based Two Roads Brewing takes a traditional pumpkin ale and sends it somewhere considerably more interesting by aging it in rum barrels.

The result is Roadsmary’s Baby, a 6.8% ABV seasonal that layers pumpkin and spice with vanilla, oak and a touch of rum.

That barrel character gives the beer a depth that many pumpkin ales never get close to. Rather than simply doubling down on the seasonal spices, Roadsmary’s Baby brings some rum-rimmed wood to the party.

And yes, Two Roads is leaning into the horror thing again this year with its annual Roadsmary’s Baby short-film competition and screening in October.

Pumpkin beer with rum barrels and horror movies?

Now we’re talking.

Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale

If you’re going to give pumpkin beer another chance, you might as well start with a brewery that takes the whole category seriously.

Seattle’s Elysian Brewing has been making Night Owl since 1997, and the brewery’s original pumpkin ale remains one of the standards of the style.

Brewed with real pumpkin and spiced during conditioning with nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, ginger and allspice, Night Owl is a 6.7% ABV fall seasonal with vanilla and caramel notes leading to a surprisingly roasty finish.

And that last part matters.

Night Owl tastes like beer first and pumpkin season second, which is exactly why it belongs on this list

Saint Arnold Pumpkinator

This is what happens when a brewery decides subtlety is overrated.

Houston-based Saint Arnold Brewing calls Pumpkinator its answer to how a pumpkin beer ought to taste, and this massive Imperial Pumpkin Stout certainly doesn’t approach the assignment timidly.

Originally released in 2009 as Divine Reserve No. 9, Pumpkinator combines pumpkin with molasses, brown sugar and spices against a big foundation of dark and caramel malts. It clocks in at 10.3% ABV and 34 IBUs, and Saint Arnold says it remains the most expensive beer the brewery makes.

It’s also got the hardware to back up the attitude, including a gold medal at the 2017 Great American Beer Festival and a silver at the 2023 World Beer Cup.

Dark, roasty, spicy and unapologetically huge, Pumpkinator is almost as much imperial stout as pumpkin beer.

Voodoo Ranger Atomic Pumpkin

And now for something completely different.

New Belgium’s Voodoo Ranger Atomic Pumpkin takes the familiar pumpkin-and-cinnamon formula and throws chile peppers into the mix.

The 6.4% ABV ale pairs pumpkin with cinnamon and habanero peppers, adding a warming chile bite that cuts through the sweetness and sends the beer in a direction most pumpkin ales wouldn’t dare go.

Atomic Pumpkin isn’t subtle, but subtle isn’t what New Belgium is going for here.

This is pumpkin beer with an attitude, and the pepper heat makes it a smart choice for drinkers who find traditional pumpkin ales too sweet, too predictable or just plain boring.

Elysian Great Pumpkin Imperial Pumpkin Ale

Yes, Elysian gets two beers on this list.

They’ve earned it.

The brewery has been pushing pumpkin beer further than almost anyone for decades, and Great Pumpkin is where things get serious.

Elysian calls it the world’s first Imperial Pumpkin Ale, a claim the brewery has been making for years. At 8.4% ABV, Great Pumpkin takes the familiar flavors of the style and supersizes them with pumpkin, roasted pumpkin seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice and a rich specialty malt backbone.

It’s bigger, fuller and considerably more intense than Night Owl.

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