The Absolute Worst Pumpkin Beer Comes From A Well Known Brand

Autumn is pumpkin season, with an abundance of pumpkin spice food and drinks lining supermarket shelves to get you excited for the cooler weather. While many of these (Starbucks PSL, anyone?) are delicious snacks, there are some that are worth skipping. One such skippable pumpkin spice item that's lining shelves is a pumpkin beer made by the usually solid Samuel Adams brewery. Daily Meal taste-tested twelve different pumpkin-flavored beers and out of all the options we tried, this was by far the worst.

The beer in question is the Jack-O Pumpkin Ale, and is, as you can probably guess from the name, a flavored ale. Unfortunately, the pumpkin doesn't quite work with this beer, with the fall flavors overpowering the brew and giving it an odd taste that doesn't allow the ale itself to shine through. On top of that, the aroma is confusingly unlike pumpkin pie or beer at all, creating a brew that, while perhaps not hideous, is certainly not worth drinking.

When you first sip on the Jack-O Pumpkin Ale, you'll be greeted with a strong flavor of pumpkin pie spices. At first, this might not seem like a bad thing, but as you continue drinking, those tasting notes start to drown out the beer and become too intense. What's more, you won't pick up on any hoppiness. Considering ales tend to have a good kick of hops and plenty of nuance to their flavors, this leads to quite a disappointing brew.

Beyond the intense taste of the pie spices in the brew, some drinkers also report the brew being too sweet. While a little bit of sweetness can help to balance out the bitter flavor of the beer, when it's overpowering, it can just taste sickly and more like a soda than an adult beverage.

Lastly, there's an issue with this drink's aroma. Instead of giving off a buzzy beer aroma, this drink gives cream soda or root beer vibes. The result is that, once again, it's a little too similar to a soda and too far removed from a standard beer to make picking one up worth it for a true beer lover.

One thing that Jack-O Pumpkin Ale does have going for it is that it only has about 4.4% alcohol. While this makes it ideal for easy drinking, it may also be a contributing factor to the loss of hoppy, beer flavor in it.

Another ingredient in the brew that could be to blame for the syrupy flavor of the drink is the sugar. This brew boasts 7 grams of sugar. While that might not sound like much, the average ale contains between 0 and 3 grams of sugar. That means this beer features twice as much or more sugar than your standard brew, which could be responsible for that soda-like taste and aroma.

Finally, the culprit may also be the pumpkin pie spices themselves. Sam Adams claims that this beer contains cinnamon and nutmeg, as well as other seasonal spices. While it doesn't give away the exact quantities of the spices, the reality is that with multiple spices at play, this may lead to the overpowering pie aroma — especially considering how strong cinnamon is. Next time you're looking for an autumn beer to try before winter comes, go ahead and skip the Sam Adams Jack-O Pumpkin Ale; it's just not worth your time.