Terrapin Pumpkinfest Review: The Perfect Marriage of Pumpkin Beer and Oktoberfest

Terrapin Pumpkinfest Review: The Perfect Marriage of Pumpkin Beer and Oktoberfest

Autumn is the greatest for seasonal beer releases, simply because that's when Pumpkin craft beers and traditional Oktoberfest beers are released.  Why did it take this long for somebody to come along and decide to brew both together?  We don't really know but we're glad that Terrapin finally came to the mind blowing decision to do so.

This wasn't exactly the easiest task either, traditionally an oktoberfest is a lager and a pumpkin beer is an ale.  This meant that Terrapin had to find a way to mix the two beer styles and marry their flavors effectively at the same time.  The end result was pumpkinfest, a pumpkin lager.

They did an impressive job albeit difficult circumstances.  The beer stands up very much so overall as a pumpkin beer rather than an oktoberfest.

The smell has a very strong smell of pumpkin and pumpkin pie spices but also opens up with a very rich malty scent.

The taste itself initially is more akin to a traditional oktoberfest beer but on the back end opens up to a pumpkin flavor with plenty of pumpkin pie spices (cinnamon, vanilla, cloves, nutmeg).  But what keeps it balanced in between the pumpkin and oktoberfest is definitely the marriage of the pumpkin flavors with a bready and caramel malt flavor all throughout.

Overall it is an impressive brew, it might not be my first choice for the fall season but it does accomplish two beer styles in one.  I'm rather excited to see if other breweries take on this task, I'd be interested to see what others could come up with.

Check last weeks first pumpkin review of the season (Dogfish Head Punkin Ale).

Terrapin Pumpkinfest 7.5/10