Pumpkin Beer Taste Test 2006

Sucking the Fun Out of Drinking, With Science!

Sea Dog
this is a pumpkin beer, alright
Sea Dog
Maryland doesn't sell beer in grocery-stores, but Virginia does so Julie ran by "Trader Joe's" in Arlington to grab some "Sea Dog" for the tasting. She carried it as she rode the metro to my apartment, so I felt sortof bad when, after all of that effort, it was determined to be the worst pumpkin beer of the bunch.

It is definitely one of the cheaper pumpkin beers, but it seems to share some of the traits of other cheap beers, and was called "the Coors Light of Pumpkin Beers". It was described as 'empty', 'fake', 'disappoining', and 'worse than water'. Noone was impressed.

If Julie had liked it, I would have felt bad that she put in all that effort. Even still, I feel a little bad when I think of the cute dog in a rain-coat on the label. As a side note, I used to think that beer was made of horse-piss, thanks to all of the clydesdale commercials I saw growing up.

The table below shows how this beer fared with each of our judges. To see what a judge thought of other beers, click the judge's name.

Sea Dog Julie Shauna Mark Esther Chriswillie Michelle Matt Kimon Patty Brian Kir Nathan Steven Averages
Smell 4 8 3 9 1 4 4 7 3 5 5 5 2 4.6
Sip 5 5 2 0 4 2 6 8 2 2 4 3 4 3.6
In Mouth 5 5 1 0 2 2 4 8 2 2 4 4 3 3.2
Swallow 6 5 1 0 3 2 5 8 2 1 2 3 4 3.2
Aftertaste 5 5 0 10 2 4 4 7 1 1 1 3 4 3.6
Repeat 4 5 2 0 2 2 4 7 1 2 2 2 4 2.8
Memories 4 5 0 0 2 1 5 4 8 0 5 2 0 2.8
Overall 4 5 1 0 2 2 5 6 1 1 3 3 4 2.8
Pumpkinosity 7 5 0 0 2 5 8 7 1 2 6 1 3 3.6
Enjoyment 4 5 1 -227 1 2 5 6 1 1 3 2 3 2.8
Beerishness 8 5 1 0 1 2 5 7 4 3 5 7 6 4.2
Slugability 9 5 0 0 3 0 5 5 1 1 2 7 3 3.2
Comments Fake pumpkin taste - not very enjoyable. blah blah blah worse than water :( . Not Good. Tastes like beer for kids. NOT A FAN, BUT BETTER THAN THE LAST ONE… too much of this beer would be a bad thing Remembering first taste of a bad stale beer Disappointing, kindof in the way the Iraq war has been disappointing. distinct spicy but empty beer taste The coors light of pumpkin beers, on the plus side can get blitzed off it. . .
Hints of fakiness desperation, ennui dishwater . . Apple Cider, Potpourri. . . . Bud, Coors light beer with old abc gum sitting in it . . .

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Go back to the overall averages or move on to the conclusions.


Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Process and Procedures
Part 3: Tasting Parameters
Part 4: Results
Part 5: Conclusions