Date night: pumpkin challenge

Dan and I found ourselves very confused when we realized that we didn’t have plans last Saturday. What do we do with ourselves? If I get bored, it usually becomes a complex endeavor – like “let’s re-do the mancave!” I still owe yall pictures from that, by the way. Either that or I pout to Dan that I am ‘in a rut.’ Dramatic much? Nope.

What went from “lets go to this bar” to “lets go to dinner” to “lets go to Total Wine and pick out our own beer to save money,” got very interesting when I became overwhelmed by the number of pumpkin beers at Total Wine.

How would anyone choose?! You don’t just keep cases of pumpkin beer around. But when it's fall, and you want a pumpkin beer, which six pack do you get?

Challenge accepted.

We grabbed every pumpkin beer that they sold as a single.

Nine. Nine pumpkin beers were about to compete for our affection. It was going to be a glorious night.

On the way out of the store, something attempted to throw a very large wrench in our plans. Dogfish Head Punkin Ale. 4 pack. 

How can we pass it by? The rules: 1) Must be pumpkin, not harvest or fall. 2) Only singles. 3) Buy all of them. No singles anywhere to be found. We left Dogfish Head and its deliciously-orange case behind, to not break rule 2, and proceeded with our night.

The line up of fierce competitors:

Our set up was elaborate because, if you are going to do a pumpkin challenge, you have to do it right.

Fall candle? Check.

In-depth scoring sheets? Check. 

Pumpkin-orange shirt for Dan? Check.

I don't mean to brag, but we are connoisseurs when it comes to these tastings and know all the correct terminology when discussing beers.

Trust me, “night ruined” is not a good tasting note to receive.

Each beer had to be tasted, scored on a scale from ‘yuck’ to ‘yummy’ and could be re-tasted as many times possible until we ran out. Then, a favorite had to be chosen.

Dan easily went with “Shipwrecked.”

I apologize for the picture. He apparently confused “Here, pose with your favorite beer!” with “Quick, I’m taking your high school hockey photo, if you smile, you’ll get beaten up.”

I, shockingly, couldn’t decide.

I like most all of them! Cottonwood was delicious, but a little light. Sam Adams was delicious, but a little heavy. Shipwrecked was great, but had so much of a clove taste, that I could only have one. Blue Moon and Buffalo Bill were, as always, delicious. UFO did disappoint. But I liked the Unita, and didn’t think my night was ruined, as Dan so eloquently put it. 

Approximately 4 days later, Dan came home with the temptress herself: the 4 pack of Dogfish Head Punkin Ale.

She's beautiful.

Winner. Done. Hands down. Our favorite.

So there you have it. Our super professional opinion. Dogfish Head is not ‘nooooo’ nor ‘night ruined.’ When describing a beer of this caliber, we like to use the technical term ‘delicious.’ It’s not sold in singles because, trust me, you will want all four.

If you don’t believe me, have your own Pumpkin Challenge. (It’s capitalized now, because it’s a thing.) Let me know what you decide.

Happy fall, yall!