O'Fallon Pumpkin Beer

Brewed By: O'Fallon Brewery in O'Fallon, Missouri

Purchased: 12-oz bottle from a 6-pack bought at Jewel-Osco in Chicago, IL; 2012

Style/ABV: Pumpkin Ale, 5.5%

Tonight we keep the pumpkin train rolling with a beer from O'Fallon! O'Fallon is apparently Missouri's second largest brewery, and unfortunately, I can't really find much information about them. Their website is currently being reconstructed, and according to a few articles, they are under some new management.  

According to the linked articles, O'Fallon was founded by Tony and Fran Caradonna, along with Brewmaster Brian Owens in 2000. Their sales grew to a point where O'Fallon outsourced their bottled beer to a brewery in Wisconsin, and were distributing to over 11 states. The brewery grew to a point where it was the second-largest craft brewer in Missouri. At some point in 2010, the co-founders realized they were strapped for cash, and couldn't meet their demands. Fortunately, former Anheuser-Busch marketing executive Jim Gorczyca purchased a 96% stake in the brewery giving it new life. Since then, the brewery has been back to making beer, and getting new distribution deals.

It still doesn't explain their lack of a website, which will hopefully come around soon. There's some barebone information about tonight's beer. The website says: "Like pumpkin pie in a bottle...we add 136 pounds of real pumpin to the three-barley mash and then season the finished beer with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Available September 1."

O'Fallon Pumpkin Beer

This is a good looking beer. It pours with a nice dark orange body, and has 2-fingers of nice, creamy, orange/caramel-tinted head. In bright light, the beer is a hazy orange color, with some shades of yellow/gold. You can see a nice jet of carbonation in the form of tiny bubbles rising upwards, and this beer is hazy, not transparent. There's about a centimeter of head hanging around.

The aroma on this beer is fucking amazing. This beer smells like flat out pumpkin pie, with GIANT pie crust notes. I actually get an apple pie thing on this nose, with huge apple pie aromas, pumpkin pie aromas, some cinnamon, pumpkin spice, and again, huge pie crust. This beer really captures the cinnamon profile that you find in both apple and pumpkin pie. Really inviting aromas.

The taste is light, drinkable, and hits all the notes that you get on the nose, with just a hint of grainy malt. You get some sweet pie crust up front, with some apple, and Pale Lager fruitiness...you also get some Pale Lager graininess. It's pleasant though, and there's no off flavors or skunk or anything like that. It's actually really refreshing, with a fruity/apple mid-palate, and lots of light cinnamon spice and pie spice throughout.

This is a great pumpkin beer, and an example of how to make a drinkable, simple, 5.5% ABV Autumn beer. I mean really, this beer is everything that Shipyard's Pumpkinhead Ale is not. This is a light to medium-light beer, but has a dense enough mouthfeel that it is fulfilling, but it's not cloying. It has just a hint of viscosity to it. Palate depth is good, and complexity is low to moderate for the style. Up front is sweet malt, pie crust, apple; this rolls into more pie crust, some apple/pumpkin pie spice; the back end is lingering pie crust sweetness, with some honey and sweetness. This one is not dry.

Rating: Above-Average

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this. This is a really nice beer, and one of the better light Pumpkin Ales I have had. I guess the trend with pumpkin beers is to move in the Imperial direction...and I totally dig that, but it's nice to have a handful of delicious pumpkin beers that are under 6% ABV. This beer would go great with apple pie, apple or pumpkin desserts, pumpkin deserts, hearty stews, or even a Thanksgiving type of dinner. Really good stuff, and a beer that captures the fall mood. Recommended.