It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brewski

A new flavoring for me: pumpkin and pumpkin spice beers. There may be split reactions to this: either I'm not "extra" or I've finally caved to the frenzy...but man, have I realized that I have missed out on a whole world of brew flavors.

I've been all too naive in thinking that they tasted like straight pumpkin, for which I'm not overly gaga. There real break-through stars of these brewskis are the spices and who knew there were so many various spices in pumpkin pie? As someone who does not eat pumpkin pie, certainly not I. Heck, I also avoid the Charlie Brown great pumpkin movie, albeit that's more of a longtime dislike and distrust of Charlie Brown and his goody-two shoes act. I said what I said.

The past few weeks have been spent off the radar to allow my heart necessary time to heal plus contend with the influx of work as the office approaches busy flu season. Along with the hectic work season, I've also managed to pick up a cold from the cesspool of germs which seems to accumulate even in the cleanest of medical equipment facilities due to everyone being generally overworked but too sick to even notice how busy and sick we are.

Tonight I found myself out with my girl friend Emily at Funck's in Palmyra which boasts of 56 beers on tap. As one can imagine, with autumn right around the corner, this lends to an expansive listing of pumpkin and spooky season libations. Another lovely aspect of this watering hole of taps are that they come in flights. When you're sharing flights with good company, you can double or triple the number of beers you can try. For exploring new styles, this is the best way to go.

• Pumpkin Jack by McKenzie's Hard Cider: this was my first one, my pumpkin beer virginity gone to this smooth sailor. It's middle of the road at 5% ABV and nice and sweet for a first timer

• Pumpkinhead Ale by Shipyard Brewing Company: for newbie pumpkin ale drinkers such as myself, this is another good starter. Not too heavy, middle the ABV field without an overload of spices. It also smells absolutely delicious

• Ace Pumpkin Cider by Ace Cider: Ace offers quite an array of various oddity ciders not so easily found among other cider brewers such as Pineapple cider. Their pumpkin is sweet and light, a nice break-up between the heavier items

• La Parcela by Jolly Artisan Ales: as I learned through logging on Untappd, this beer has a pretty artistic label - as it ironically should, given the name. If you're looking for more of a pumpkin-y taste versus the spice, this is your drink to try

• Devious Imperial Pumpkin by Fegley's Brew Works: as its name suggests, it is closely reminiscent of an imperial ale and thus a bit heavier than some of the other beers tried. With an ABV of 9% the sampling was delicious and just enough

• Braaaiins! Pumpkin Ale for Zombies for Spring House Brewing Company: this beer looked the exact color of a ripe pumpkin on my parents' porch in the crisp autumn air and tasted pretty darn close to a solid slice of pie which makes sense as it's blended with a boatload of reeeeal pumpkins

• Pumpkin Fest by Stoudts Brewing Company: another slice of pumpkin pie in a glass but with a different twist than the others. That's what I loved about these different beers: they really did vary in taste significantly enough to notice, yet in a good way

• UFO Pumpkin by Harpoon Brewery: make no mistake this is a HOLY PUMPKIN beer! After all the different brews tried tonight, I'm quite glad I ended on this one. I enjoyed all the various tastes of the night, but this one most in particular. Couldn't put my finger on it, but this one had that *bam* effect on my taste buds that ended the night on a good note.

Naturally, snacks were involved. With it being September, many venues are having Oktoberfest-themed featured menus and Funck's did not disappoint with the Bavarian pretzels. Beer and Bavarian pretzels: best of both carb-y worlds.

"O'zapft is'!" -Traditional Bavarian German phrase meaning "it's tapped"