Fall is time for all things Pumpkin.

In the past several years, there has been a veritable glut of pumpkin-flavored items that come out this time of year, likely most notoriously Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte. And who am I to scoff, I’ve drunk my share. Of the Lattes too.

So in my scan of my big box store beer cooler this week, what should catch my eye but this new goblin in the pumpkin scene, Leinenkugel’s Harvest Patch Shandy.

Another shandy winner from Leinie’s.

Leinie’s turned me on to shandy (a roughly 50/50 mix of beer and something else, like lemonade aka Leinie’s Summer Shandy). Shandies are gloriously refreshing in the hot months when drinking thick, dark beers like porters seems like too much work. So I was curious about this new kid. Could the beloved Wisconsin brewer successfully cross the summer-like lightness of a shandy with the pumpkin pie spices of fall?

Well, folks, they did it. Wonderfully, beautifully, awesomely. Harvest Patch Shandy gives your nose a whiff of autumn with the first sniff of the bottle (I’m in Texas, we don’t believe in glasses for beer. Or for much else for that matter. Which brings us to the matter of men and milk cartons, but I won’t go there now). All the spices of a pumpkin pie are there, including nice molasses and ginger notes. Imagine the taste of your favorite spice cookie (well, my spice cookies have cayenne in them, so maybe not my FAVORITE spice cookie, but a REALLY GOOD spice cookie.)

It’s in this shandy. Heck, it even managed a respectable rating from Beer Advocate, and they hate everything that isn’t “real beer” (oh, please).

What’s really great about it is that it still is plenty fizzy, and while light, not as light as their summer versions. Don’t get me wrong, you can taste the beer, but it’s a subtle back note at the finish, some mild hopping that gives it a nice turn from becoming cloyingly  sweet at the end. You know how porters can coat your tongue? Not this fellow. Nice and crisp at the end.

Now, if you’re thinking this is going to be a pumpkin ale, you’re going to be disappointed. This has no where near the body or ale flavor you are expecting (demanding?) in one of those. It’s a SHANDY folks. No where on the box does it say “ale”. (Managing expectations is so important, don’t you think?)

The Tinker didn’t think much of this one. He said it was “too busy”, with too many competing flavors. Fair enough. It’s complex. There’s a lot going on. Maybe it’s  the baker in me that pulls out all those spices I love in the fall as I take sip (after sip, after sip) of this glorious little entry into the pumpkin beer wars. Maybe I’m just ready for fall and the end of hot summer days.

Whatever. This one rises out of the pumpkin patch. And as a bonus, The Tinker won’t be stealing my stash.