Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale

AFFORDABILITY: This stuff was The Shit come fall back in my drunken yet settled down Richmond days where I had a stupid hippie girlfriend who would buy me good beer. Man, the Pumpkin Ale big bottles were the jam, from whatever that neighborhood grocery store was in the Fan around the corner (Fan Market maybe?). This chick I knew Michelle worked there and she would always hooks up the friendly discount meaning I didn't get charged for shit half the time. Then the Buffalo Bill Pumpkin Ale disappeared long enough that I wasn't sure if I had the name right and I bought a couple other microbrew pumpkin ales, that all sucked, because Buffalo Bill's had that pumpkiny ass taste. My dead grandma, rest her soul, used to fix me a pumpkin pie every holiday once I went away to college, knowing how I loved that shit. Well, the Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale started showing up again (I think I read one time it was distribution issues), and it showed up earlier than ever this year, and it ain't cheap, because it's seasonal and it's specialty beer and it's in Whole Foods. But it is actually cheaper than other more shittier pumpkin ales. 2 out of 5.
DESTROYABILITY: It tastes like pumpkin pies... this is sipping beer, not sloshing yourself beer. 1 out of 5.
LABEL AESTHETIC: One of my all-time favorite labels was the dude stirring a batch of beer in a hollowed-out pumpkin, which was the old label. They got some different shit now that's that pseudo-pagan tribalistic shit that probably plays big in the aforementioned Whole Foods. It is mad orange though. 2 out of 5.
CORPORATE MASTER: Buffalo Bill Brewing company is some small ass California bullshit, and really only makes it to the east coast with this one brand, and that only happens for a few months out the year. They probably subsidize their bullshit falafel hummus organic zucchini sandwich shop restaurant that is in all likelihood at their home brewery with this nonsense. I can't fault them for that. Hustle hard. 4 out of 5.
OVERALL AMBIANCE: The arrival of pumpkin ale means fall and changing colors and fucking holidays where you don't answer the phone so your non-immediate relatives don't invite themselves over. It means football and coaching kids soccer and throwing horseshoes more often because the grass needs cutting less but it's still not frozen outside. Now, this batch of pumpkin ale showed up while it was 95% and I was putting aluminum paint like a fucking dog on a barn roof, but nonetheless, early arrival notwithstanding, I love the pumpkin ale, and only this one. I guess from looking at beer dork sites inside the internets, this is actually one of the least liked pumpkin ales, but those beer dorks like their "handcrafted" beers to taste like a mouthful of dried plants anyways. I never understood that. I see learning to appreciate tastes and not just sucking back cans of swill, but come on, why does the shit have to taste like fine mulch to be good? 5 out of 5.
TOTAL RATING: 2 & 4/5 STARS!