-Shipyard Pumpkin Ale, ABV = 4.5%, Portland, Maine, 12 oz. bottle. This is an easy drinking beer, a tad more aggressive going down the throat compared to other similar ABVs. There seems to be a range of spices added to the brew in addition to pumpkin. In this regard the pumpkin flavor is more sublimated, and less of a pure play pumpkin brew to my taste. I'd put this one somewhere in the middle of the road as far as this group goes. Price is reasonable ($8. or $9.) a six pack in Jersey. Many brewers get carried away in pricing pumpkin beers.. Hey, if you'll are willing to pay champagne prices for beer, be my guest!
-Sam Adams Fat Jack, ABV=8.5%, 22 oz. Quasi-Potato Masher Bottle, Brewed somewhere in the USA(Sam Adams is not a craft beer in that it is brewed in large batches for a international market, but they do a great job regardless). This beer will kick your ass. I suggest mixing it with your favorite regular brew, and what I find to be an overloaded spicey, smokey hops, and an ABV more akin to wine than beer. I'm a consumer of many of the Sam seasonal beers(Oktoberfest was incredible this year), but I simply cannot drink this one on its own. I'd sooner have a few pints of Guiness (Abv somewhere around 4.5%) draft, than lose my sense of gravity after a pint of this witches brew before savoring the flavor. One more comment, don't look at the label, it looks like Patty Smith transcribed her latest nightmare and offered it up to the bottle designers in jest.
-Harpoon Pumpkin Ale: 22oz. potato masher bottle, ABV = 10%, Portsmouth NH.. A mouthful of pumpkin, hop and spices. Although ABV is high, it still drinks smooth albeit a strong kick post mortem. So, pleasantly flavorful and not ghastly strong to the throat. I wouldn't drink it as a regular, but on one of those special occasions.
-Shocktop Belgian Pumpkin Wheat Ale: 12 oz. std. bottle, ABV = 5.2%, St. Louis, MO. A highly drinkable light version of what is typically strong and heavy to this category. Brightly flavorful, whereby the light wheat brew base compliments the pumpkin and spices seemingly perfect. An easy brew to settle in on and avoid getting totally blitzed.