Drink of the Week: Shipyard Brewing Smashed Pumpkin Ale

Stick your nose in a glass of the recently released Smashed Pumpkin from Shipyard Brewing Company in Portland, Maine, and you’ll swear it’s Thanksgiving already: The smell is like freshly baked pumpkin pie. On the palate, it’s more like pumpkin bread, with spicy rye-bread notes and a finish that delivers nutmeg, toasted walnut and plenty more pure pumpkin flavor. You can tell Shipyard is into its gourds—the brewery has long made a seasonal pumkin-laced wheat ale called Pumpkinhead. But Smashed Pumpkin—part of the brewery’s limited-edition Pugsley’s Signature Series—weighs in at twice Pumpkinhead’s 4.5 percent alcohol content and is more potent in terms of its pumpkin flavor. Try it with sharp cheeses, spiced pecans or savory fall dishes like roasted root vegetables and lamb stew. Check it out while you can—Smashed Pumpkin hit the shelves at the end of August, and before long it will be harder to spot than Charlie Brown’s Great Pumpkin. shipyard.com