If you’re a regular craft beer drinker, you may have noticed the increasing popularity of pumpkin flavoured ales, oozing their way into your local over the last couple of autumns.

If you’re of a certain haughty persuasion you’ve probably said to anyone in ear-shot, “that sounds fucking horrible, I like my pumpkins rotting on the doorstep outside thank you very much” before snort-laughing and ordering an unfiltered lager.

But wait, potty-mouthed 30 year-old, before you repeat the same joke to the bar-person who only pretended not to hear you, you should know that pumpkin ales are actually brilliant. They’re tasty, complex, and because they’re so dependant on the season, a deliciously rare treat.

I discovered for myself the charm of the pumpkin ale last October while in New York, and this year I returned, determined to sample a much greater variety. Only I couldn’t bring any home as I had already exceeded my luggage weight allowance with ghost-shaped Twixs.

So last week I hunted around London’s many craft-beer shops and growler-filling establishments (fnar) and snaffled up as many pumpkin ales as they had left on the shelf. And frankly that wasn’t many. Every place I tried remarked on the sudden popularity of the gourd based ale and most of them struggled to keep up with demand. So lessons for 2016: I need to stock up in early October and find out what a growler is.

I did however get to try the following five brews from Brooklyn, BrewDog, Beavertown and Flying Dog…

Brooklyn Brewery – Post Road

The the lovely burnt orange glow fully prepares you for the bitter, thick and rich taste of the Post Road. It’s an effervescent blast of pumpkin, with a lightly spiced, sweet flavour leaving you with a barley aftertaste. It’s complex but comforting. Perfect after a night of trick or treating. Although why you’re drinking an obscure artisinal craft beer rather than a 2 litre bottle of White Lightning after trick or treating is anybody’s guess. 8/10

BrewDog – Pumpkin King

Much lighter than the Brooklyn, the emphasis is on the sweetness rather than the spice. It has a nicely unctuous caramel texture. Great for sipping and enjoying at leisure. The pungency promised by the bottle is perhaps oversold but it’s a pleasant winter warmer nonetheless. Perfect for after you’ve berated the final costumed child for trespassing on your property. 7/10

Flying Dog – Gourd Standard

The first taste is one of bitter acridness followed by a hint of sweet pumpkin, but just a hint though, as you’re immediately left with a unpleasant sourness that will haunt your mouth for the rest of the evening. A bit like being sick after some ropey old sweets. 2/10

Flying Dog – The Fear

I did indeed have the fear *snort-laugh* after the Gourd Standard above, but I was pleasantly surprised. It’s as black as tar, has an ABV of 9% and the pumpkin is very low in the mix, but there’s just enough sweetness to cut through the sticky, strong black coffee taste to create a very interesting flavour that’s more drinkable than other espresso stouts or similar. There’s a light fizz to keep it drinkable. It’s like someone who wears a Michael Myers mask and stands quietly in the corner for the whole of your Halloween party but is quite cuddly for the rest of the year. 8/10

Beavertown – Stingy Jack (2014)

2015’s batch of Stingy Jack is brewed in cans, but these had all disappeared by the time I got around to it. However the good folk at Clapton Craft Beer had a single dusty bottle of last year’s edition left over, and what a handsome bottle it is.

As for the ale, it was a weird concoction that tasted more like a bag of potpourri with an unpleasantly lingering aftertaste of cloves and metal. Do bottle beers not age very well? Is this a product of being more than a year old and being kept on a shop’s shelf at varying temperatures? Should I have done more research before embarking on this quest? If there’s one thing you should have learnt by now while reading Methods Unsound, the answer to that last question is almost certainly yes. 3/10

For more of the latest and tastiest brews, check out our new craft beer reviews section including Hackney Brewery’s Okawari Kudasi.