I love me some Thirsty Dog. The brewery makes the best seasonal beer around (including my all-time favorite Christmas beer). Last year, I came to the conclusion that, aside from making great Christmas ales and Oktoberfest lagers, the Akron-based brewery also has a killer pumpkin ale in their repertoire. 

Earlier this fall (or late-summer, I guess) (probably sometime in August or September), the brewery posted an Instagram story featuring their Barrel Aged Imperial Pumpkin Ale. I was filled with an immediate curiosity. Where I live, I don't have access to much of the special beers Thirsty Dog puts out, but I kept my fingers crossed that I'd come across a bottle of this supped-up Pumpkin Ale. Luckily for me (and for you, reading this), I found one. Now, here at the very end of Spooky Finger Puppet Ghost Month, I'm ripping the foil off my bottle and seeing if it's as good as I hope it is.

I've been on the hunt for today's beer for years. Thirsty Dog makes some of my all-time favorite seasonal brews (their 12 Dogs of Christmas isn't only my favorite Christmas beer, it's a contender for my favorite beer--I'd never be able to choose just one, though). So, some September awhile back when I learned that they did a pumpkin beer, I searched high and low for it, but never saw that it was distributed in my area on their beer finder nor spotted it on any local shelves.

This became an annual ritual for a good four years. The pumpkin ale season would roll around and I'd scour the market for a bottle of Thirsty Dog's version. I'd come up empty-handed each and every time.

Luck's smiling on me this year, though, because I finally found some. A bottleshop I follow on Instagram posted a photo of it and I jetted over to them to nab a share before it sold out. So, we've come to it now, in October 2021: Thirsty Dog's Pumpkin Ale.

Here we are, suddenly, on the other end of Christmas. Did you have a good one? Were you able to see your family, either safely-distanced in person or through some video chatting service? Was Santa kind to you? Regardless of how you spent the day (or if you celebrate it), I hope you had some fun. I hope that you got something nice, even/especially if you gave it to yourself.

Me? I had a good Christmas. I gave a lot of really great presents and got some of the best gifts I've ever received. It was a fun day, and I'm excited to settle in with tonight's beer, the final beer of the holiday season and the last one I'll be doing up on the blog in 2020. This beer took me by surprise--I found it by sheer luck in a local bottleshop. I didn't know it was releasing, nor did I know it even existed.

We're through Labor Day which, around these parts, means it's officially Oktoberfest season. Prost! Today, I'm kicking off the seasonal fun with a beer that's been on my list for a long while--one that I'm glad I'll finally be able to scratch off of it: Thirsty Dog's Barktoberfest.


I'll be the first to say that I don't drink much Thirsty Dog--it's not super readily available in my area. In fact, Barktoberfest is only the sixth beer I've had from them. Since the other five (12 Dogs of Christmas, it's BBA variant, Siberian Night, Imperial Old Leghumper, and Old Choco [the latter three of these never made it to the blog]) were all top-tier brews, I think it's safe to say my anticipation is pretty high here.

Merry Christmas! Okay, I know Christmas was yesterday, but humor me; I was incredibly ill. But, I'm feeling better now (finally) and celebrating by nestling down with a very special ale.

You may recall exactly three years ago when I said that Thirsty Dog's 12 Dogs of Christmas was my favorite Christmas beer. Between then and now I've tried a lot of Christmas brews, only a portion of which have made it to the blog. Shockingly, 12 Dogs has remained my favorite; it's what I consider to be the pinnacle of the style, and is the beer of which I consume the most each November and December.

Tonight, I'm hoping to de-throne it. I've known that Thirsty Dog offers a Barrel Aged variant of the stuff for a while now (a place near me had, until early October this year, two giant $50 bottles of it) but I've never found it packaged in a way that was easy for me to purchase and consume. Until this year. That's right: Barrel Aged 12 Dogs of Christmas is back and in twelve-ounce bottles. I cannot wait to get my first taste of the stuff.

I haven't had this stuff since July. Back then, I got to sample it twice: the first time was when I was at a "Christmas in July" shindig during Ohio Brew Week; the second was a night later, at another OBW bar. Spoilers: I love this stuff. You may have gleaned that from this blog if you've read either of the posts linked above.


Although I have an affinity for the ale, there is something I haven't been able to do with it yet: give it a proper John Likes Beer review. Today, on my favorite holiday, I hope to share that treatment of it with all of you. Call it a present, if you'd like.

Forgot to take a picture at Devil's Kettle and my phone as dead for Jackie O's.

Yesterday was the last official day of Ohio Brew Week 2015. I spent four glorious days in Athens for it before driving back to Cincinnati in order to be at work on Friday. Life continues while you're away, right?

Anyway, day four started at Devil's Kettle for their Wednesday Hops School offering. This time they had dry-hopped Spider Silk with summit hops, which gave the blonde ale a strong berry flavor. I visited DK three days in a row and I'm anxiously awaiting the chance to get back there.

Sorry for the lack of Broney's. I forgot.

My third night of Ohio Brew Week was a rousing success. I only went to three bars (Devil's Kettle, The Over Hang, and Broney's Alumni Grill) but I managed to try eighteen new-to-me brews (and three others that I'd had previous nights so I didn't post about them on Untappd and won't write about them here).