There may be no style of beer more polarizing than the pumpkin variety.

Though hugely popular – enough to warrant a few new brands every fall, anyway – they also seem to elicit more sneers than any other style.

Pumpkin beer was my 24-year-old colleague Lauren Krause’s entry into the craft beer world after college. Not only does she find autumn’s smells and flavors “insanely comforting,” pumpkin beer was an easy style to reckon with when faced with so many options. Now, she said, “It’s a must-have – I have to have pumpkin beer every fall.”