Pumpkin Power: The Rise and Reign of Pumpkin Beer
Pumpkin Beer Tasting Notes
Alaskan Pumpkin Porter
Alaskan Brewing Co.
Juneau, Alaska
Taking its impetus from Colonial brewing, where pumpkins replaced a lot of the malt as a source of fermentables, this beer clocks in at 7% with 11 pounds of pumpkins per barrel. Black like a stout, it throws a nice, tawny head. The addition of brown sugar and alder-smoked malts, made popular by the brewery’s legendary smoked porter, gives a distinctive element of smoke and molasses. While the smoke and brown sugar endure in the nose, the holiday spices seem moderated by the rich porter malts, providing just hints of spicing to the vegetable richness brought on by the pumpkins.
Southern Tier Pumking
Southern Tier Brewing Co.
Lakewood, NY
More like a pie than most, Southern Tier gives this ale the dessert treatment, bringing in not only the pumpkin and spice, but dare we believe it … a flaky crustlike taste, without being overly sweet. There is an earthy depth to this beer, rich gourd thickness that helps mask the big alcohol content at 8.6%.
Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale
Elysian Brewing Co.
Seattle, WA
Light auburn and brilliantly clear, putting off a dense creamy head that lingers. With 7.5 pounds of pumpkin per barrel, Night Owl (5.9%) provides a lot of earthy, sweet, vegetable aromas, reminiscent of a Saturday afternoon in the garden harvesting tomatoes, eggplants and peppers. Although spiced in the conditioning tank with ginger, cinnamon and allspice, Night Owl is far from a pumpkin pie in a bottle, finishing with a distinctive tartness that is rather unusual in that no single spice rises to the top.
Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale
Weyerbacher Brewing Co.
Easton, PA
Warming and filling, this boozy bad boy has big notes of cinnamon and nutmeg in a hazy burnt-orange-colored ale. The spice follows through on the palate, where clove and cardamom come into play. This is the kind of beer most will think of when considering pumpkin beer. Big, unapologetic and bursting with the flavors of the season at 8%.
Heather Vandenengel
Heather Vandenengel is a freelance beer journalist and news editor for All About Beer Magazine. She is based in Montreal, QC, but takes any excuse to travel, especially when it’s for beer.
Pumpkin beers come out in July now. A bit too early.
Beer producers are diluting the impact and tradition of seasonal beers by releasing them far too early into the retail market. By giving customers everything they desire the product becomes less desirable and eventually the demand will dwindle. Octoberfest and Pumpkin in July. Christmas in October. Spring in January and Summer in March. I am retailer and already have seen this downward trend happen to some seasonals.
@jb. I agree that Pumpkin beers in July is overkill. But unfortunately this is no different than any other industry, pushing their wares a season early (shorts in march anyone?).
@Michael Papacek. No disagreement there. Unfortunately large warehouse stores (e.g. BevMo, Costco, Total Wine, etc.) demand shelves with seasonals. So the only choice a brewery has is to commit when a pallet or more is on the line.
-My 2 cents.
This is not beer. Its crap. Cool ade. It’s a decline in the tradition of beer and ale. Even the multitude of India pale ales is crazy. How many hops can you add? Buds idea of beer o Rita ‘ s is another ridiculous trend. Call them something other than beer.
@Mike – I disagree the pumpkin beer is total crap, but that’s a matter of opinion and not “fact”. Your stance on IPA’s I actually agree with, but, alas, it is also an opinion. Cheers.
I read that there was no pumpkin in that first beer… Anyway it’s pumpkin pie beer, not pumpkin ale. Oh and most ‘pumpkin’ beers were probably brewed with what we would call winter squash. Even now pumpkin is a not-very-specific term – usually means a round squash! Most canned pumpkin is a winter squash that we would not now call a pumpkin. And saying it has no flavor is rediculous. I add roasted squash to beer and there is a very definite flavor, though perhaps not what most people would call pumpkin flavor (again that’s pumpkin pie), but there are roasted caramel notes, earthy, and it adds some sourness (not expected, but it does so each time).