The month of October brings the first chill winds of winter, reminding us that the inexorable flow of time marches on.
Yes, gentle reader, Mother Nature can indeed be a cruel mistress, with the first snows of the season dusting our recently warm and sunny streets.
The month of October also brings something more enjoyable, and I’m not talking about a new episode of The Simpsons Treehouse of Terror. My favourite part of October is the annual release of pumpkin-flavoured beers!
Pumpkin beers were once derided as a marketing gimmick, back in the days when a regular pale and tasteless macrobrew would squirt in some artificial pumpkin flavouring and food colour, then sell truckloads of novelty beer to drunken college students.
Luckily, the craft beer revolution that has been sweeping North America for the past decade has brought us many new and exciting seasonal beers, including the annual Pumpkin Ales for the dual pumpkin-themed holidays of Thanksgiving and Halloween.
The first few forays into brewing beer with pumpkin met with limited success, but the crafty brewmasters and experimental home brewers have continued to hone their skills, and the pumpkin beers available today are both delicious and nutritious!
Your humble narrator has even tried his hand at pumpkin homebrew, fermenting a full 5 gallon (23 litre) homebrew kit of amber ale inside several hollowed-out pumpkins, before transferring the sweet nectar to a glass carboy for additional aging and clarifying prior to bottling. The result was a pleasantly pungent, medium-red ale, with a rich spicy mouthfeel. It went extremely well with turkey and stuffing!
The original Pumpkin Ales date back to the 1620’s, when those thirsty pilgrims that piloted the Mayflower ran out of beer they had brought from England, it was not long before they figured out the fermented pulp of a pumpkin would make a passable hooch.
In those days, malting barley was unavailable, so pumpkin innards were used as a replacement. By the 1700’s, barley had been imported from Europe, and was growing well in the Americas, so Pumpkin Ales largely died out.
Today, what we refer to as Pumpkin Ale is a barley-based beer that has a bit of pumpkin added for flavour, rather than a beer made by fermenting the pumpkin itself.
Here in Canada, we have a rich assortment of domestic breweries producing Pumpkin Ales, with the closest being Grizzly Paw Brewing in Canmore, whose Jack O’Lantern Pumpkin Ale can be found on tap in their pub on Main Street in Canmore, and if you are very lucky, you may spot a six-pack from the small bottling run in your local liquor store.
Looking to our neighbors to the north, Edmonton’s Alley Kat Brewing has been releasing their Pumpkin Pie Spiced Ale every year at around this time. Pouring a dark copper, with strong aromas of cinnamon and nutmeg, this beer tastes more of the spices in a pumpkin pie than it actually tastes of pumpkin. With very mild hop bitterness, this beer might be a little too sweet for more than one bottle, but it works divinely after a turkey dinner!
Moving further west, Tree Brewing out of Kelowna produces the Jumping Jack Pumpkin Ale, available in 650mL bottles at well-stocked liquor stores.
Peering all the way west to Vancouver Island, Phillips Brewing from Victoria has produced my personal favourite, called Crooked Tooth Pumpkin Ale. Faithful readers may recall how excited your humble narrator was when this brewery finally started shipping to Alberta earlier this year, and this seasonal brew just makes me even happier!
Available in 650mL bottles across BC and Alberta, this beer is only available for a limited time. With fresh pumpkin being the dominant aroma, nicely balanced with hints of cinnamon and nutmeg. Pouring a light amber colour into my glass, the flavours were of yeast, cloves, and fresh pumpkin, nicely balanced by a sturdy malt base to ensure the primary flavour is that of beer rather than pumpkin.
So, whether you plan to spend Halloween waiting patiently in the pumpkin patch for the Great Pumpkin to appear, or want to add something seasonal to the drinks menu at your Thanksgiving dinner, you can’t go wrong with a Pumpkin Ale. Stop by your well-stocked booze merchant to pick up a six-pack today!
