Tasting the Pumpkin

Back for your reading pleasure are some tasting notes on the pumpkin ale. It’s been three weeks since we bottled the beer and I have cracked open several in just the past week. The beer is a dark amber color about 14 Lovibond. It has enough cloudiness to it that you can’t see completely through it but it is not so cloudy as a unfiltered wheat.

The body is not exactly what I had hoped. Granted the idea is to avoid getting a beer with the thickness of pumpkin pie but at the same time a beer of this style should have more body to it than water which is what we ended up with. Had we not had so many problems with the mash as you may have read in the last post, I am sure the body would have been thicker and more on target.

The flavor is pretty much what we were shooting for. Remember, the idea is to get most of your flavors from the spices you add, not necessarily from the pumpkin itself. After all, have you ever eaten plain pumpkin before it gets made into pie? It’s not a bad flavor but it is not what is going to make your beer stand out. We ended up with a subtle blend of spices so you can definitely get the impression of pumpkin pie but it is not as strong as actual pie. Why is this good? Well you want to be able to drink more than one of these in a sitting and if the spice come off as too strong I would be more likely to drink just one before switching to a lighter brew.

This all comes together to an excellent beer for the fall and on into Halloween. If you haven’t tried making one in time for this Halloween nothing says you can’t just make one now especially as there are plenty of real pumpkins to be found. If you do want to make a pumpkin ale of your own, be sure to read our other posts here about our experience making it to avoid some of the troubles we have had.

On that note, crack open a homebrew and enjoy the fall! Cheers!

Also, be sure to vote in the upcoming election and once you do, open up another homebrew as a reward for being a good citizen!