The Great Pumpkin (Ale)

It's a pumpkin Charlie Brown,
not a super computer.

A few blog posts ago, I sang the praises of the Boston Beer Company and the return and revival of their Harvest Collection. I mentioned at the time that the beers of the 2012 Harvest line were once again spicy and autumnal, the way that they had been in years prior to 2011. It was also mentioned that the return of the Sam Adams Harvest Variety Pack to the grocer’s shelves marked the beginning of “Fall Seasonal” season in the craft beer world, which is probably the most significant take-away from the entire blog post.

 

One of the traditional styles of beer that always appears during the fall, and one of my personal favorite styles, is the Pumpkin Ale. Generally malty in taste and full-bodied, Pumpkin Ales rely heavily on flavors that are imparted from pumpkins, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, and ginger. The result is a tasty treat that just seems to fit with the changing leaves, cooler temperatures, and festive holiday cheer associated with autumn.

 

Someday, he'll be mashed-in with barley and made into a delicious crafty Pumpkin Ale - and then I will drink him.

 

 

Pumpkin Ales, at least from what I’ve gathered, are also very polarizing. Most people feel very strongly that they either love Pumpkin Ales or they hate them – very few people are on the fence. Is it an aversion to the strong pumpkin flavors or are they just drinking the wrong beers? I have heard a lot of people tell me that they don’t like fruit in beer, and perhaps the Anti-Pumpkin Coalition (APC) are closely tied to the Society for the Removal of Fruit from Beer (SRFB). *Note: These aren't actually organizations... at least, I hope they aren't.

 

It's good to be the king.

In order to navigate towards Pumpkin Ale bliss, and avoid the social stigma of being labeled a “scrooge,” which is a real threat as we get closer to the autumn holidays, you need to first understand where Pumpkin Ales came from. Sit back and I will tell you a tale.

 

Pumpkin Ales originated in Colonial New England. Back in those days, brewers actually used pumpkin as a replacement fermentable for their mash, mostly due to the overabundance of the gourd in the new world and the insanely high taxes placed on English barley. Not surprisingly, according to records, our founding fathers George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin all made a Pumpkin Ale. According to a publication in 1801 called The American herbal; or, Materia medica by Samuel Stearns, “Different kinds of beer, ale, etc. are often prepared according to the prescriptions of the physicians, all of which, as well as pumpkin and bran beer, partake of the virtues of the ingredients put into such liquors.”

 

Punk.

Another account from 1863 by Sylvester Judd called History of Hadley reads “In Hadley, around 1800, beer was generally brewed once a week; malt, hops, dried pumpkin, dried apple parings and sometime rye bran, birch twigs and other things were put into the brewing kettle and the liquor was strained through a sieve. This beer was used at home and was carried into the fields by the farmers.”

 

Early Pumpkin Ales were also used to make a popular drink known as Flip. A 1919 published book called Colonial Folkways by Charles McClean Andrews described the inclusion of pumpkin beer into flip, stating “Flip was made in different ways, but a common variety was a mixture of rum, pumpkin beer, and brown sugar into which a red hot poker had been plunged.” I can only imagine that the red hot poker would have caramelized the sugars from the pumpkin, rum and brown sugar and given the drink a slightly roasted flavor, similar to what many beers today have.

 

The guidepost.

As American barley became more prevalent, the use of pumpkins as a fermentable waned and the gourd became nothing more than a flavoring agent, which eventually was deemed by society to be “too rustic” and therefore removed from most brewing recipes. It remained that way until the craft beer revolution in the late 1980s, when brewers at Buffalo Bill’s Brewery in California dusted off old recipes and made what became the first modern Pumpkin Ale: America’s Original Pumpkin Beer. Buffalo Bill’s beer was inspired by one of George Washington’s recipes, and it was an instant success and remains, to this day, the gold standard for Pumpkin Ales.

 

Today, it seems that every brewer has a Pumpkin Ale in their fleet, though the interpretations vary greatly. There are two basic types of Pumpkin Beer that are commonly made today: ones that use actual pumpkin and ones that don’t. The beers that are made with no actual pumpkin in them, which are referred to as “Pumpkin Spice Ales” by purists, focus on the spices that are used to make pumpkin pie, and therefore, not surprisingly, taste like liquid pumpkin pie in a bottle. Beers that are made using actual pumpkin, in addition to the spices, have a much more malty, balanced, and full-bodied flavor, but are often not as sweet on the palate. In my attempt to analyze the entire beer spectrum, and keep an open-minded, fair and balanced opinion, I have concluded that there is no right or wrong way to make Pumpkin Ale. It all depends on a) what the brewer wants to do with it and b) what the consumer likes. Many traditional minded folk feel that overly spiced Pumpkin Ale is too sweet and offensive. Others like the sweet notes that the spices bring to the finished product.

 

You're not misreading that - Rumpkin has
a 15.90% Alcohol by Volume!!!

As for recommendations, obviously I’ve already mentioned the Sam Adams Harvest Pumpkin Ale, which is a good beginner Pumpkin Ale. It is lighter and less assuming than some of the others. If you want to up the ante a bit, look for a bottle of Dogfish Head’s Punkin Ale, Brooklyn Brewery’s Post Road Pumpkin Ale, or Starr Hill’s Boxcar Pumpkin Porter. If you really want to get crazy (and shnockered), try to find a Double Pumpkin Ale like Sam Adams Double Pumpkin, Heavy Seas Great(ER) Pumpkin, or Weyerbacher’s Imperial Pumpkin Ale. Avery Brewing Company makes a delicious Imperial Pumpkin Ale that is aged in a rum barrel called Rumpkin Ale – perhaps a throwback to the old Flip drink. Be careful with Rumpkin though because she really packs a wallop.

 

Believe it or not, there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 pumpkin beers to choose from today! They might not taste like the colonial versions, but they are tasty and a nice little nod to brewing history (and a perfect complement to the harvest fun you’re engaging in this autumn season).

 

Here’s to craft-brewed happiness… Cheers!