beer column

my scant notes from yesterday's beer column on cbc radio one's on the coast with stephen quinn:

Often released as a fall seasonal, Pumpkin Ales are quite varied. Some brewers opt to add hand-cut pumpkins and drop them in the mash, while others use puree or pumpkin flavouring.

These beers also tend to be spiced with pumpkin pie spices, like: ground ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and allspice.

Pumpkin Ales are typically mild, with little to no bitterness, a malty backbone, with some spice often taking the lead.

I brought in 4 examples of local pumpkin ales, all currently available at government liquor stores in 650 ml bombers.  I served them at room temperature so that all of the spice and flavour came out.


The beers we sampled were:
#1 Phillips Crooked Tooth
Plucked from the patch, this Phillips seasonal classic combines fresh pumpkin, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg with a full-bodied ale. It's a witches brew packed full of fall harvest flavour that, like many ghostly spirits of the season, has a tendency to disappear quickly.
Alcohol 5% Size 650ml

#2 Red Racer Spiced Pumpkin Ale
is an Amber ale that combines traditional beer ingredients with spices to impart a Fall seasonal flavour profile; similar to all the usual seasonal pumpkin coffees and treats found in the marketplace at this time of year. This example by Central City is lighter, hoppier, and less malty than many of the pumpkin beers out there but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. To create this beer, Central City This mixture creates a nice, light-tasting ale that exhibits good balance, along with a pleasing mixture of warm and inviting pumpkin spices. 5% and 40 ibus


#3 Steamworks Pumpkin Ale
A malty spiced ale brewed with pumpkin pie spices & 100 lbs of local pumpkin mash. Our most popular seasonal ale. 6.5%
25 ibus
Spices:  cinnamon, clove, pumpkin, ginger, nutmeg
pale, munich and caramalt malts, magnum hops,
pumpkin from
100 lbs of local pumpkin mash

#4 Granville Island Brewing The Pumpkining
Smells like fresh pumpkin pie. Pumpkin flavours with dashes of nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves create a lingering finish.
15 ibus and 6.6%

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