Sunday, October 25, 2020
7 Colorado Pumpkin Beers to Drink in the Seven Days Before Halloween Ends
Pumpkin beers to many have long seemed like the hellish figure in the picture above (the guardian to corn maze at Anderson Farms in Erie) - a horror inflicted on the drinking world by a small number of breweries attempting to please an only slightly larger number of aficionados. But as I, one of those horrible aficionados, discovered when I want in vain to pick up my now-sold-out annual dosage of Southern Tier Pumking on Saturday at my favorite liquor store, they've become so popular during coronavirus that they're flying off the shelves.
With the knowledge that people are diving headfirst into this long-underappreciated trend this year, here then is a very short list of some of the best experiments and tried-and-true offerings that are new or returning from Colorado breweries this season. It's a roundup that not only gives a window into the efforts that make the style worthwhile but also proves that pumpkin beers themselves are evolving and becoming far more diverse in the ways they are presented.
1) Spice Trade Pumpkin Spice Latte
Pumpkin beers rarely, if ever, have used fresh-roasted coffee beans to such the advantage as this mold-breaking offering from Spice Trade Brewing. Used in combination with lactose, vanilla and ample but not overwhelming pumpkin-pie spices, it creates a beer that is both boldly roasted and supremely smooth, and its accessible sharpness is something rarely found in a genre more often defined by more-than-ample spicing.
2) Weldwerks Pumpkin Pie Berliner
No Colorado pumpkin beer comes as close as this to reproducing what makes Pumking so brilliant - creating the liquid taste not just of pumpkin-pie filling but of the graham-cracker crust and the Cool Whip on top - but then, as Weldwerks does, it gives the style its own unique twist. The tart kick at the end of this gem accents the spices in a unique way and also creates entryway into the style for lovers of the sour-beer ascetic. Wickedly creative, it is worth seeking out.
3) Goat Patch Pumpkin Patch Punch
With its silver medal at this year's Great American Beer Festival, the time for Colorado Springs' best-kept brewing secret to remain secrets should be over. This almost glowingly orange offering is another testimony to its skill - an impressively tasty mélange of true gourd taste with spice that is blended into its sweetness and generates no bitter potpourri aftertaste. You could drink this all day.
4) Holidaily Patchy Waters Pumpkin Ale
It took a gluten-free beer to show exactly how much flavor could be gleaned without any of the bitter aftertaste that too often has marked the genre. Brewer Alan Windhausen adds most of the spices here after the boil, giving them a presence without a lingering burn by extracting the flavor without extracting so many of the spices' astringent qualities. A model of big taste and smoothness.
5) Odyssey Beerwerks Fluffy Pumpkin
No beer made in Colorado brings across the quality of marshmallow so well as this, which seems an odd statement to write on a beer blog but nonetheless remains true. The dominant taste of this dark beer is cinnamon, but its bitterness is squished by an almost gooey softness that makes this truly fascinating. Neither overtly sweet nor overtly spicy, this is unique in a very good way.
6) 4 Noses Pump Action
While the bittering spices in this imperial pumpkin ale feel ratcheted up a bit from years past, it remains one of Colorado's standard bearers in this genre - a hugely flavorful beer that is the equivalent of a pumpkin churro in liquid form, with just enough sweetness hiding on the back end to make its flavor profile feel complete even as it's firing at your taste buds from every angle.
7) Twisted Pine Mr. Brown's
If you love old-school, spice-heavy brown pumpkin ales, this offering from one of Boulder's classic craft-beer makers will scratch that itch. But it also carries a sensible blend of darkness and heady malt base that reminds you that good pumpkin beers are, first and foremost, good beers first, even if they don't shy from featuring the flavors of cinnamon and nutmeg, as this does.
Labels: 4 Noses Brewing, Goat Patch Brewing, Holidaily Brewing, Odyssey Beerwerks, Pumpkin beers, Southern Tier Brewing, Spice Trade Brewing Co., Twisted Pine Brewing, Weldwerks Brewing
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
It's the Same Great Pumpkins, Charlie Brown
This set out to be a column about the newest and boldest pumpkin beers on the market, the ones that 12 friends haven't already recommended to you for several years in a row.
The problem is, however, that those particular beers that pair well with black cats and slasher movies have earned their reputations for a reason - they're the ones that are made well, year after year, even as the quality of other beers of this style can vary pretty widely. And at a time when fewer new breweries seem to be attempting to make potables out of hoards of gourds, the chasm between great pumpkin beers and others seems to be widening, leaving the classics on an island of their own.
Is that a sign that the style is losing popularity? Not necessarily, as pumpkin beers always have been polarizing and some brewers have never liked trying to assemble them at all. Not just that, but while some breweries are avoiding the genre, others (see Southern Tier Brewing) are making multiple versions using the same seasonal ingredient, almost single-handedly pumping up the style.
Or does it mean that we've run out of original ideas for how to mix together pumpkins, spices and malts to create something new and interesting? It doesn't have to, although some of the most creative beers at the recent Great American Beer Festival were meant to be year-round pleasers, not those narrowed to an annual release.
But the best of the style simply remain the best of the style. And it is to those beers that tribute should be paid.
Southern Tier's Pumking Imperial Ale remains the most creative and compelling pumpkin creation out there, a virtual pumpkin pie in a glass. You're struck immediately by the scent of pie crust with just a hint of mixed spices, and the creamy nature of the beer gives a distinct impression of pie filling. Plus, the alcohol is extremely subdued for an 8.6% ABV beer.
Nearly as compelling - but, sadly, not available in Colorado - is Schlafly Pumpkin Ale out of St. Louis. There is a full malty body with both sweet and subtly spice-laced undertones here, and it's a complex adventure for one beer. Pressure needs to be exerted to get it here more than just during GABF.
In Colorado, you can't do better than 4 Noses Brewing's Pump Action, an also not-so-alcohol-apparent imperial pumpkin ale that comes on with a full mouth of spice but less of residual hot back taste than many others of the ilk. It uses its amber body particularly well as a cushion to smooth out the tastes of nutmeg and cinnamon, leaving them pleasing without being acerbic.
Neck and neck with it in Colorado is Upslope Pumpkin Ale, which, like Pump Action, has taken home GABF medals. This cranks up the six spices in the beer a little bit and tones down the sweetness of the pumpkin but settles with a bready, heavy body that zings you without overpowering.
One of the most improved pumpkin beers in the state is Denver Beer Co's Hey! Pumpkin, a smooth and almost creamy offering that goes lighter on the spices and heavier on the pie-like baking sugar. There's barely any bitterness on the back end, leaving it more approachable while still full of flavor.
And maybe the one surprise of the season was Uinta Brewing's Funk'n Patch Brett Pumpkin Ale, a beer that adds enough to perk up the lively, funky characteristics of the beer while pushing it just slightly into the category of sour. The Utah brewery's beers tend to vary wildly in terms of hitting the mark, but this one delivers in a differentiated, put-the-fun-back-in-pumpkin-ales way.
There's a chance that none of that is news to you. But it's worth reiterating all the same that there are breweries, even if a select number of them, that are doing pumpkin beers well and giving you incentive to reach out and try some before the calendar turns to November.
This set out to be a column about the newest and boldest pumpkin beers on the market, the ones that 12 friends haven't already recommended to you for several years in a row.
The problem is, however, that those particular beers that pair well with black cats and slasher movies have earned their reputations for a reason - they're the ones that are made well, year after year, even as the quality of other beers of this style can vary pretty widely. And at a time when fewer new breweries seem to be attempting to make potables out of hoards of gourds, the chasm between great pumpkin beers and others seems to be widening, leaving the classics on an island of their own.
Is that a sign that the style is losing popularity? Not necessarily, as pumpkin beers always have been polarizing and some brewers have never liked trying to assemble them at all. Not just that, but while some breweries are avoiding the genre, others (see Southern Tier Brewing) are making multiple versions using the same seasonal ingredient, almost single-handedly pumping up the style.
Or does it mean that we've run out of original ideas for how to mix together pumpkins, spices and malts to create something new and interesting? It doesn't have to, although some of the most creative beers at the recent Great American Beer Festival were meant to be year-round pleasers, not those narrowed to an annual release.But the best of the style simply remain the best of the style. And it is to those beers that tribute should be paid.
Southern Tier's Pumking Imperial Ale remains the most creative and compelling pumpkin creation out there, a virtual pumpkin pie in a glass. You're struck immediately by the scent of pie crust with just a hint of mixed spices, and the creamy nature of the beer gives a distinct impression of pie filling. Plus, the alcohol is extremely subdued for an 8.6% ABV beer.
Nearly as compelling - but, sadly, not available in Colorado - is Schlafly Pumpkin Ale out of St. Louis. There is a full malty body with both sweet and subtly spice-laced undertones here, and it's a complex adventure for one beer. Pressure needs to be exerted to get it here more than just during GABF.
In Colorado, you can't do better than 4 Noses Brewing's Pump Action, an also not-so-alcohol-apparent imperial pumpkin ale that comes on with a full mouth of spice but less of residual hot back taste than many others of the ilk. It uses its amber body particularly well as a cushion to smooth out the tastes of nutmeg and cinnamon, leaving them pleasing without being acerbic.
Neck and neck with it in Colorado is Upslope Pumpkin Ale, which, like Pump Action, has taken home GABF medals. This cranks up the six spices in the beer a little bit and tones down the sweetness of the pumpkin but settles with a bready, heavy body that zings you without overpowering.
And maybe the one surprise of the season was Uinta Brewing's Funk'n Patch Brett Pumpkin Ale, a beer that adds enough to perk up the lively, funky characteristics of the beer while pushing it just slightly into the category of sour. The Utah brewery's beers tend to vary wildly in terms of hitting the mark, but this one delivers in a differentiated, put-the-fun-back-in-pumpkin-ales way.
There's a chance that none of that is news to you. But it's worth reiterating all the same that there are breweries, even if a select number of them, that are doing pumpkin beers well and giving you incentive to reach out and try some before the calendar turns to November.
Labels: 4 Noses Brewing, Denver Beer Co, Fall seasonals, Great American Beer Festival, Pumpkin beers, Schlafly Beer, Southern Tier Brewing, Uinta Brewing, Upslope Brewing
Saturday, October 31, 2015
5 Beers to Drink on Halloween 2015
Once upon an All Hallows Eve, taps and shelves everywhere featured an old-fashioned beer called a "pumpkin ale." Now pumpkin beers complete their distribution cycles well before you head out for trick-or-treating, and its hard to find one whose strength hasn't been ramped up to imperial level.
Luckily, the brewers who know how to make it bigger also know how to supplement high alcohol-by-volume levels with some serious flavor complexity. And assuming you can find the liquor stores and taprooms that haven't laid their Christmas beer section yet, here are five pumpkin beers you should pair tonight with your favorite zombie movie or with the candy you steal from your kids' baskets.
Copper Kettle Imperial Pumpkin Porter (pictured at left)
The best offering of this season is robust - dark and heavy with layers of pumpkin-pie spices that do not disappoint. The spice bill has the cinnamon highlights that mark many beers of this season, but it also has a vaguely Mediterranean complexity that fills out the body and makes this 7.3% ABV gem one of the more unique pumpkin beers.
Strange Pumpkin Porter
After several years of producing a pretty good Halloween accompaniment, the little Denver brewery that could knocked it out of the park this year. This is a bold porter first and foremost - roasted but not burnt - that is supplemented by a spicy flavor that somehow is bereft of bitterness. While the dark body may look intimidating, it's one of the most smoothly blended beers of the season.
Schlafly Pumpkin Ale
Admittedly, you have to go out of state to find one; I tried some while visiting family in Baltimore, which ironically is much further from this St. Louis brewery than Denver is. But if you can get your hands on one, this may be the sweetest of the pumpkin offerings, an easy blend of malty ale with pumpkin flavorings that run toward the sugary end of the spectrum.
Pumking
Southern Tier Brewing of New York (available locally) wins the award, however, for crafting the effort that most resembles pumpkin pie. A late-breaking spicy bitterness both contrasts with and compliments the fascinating bread-y flavor of pumpkin pie crust that serves as the underbelly of this surprisingly easy 8.6% ABV imperial pumpkin ale.
Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale
The longtime pumpkin king still can bring it, despite being purchased since last Halloween by an international conglomerate whose first post-expansion commercial specifically mocked pumpkin ales. But it bucks the seasonal trend by producing a regular-strength offering - albeit one brewed with more than seven pounds of pumpkin - that is richer and sweeter than the heavier-bodied Great Pumpkin imperial ale.
Once upon an All Hallows Eve, taps and shelves everywhere featured an old-fashioned beer called a "pumpkin ale." Now pumpkin beers complete their distribution cycles well before you head out for trick-or-treating, and its hard to find one whose strength hasn't been ramped up to imperial level.Luckily, the brewers who know how to make it bigger also know how to supplement high alcohol-by-volume levels with some serious flavor complexity. And assuming you can find the liquor stores and taprooms that haven't laid their Christmas beer section yet, here are five pumpkin beers you should pair tonight with your favorite zombie movie or with the candy you steal from your kids' baskets.
Copper Kettle Imperial Pumpkin Porter (pictured at left)
The best offering of this season is robust - dark and heavy with layers of pumpkin-pie spices that do not disappoint. The spice bill has the cinnamon highlights that mark many beers of this season, but it also has a vaguely Mediterranean complexity that fills out the body and makes this 7.3% ABV gem one of the more unique pumpkin beers.
Strange Pumpkin Porter
After several years of producing a pretty good Halloween accompaniment, the little Denver brewery that could knocked it out of the park this year. This is a bold porter first and foremost - roasted but not burnt - that is supplemented by a spicy flavor that somehow is bereft of bitterness. While the dark body may look intimidating, it's one of the most smoothly blended beers of the season.
Schlafly Pumpkin Ale
Admittedly, you have to go out of state to find one; I tried some while visiting family in Baltimore, which ironically is much further from this St. Louis brewery than Denver is. But if you can get your hands on one, this may be the sweetest of the pumpkin offerings, an easy blend of malty ale with pumpkin flavorings that run toward the sugary end of the spectrum.
Pumking
Southern Tier Brewing of New York (available locally) wins the award, however, for crafting the effort that most resembles pumpkin pie. A late-breaking spicy bitterness both contrasts with and compliments the fascinating bread-y flavor of pumpkin pie crust that serves as the underbelly of this surprisingly easy 8.6% ABV imperial pumpkin ale.Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale
The longtime pumpkin king still can bring it, despite being purchased since last Halloween by an international conglomerate whose first post-expansion commercial specifically mocked pumpkin ales. But it bucks the seasonal trend by producing a regular-strength offering - albeit one brewed with more than seven pounds of pumpkin - that is richer and sweeter than the heavier-bodied Great Pumpkin imperial ale.
Labels: Copper Kettle Brewing, Elysian Brewing, Lucky Pie, Pumpkin beers, Schlafly Beer, Southern Tier Brewing, Strange Craft Beer
Monday, October 27, 2014
6 Pumpkin Beers You Need to Drink Before Halloween
While handing out treats on Friday night you want to have a few tricks up your sleeve - such as enjoying the best pumpkin beer possible. Luckily,brewers showed restraint this year, reversing a trend from last year where many of the seasonal offerings were entirely over-spiced and marginally acceptable at best.
But what stood out most during this October season? Here's one beer geek's suggestions as to how you can conjure up the most for your taste buds in one handful of pumpkin goodness.
1) Pumking - Southern Tier Brewing (pictured at left)
In a universe of complex pumpkin beers, what makes this quaffable and smooth offering stand out is the toasted marshmallow backtaste that adds a vanilla-esque sweetness to the body and allows the cinnamon apparent in the recipe to jolt the roof of your mouth a little but not overwhelm the beer.
2) Dark O' The Moon Pumpkin Stout - Elysian Brewing Co.
This is as bold and spicy as anything you'll find out there. The difference is that the thick, almost sweet-bodied stout envelopes the beer and gives it a firm but soft cushion, allowing you to enjoy the base beer as well as the additives.
3) St. Ambroise Pumpkin - McAuslan Brewing Co.
The biggest surprise of last year remains the easiest-drinking yet highly enjoyable pumpkin beer out there, with just enough hints of pie mix to let you know it's something special but not enough to overpower you.
4) Hey! Pumpkin - Denver Beer Co.
The Denver brewery stepped up its game this year by ramping up the cinnamon and accompanying spices but not to lip-burning levels. This offers pumpkin enjoyment in medium-bodied form.
5) Pumpkin Ale - Upslope Brewing
Many consider this the gold standard of Colorado pumpkin beers, and the reason why is easy to taste - a complexity of both bitter and spicy additives, all swirling around and daring you to identify them.
6) Gordgeous - Hangar 24 Craft Brewery
OK, this is a bit of a tricky one, as the California brewery doesn't circulate to Colorado. But the star pumpkin beer of the Great American Beer Festival adds a creamy body to its heavy melange of tastes, allowing this to go down very easily. Now if only it could get out to the Centennial State as easily ...
While handing out treats on Friday night you want to have a few tricks up your sleeve - such as enjoying the best pumpkin beer possible. Luckily,brewers showed restraint this year, reversing a trend from last year where many of the seasonal offerings were entirely over-spiced and marginally acceptable at best.
But what stood out most during this October season? Here's one beer geek's suggestions as to how you can conjure up the most for your taste buds in one handful of pumpkin goodness.
1) Pumking - Southern Tier Brewing (pictured at left)
In a universe of complex pumpkin beers, what makes this quaffable and smooth offering stand out is the toasted marshmallow backtaste that adds a vanilla-esque sweetness to the body and allows the cinnamon apparent in the recipe to jolt the roof of your mouth a little but not overwhelm the beer.
2) Dark O' The Moon Pumpkin Stout - Elysian Brewing Co.
This is as bold and spicy as anything you'll find out there. The difference is that the thick, almost sweet-bodied stout envelopes the beer and gives it a firm but soft cushion, allowing you to enjoy the base beer as well as the additives.
3) St. Ambroise Pumpkin - McAuslan Brewing Co.
The biggest surprise of last year remains the easiest-drinking yet highly enjoyable pumpkin beer out there, with just enough hints of pie mix to let you know it's something special but not enough to overpower you.
4) Hey! Pumpkin - Denver Beer Co.
The Denver brewery stepped up its game this year by ramping up the cinnamon and accompanying spices but not to lip-burning levels. This offers pumpkin enjoyment in medium-bodied form.
5) Pumpkin Ale - Upslope Brewing
Many consider this the gold standard of Colorado pumpkin beers, and the reason why is easy to taste - a complexity of both bitter and spicy additives, all swirling around and daring you to identify them.
6) Gordgeous - Hangar 24 Craft Brewery
OK, this is a bit of a tricky one, as the California brewery doesn't circulate to Colorado. But the star pumpkin beer of the Great American Beer Festival adds a creamy body to its heavy melange of tastes, allowing this to go down very easily. Now if only it could get out to the Centennial State as easily ...
Labels: Denver Beer Co, Elysian Brewing, Hangar 24 Craft Brewery, McAuslan Brewing, Pumpkin beers, Seasonal, Southern Tier Brewing, Upslope Brewing
