Tag Archives: pumpkin ale

It’s Pumpkin Beer Season in BC

Despite now being the time to harvest pumpkins for fresh incorporation into a warming autumn seasonal, pumpkin beers have been on the market for quite a few weeks now.  Three years ago I set out to acquire and taste every pumpkin beer brewed in BC; there were only four.  I set out to do the same this year, but found a freaking whole lot of pumpkin beers being brewed in or available in BC this year.  I did my best to acquire them all, fully intending to review and rank them all for you, my dearest readers.  Sadly, I failed spectacularly.

We, the wife, some friends, and I, set out to taste these pumpkin beers in succession.  We even prepared a pumpkin themed dinner to accompany our tasting.  And while the pumpkin mash, pumpkin soup, salad with pumpkin seeds, and pumpkin creme brule were all a treat, we quickly tired of pumpkin beer.  You see, we can’t waste any but the worst beer and these pumpkin beers were mostly in 650ml bombers.  After four rounds of pumpkin…what, fresh hops you say?  Turns out, pumpkin beers can be very good, but they aren’t exactly session-able for the majority of people. Yeah, so here’s a list of all the pumpkin beers I found.  More importantly, make sure you eat roasted kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) as soon as possible.  It’s ridiculously good.

Kabocha Squash

These are kabochas

BC Pumpkin Beers:

Other Pumpkin Beers available in BC:

You should be able to find a lot of these at BC Liquor stores and many of the better beer stores.  You’re liable to find other pumpkin beer one offs at brewpubs, tap rooms, and cask events around town, so keep an eye out.  Did I miss anything? Also, for the record, I remember being particularly partial to Elysian Pumpkin Stout, Howe Sound, Red Racer, and Lost Souls.

Cheers,

Chris

Seasonal Beer is not Very Seasonal

It seems we have lost touch with when foods are in season. Eating and drinking seasonally is not exactly convenient, it pretty much the exact opposite.  Adapting our dietary habits based on nature’s timing is hard; it takes time, and commitment.  In our modern industrial food culture, where canned, frozen or fresh flown in from somewhere warm, is available year round, seasonal eating is only for the die-hards.  I like to think I have what it takes to let nature control my diet, but my unrelenting food urges, which are not always linked to nature, frequently lead me astray.  One has to give up control of their daily food intake and let the world’s natural timing dictate what and when they will eat.  And that is hard.

We do not control the sun or the rain and we certainly cannot mandate a pumpkin to be ready for harvest come August 1st, – which is roughly when a pumpkin should be harvest-able in order to get pumpkin ale to  market by September 15th.  That is of course if the pumpkin is local, fresh and in season.

I like pumpkins a lot.  I’m a gourd guy I guess.  I eagerly await the pumpkin harvest every year.  Typically pumpkins reach the market starting September 15th, but are considered to be at their peak after they have had some time in the early autumn sun and after a light frost.  Thanksgiving is the best time to start eating pumpkin.  So how is it that I can buy pumpkin ale before the key ingredient, pumpkin, hasn’t reached harvest-able maturity?

Further down this path, In British Columbia Raspberry season starts July 1st.  Many raspberry seasonals also happen to be released starting July 1st.  Something isn’t adding up.

Proper ale takes a minimum of six weeks from start to finish before it can be consider fit for consumption.  With this in mind we should drink pumpkin ale starting mid November and raspberry ale from mid August through to Thanksgiving.  But herein lies the problem; we want pumpkin ale at the Thanksgiving table.  Beer marketers know this, and brewers are forced to source out of season, imported, or frozen ingredients for an upcoming seasonal release.

Some of beer culture’s greatest celebrations are linked to the harvest.  Oktoberfest is a celebration of the summer harvest and the beginning of the brewing season.  Unable to brew lager beer in the summer months, drinkers liberally imbibe in the reaming cave aged Marzen in order to make room for the fresh lager soon to come.  With glycol cooling brewers can lager beer all summer long and this annual celebration is no longer necessary, but it is so much fun we have kept the party alive and well.

Even beer styles have been shaped by the seasons.  Saison, directly translated as season, is a classic example.  Originally brewed in a farmhouse during the autumn and winter months, Saisons were aged into the summer where farm workers quenched thier thirst with a snappy effervescent beer. Refrigeration and digital temperate controls have changed how Saisons are brewed, which I’m sure has changed the flavour profile.

As a beer fanatic and an enthusiastic eater I like to think seasonality has remained a mainstay of modern beer culture, but it hasn’t.  Brewing with what nature provides is not easy.  Seasonal brewing pushes consumer demand to the back seat.  When consumer demand remains a top priority for business owners, the boundaries of the season get pushed.  The idea of releasing pumpkin ale one month after thanksgiving, and even after Halloween, may seem counter-intuitive, but it isn’t.

Optically, yes, beer is very seasonal, but the way we brew and the way we consume is far from it. Like being part of a movement, it feels good to be a seasonal drinker.  We like to feel an emotional connection to Mother Nature, but the effort to make a real connection is too great a commitment for most brewery owners, so marketers fake it.

Industry and nature do not mix all that well.  Marketers love the image, but hate the reality.  To be a seasonal brewery one has to err on the side of nature and quality rather than the timing of consumer demand.

Are there enough die-hards out there to support a seasonal brewery?   I would love to see a brewery say, it will be ready when it is ready, and it will be damn good… when it is ready of course.  It would take guts to say this and it would be a business risk, but it would be cool – it would also be a great point of differentiation.    

Cheers,

Erik

Note:

There are some bright spots.  The resurgence of local hop production in BC has created a hyper-seasonal wet hopped ale trend.  And Belgium’s lambic breweries hold true to the seasonal limitation of wild fermentation.

BC Pumpkin Ales Tasted

Last week I posted about some of the pumpkin ales recently released by our esteemed BC brewers.  I’m pleased to say that I’ve now had the chance to try most of them.  Erik and I enjoyed a pumpkin feast and pumpkin ale tasting this past weekend.  Below are my rankings and impressions of the four beers we tasted side by side.  It should be noted that we were drinking full glasses of each beer, which may have affected the quality of our tasting notes.

  1. Swans Pumpkin Ale – This was my favorite pumpkin ale.  I found it pleasantly sweet and nicely balanced with spice.  Tasting note: “Tastes like pumpkin pie in a good way.”
  2. Central City Red Racer Pumpkin Ale – This was the most drinkable of the bunch, meaning that you could easily drink a few of these.  The pumpkin ale taste was not overwhelming and there was no detectable spice. Tasting note: “Reminds me of their pale ale with added pumpkin.”
  3. Phillips Crooked Tooth Pumpkin Ale – I found this one good, but not great.  It had more pumpkin flavor that the Granville Island version and also reminded me of pumpkin pie, but not in as pleasant a way as the Swans version.  Tasting note: “Tastes like turkey dinner in a glass.”
  4. Granville Island Pumpkin Ale – The most underwhelming of the bunch with very little pumpkin taste, but plenty of spice.  We guessed they may have used a Belgian yeast because it had that funky aroma.  Erik  wondered whether the bottle we had might have oxidized a little bit.  Tasting note: “Tastes Belgiany.”

It should be noted that all of the above beers were reddish brown in color, none deviating very far from the other.  It should also be noted that the Howe Sound Pumpkineater I tried at the Alibi Room would likely rank high on this list, but I was unable to procure any for this tasting session.

Swans was my favorite pumpkin ale of the season

Swans was my favorite pumpkin ale of the season

For those of you who might be interested in knowing what we ate at our pumpkin feast, Rachel made pumpkin soup, roasted vegetables including pumpkin, pumpkin gnocchi, and a baked pumpkin pastry dessert.  I wish I’d taken a picture of the spread because it looked as wonderful as it tasted.  I don’t think I’d eaten roasted pumpkin before, but if I had then I forgot that it tastes very much like roasted sweet potatoes or yams.  Why don’t we eat roasted pumpkin more often?

Cheers,

Chris

Pumpkin Ale Season in BC

It is almost Halloween, which most significantly means that it’s pumpkin ale season again.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with pumpkin ales they are generally similar to amber ales, but are brewed with pumpkin added in some form.  Many pumpkin ales also include the spices one would commonly find in pumpkin pie such as ground ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and allspice.  In fact, I’d say most people find that pumpkin ales taste like pumpkin pie.  It’s a taste that some don’t enjoy, but I for one am a bigger fan of pumpkin pie in a glass than on a plate.

Our BC brewers aren’t letting us down this year and are offering some tasty pumpkin ales.  I’ve managed to collect the following four:

BC Pumpkin Ales

It seems that pumpkin ales are getting rather popular in BC because most of the above proved rather hard to find.  Staking out Brewery Creek proved most effective, but I had to use the BC Liquor Store product finder to track down the Granville Island offering.  I haven’t had any of the pumpkin ales I’ve procured just yet because I plan to compare them all side by side come Halloween, but I’ll be sure to post my findings.

There are a few other pumpkin ales out and about.  Howe Sound released a small amount of their Pumpkineater Imperial Ale in bottles, but it sold out fast.  However, I did notice it on tap at the Alibi Room earlier in the week.  Steamworks also has their version of pumpkin ale on tap at their brewpub.  Even if you don’t think you’ll like pumpkin ale, scare yourself this Halloween and give it a try.

Cheers,

Chris