Today, I’m doing something a little different with my happy hour post, I am trying my hand at mini reviews of two seasonal ales I’ve tried recently. Its almost the polar opposite of Kev’s Vectorworks reviews, he’s technical, I’m um, fun maybe? Silly? I’m not sure, but I hope you’ll let me know in the comments.
In seasonal beer terms, we’re between Octoberfest ales and Winter ales, what I call pumkin season in ale land. The crisp, leaf scented days of mid to late fall are a perfect accompaniment to a mid bodied amber colored ale, and a good pumkin ale will take care of that business quite nicely.
There are two somewhat local pumkin ales that I like, they are similar in color, and they both contain pumpkin. They have different tastes and textures, and that’s one of the reasons why I like to explore microbrews, they reflect what is important to their respective brewmasters.
Generally, pumpkin ales are – surprise! – favored with pumpkin pieesque spices like ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and allspice. These ales are usually mild, sometimes I taste just a hint of bitter. Good pumpkin ales are made with real pumpkin, and I’ve found that roasted pumpkin can add real depth to the character of the ale.
I mentioned somewhat local, and I’m probably stretching the local angel a bit, but hey, let’s lighten up, we’re talking about beer here.
Punkin Ale is crafted at Dogfish Head Brewery in Maryland. Dogfish Head Brewery is in Milton, DE, they have a restaurant in Gaithersburg, MD. Thanks to Tim from the Stagecraft list!)
It is a medium thick dark amber ale. It has strong hints of brown sugar and nutmeg, but not any one spice is dominate – it has a nice balanced flavor.
Brooklyn Brewery serves Post Road Pumkin Ale. It has a more subtle pumkin flavor than the Punkin Ale, it is crisper and lightly carbonated. Actually, as I am thinking about it, I think Post Road Pumpkin Ale tastes more like actual pumkin, whereas Punkin Ale from Dogfish Head tastes more like pumpkin pie. They’re both nice seasonal ales, just a little different.
I do like to pick up seasonal ales and enjoy a few. I’ll admit that these differently flavored ales are not ones I would drink regularly, but its always good to stir things up a bit, and of course to support small, local businesses. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I can rationalize anything.
If you find a seasonal ale that speaks to you, please let me know what you think.
Beer blogging is good.
I tried Upstream Brewery’s (Omaha, NE) pumpkin ale last night, and enjoyed it. Felt a bit on the bitter side, but still had an great pumpkin smell and taste.
I’ve become a fan of Sam Adam’s Winter Lager recently…though I think I need to have a few more before blogging about it