Out of My Gourd for Pumpkin Ales

Some mark the return of Fall with the return of Bob's 47.  I'm as excited about Ol' Bob as the next guy.  But that's not my Fall beer.  It's Pumpkin Ales.  The malty sweet and spicy concoction of pumpkin pie in a bottle.  Today's ales are nothing like the colonial brews made with pumpkin. Due to lack of availability of traditional ingredients (barley and hops) colonials put all kinds of twigs and berries into the mix to make beer.

The book History of Hadley, by Sylvester Judd gives an accurate account of beer making with pumpkin in Colonial days

Beer.—Household beer was made in most families in these river towns more than 150 years, and some strong beer was brewed. Malt was used more freely in early than in later times. When cider became plenty, beer was still drank. In Hadley, 60 years ago, beer was generally brewed once a week; malt, hops, dried pumpkin, dried apple parings, and sometimes 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 meadows by the farmers.*
*Yeast to make dough light, was taken from the settlings of the beer barrel, and called "emptyings." The old leaven, sour dough, was formerly used by some. Yeast from distilleries was first brought to houses in Northampton not far from 1830, and to Hadley about 10 or 12 years later.
Hops grew wild in the valley of the Connecticut but not in sufficient quantity; most farmers had a few hop vines and poles as long as family beer was brewed. The price of hops was commonly from 6 to 8 pence per pound from 1700 to 1800, in N. E. currency.

Mmmm, that sounds good.

Modern Pumpkin Ale begin with Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale in the 1980s.  They found that the trick to a pumpkin ale really isn't in the pumpkin, it's the spices.  Pumpkin by itself really doesn't taste like anything.  In fact, butternut squash can often taste more like pumpkin than pumpkin.  The trick with the spices is the balance.  To my mind, a dense malty base ale is needed to balance out the spices.  In this area, I think Buffalo Bill's comes up a little thin.

Missouri offers a couple of fantastic Pumpkin Ales from O'Fallon and Schlafly.  I have already picked up a sixer of O'Fallon and will crack open one tonight.  Here is what I though of last year's offering:

12 oz bottle poured into a standard pint. A thin inch of white head drops down quickly to a filmy cap. Specks of lace stick to the glass. Real delight is in the color. It is a hazy copper orange that looks like spices are suspended. I think that's pretty cool.

Smell is subtle in the spices. There is your standard pumpkin pie spices, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, with a hint of the actual pumpkin. That is the smell when you pop the lid of a pumpkin to scoop the guts out. It's a mushy vegetable sweet. The spices pop a little bit more in the taste, but the pumpkin really jumps out. It's more squashy than pumpkin pie, like a butternut squash.

Mouthfeel has a creamy texture, and for me that is a must for a pumpkin ale. Texture should be reminiscent of pumpkin pie. This isn't the creamiest pumpkin I've had, but it's close enough. Nice mild carbonation tingle mixes with the bite of the spices. I do like to age pumpkin ales to see how the spices develop, but I'm not sure this one would hold up. I'll give it a shot.

Schlafly Pumpkin Ale will be out in a week or so. I had it fresh on tap and it was amazing. I'm waiting to sample the bottled version to give it a post of it's own.