As autumn nears, the leaves on the trees aren’t the only things changing color. Check out the beer section at nearly every distributor in the area, and notice the proliferation of vivid orange labels on the bottles. Pumpkin ale has become a seasonal staple for several breweries.
Its popularity has surged to the point where the Brewers Association Great American Beer Festival will have pumpkin brews in its competition. Travis Tedrow is one of the brewers at Capital City Brewing Company in Shirlington, and will be helping to make his first batch of the brewpub’s pumpkin ale this month. "It’s similar to the other pumpkin brews out there on the market," he said.
"It’s heavily spiced with coriander, allspice, the pumpkin spice you’d buy at the grocery store with nutmeg and cinnamon. We also take the pumpkin seeds and roast them, take the shells throw them into the mash." Tedrow said Cap City’s pumpkin beer isn’t hoppy and had a nice orange color.
But what gives it and other pumpkin ales their season flavor has less to do with what comes off the vine than with what is added to the mix. "Think about when you eat pumpkin pie; there’s some pumpkin in there, but it’s the spices that give it that classic taste," he said. Visit www.
capcitybrew.com for more information. THERE ARE SEVERAL pumpkin beers available at local grocery stores and at locations like Total Wine and Beverage.
Here’s a look at some options, after having tasted a few of them. Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale: The New Hampshire company’s homage to colonial recipes; according to its Web site, "Recipes calling for the use of pumpkins in beer date back to early colonial times, when brewers sought to extend their supply of costly imported malt with locally grown ingredients, such as squash and ‘pompions.’" This brew is spicy with a bitter back-end.
There’s a subtle pumpkin flavor, but the swirl of spices makes for a robust beverage. Dogfish Head Punkin’ Ale: One of the more popular pumpkin beers, it drinks like a quality brown ale: smooth, nutty, with a little spice left on the palette. Pumpkin and cinnamon note the aroma, but the pumpkin flavor is lacking in the taste.
Think of this as a solid autumn brew rather than a pumpkin celebration. Wild Goose Pumpkin Patch: This Maryland brew is way too carbonated, with little pumpkin flavor and not nearly enough spice. Pass on this.
Blue Moon Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale: Brewed in Canada, this ale has a very pleasant pumpkin flavor on the front followed by a bite of spice in the finish. A smooth, agreeable brew with a distinct amber color that combines vine-ripened pumpkins with traditional spices. Buffalo Bill’s Pumpkin Ale: This is like the Yankee Candle of pumpkin beer — the smell and taste of pumpkin is perfectly recreated, but to what end?
It lacks the spice of the others and isn’t exactly a pleasant sipping beverage. But it is brewed with real pumpkins, as well as spices including cinnamon and cloves. Brewed by Pyramid Brewing Co.
out of Portland, Oregon..
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