13 Days of Pumpkin Beer: Day 4 – Lakefront Brewery’s Pumpkin Lager

Guest blog post by Alia Broman

#4 – Oct 4, 2013: Pumpkin Lager by Lakefront Brewery (Milwaukee, WI)

Quiz time!  What is one of the only pumpkin beers that is a LAGER rather than an ALE? Answer: Lakefront’s Pumpkin!

Year of conception: at least since 1997 (it apparently won a tasting merit award)

Color: cloudy, golden orange

ABV: 6.0%

Cost: $9.49 + tax for 6-pack of 12oz bottles

Availability: all liquor stores great and small

Description by Lakefront Brewery: “Using real pumpkin and a proprietary blend of spices … our brewers’ lager this beer for 4 full weeks… A frothy entry leads to an off-dry medium-to-full body of intense cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and candied yam flavor on a nutty wheat toast palate. Finishes with a drier spice and light toffee fade. Caramel and Munich malts reinforce this beer’s mouthfeel and lend to the malty sweetness.”

A pleasant aroma of Midwest spices greets your nostrils as your mouth enjoys the full, rich taste of this Fall lager. The cinnamon and nutmeg flavors are quite prevalent, but not overwhelming. Drinking this beer is quite refreshing, and I agree that there is a light delightful toffee aftertaste. Definitively sweet, this beer is enjoyable but would not necessarily be paired with Monday Night Football. Although it does not fulfill my search for the “perfect” pumpkin beer, I wouldn’t hesitate to imbibe it again.

Pie Pieces: 3 – Orange

13 Days of Pumpkin Beer: Day 3 – Shipyard Brewing’s Pumpkinhead Ale

Guest blog post by Alia Broman

#3 – Oct 3, 2013: Pumpkinhead Ale by Shipyard Brewing Company (Portland, ME)

Whether from glass bottles, aluminum cans, or decorative gourds mother truckers, I have YET to meet a pumpkin beer that I couldn’t WAIT to try!

shipyard pumpkinhead

Year of conception: 2002

Color: cloudy, golden tan

ABV: 4.7%

Cost: $9.99 + tax for 6-pack of 12oz bottles

Availability: all liquor stores great and small

Description by Shipyard Brewing Co: A crisp and refreshing wheat ale with hints of pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg aromas and flavors.

Sadly, that sentiment was taken to a spooky grave today by Shipyard’s Pumpkinhead Ale.  While I couldn’t enjoy the aromatics of the Pumpkinhead Ale either from lack of, or seasonal nasal congestion, the spices will certainly clear out your sinuses.  The combination of cinnamon and nutmeg leaves this beer tasting more like a fiery red-hot than warm, sensual pumpkin pie.  And maybe it’s just because “pumpkinhead” is what I used to call my backyard neighbor growing up.  You know, the awkward boy who instead of turning into a swan turns into the co-star of your failed (initially romantic later discovered to be) homosexual male relationships?  Anyway, the point is that this beer is in its awkward tween years and it needs to stop trying so hard to be something it is not, i.e. a PUMPKIN beer.

Pie Pieces: 1 – Rotten

13 Days of Pumpkin Beer: Day 2 – Tommyknocker Brewery’s Small Patch Pumpkin Harvest Ale

Guest blog post by Alia Broman

#2 – Oct 2, 2013: Small Patch Pumpkin Harvest Ale by Tommyknocker Brewery (Idaho Springs, CO)

Apologies for my tardy post.  Being a full-time doctor during the day and a semi-professional classical musician occasionally doesn’t leave me much time to spend on my one true love: pumpkin beer!

tommyknocker-small-patch-pumpkin1Year of conception: 2011?

Color: malty, chocolaty brown; little head when poured

ABV: 5%

Cost: $9.99 + tax for 6-pack of 12oz bottles

Availability: most liquor stores great and small

Description by Tommyknocker Brewery: A hearty brown ale brewed to celebrate the fall harvest season. Brewed with a hint of spice and a touch of molasses, Small Patch has a malty backbone rounded out by an addition of real pumpkin to the mash and brew kettle. Think outside the patch!”

While Small Patch is hailed as a seasonal beer only enjoyable in Fall, the full, stouty-richness is a flavor I could curl up with during Winter snow storms.  The molasses overtones and slightly burnt signature stout fragrance make you want to happily drown in your glass.  The pumpkin spices are also semi-submerged in this brown ale, but tend to surface when you least expect it.  A bit dark for my taste in pumpkin beer, but a noble triumph nonetheless!  If you wear many different hats (as I do), you too may enjoy this subtle spin on an Autumn classic!

Pie Pieces: 3 – Orange

13 Days of Pumpkin Beer: Day 1 – New Belgium’s Pumpkick

Guest blog post by Alia Broman

I LOVE Fall! Crisp, clear days warming up to the 80s, and chilly nights requiring fuzzy fleeces.  Crunchy leaves, early morning frosts, and the anticipation of binging on candy provided by strangers.  But as I am at the age where it is inappropriate to go trick-or-treating without a child of my own, I am sequestered in my apartment, searching for the same enthusiasm for the month of October that I once had.

Then it hit me; the other reason I love October is pumpkins!  And what go better together than pumpkins and beer, or rather, pumpkins IN beer?!  Unfortunately, I don’t have access to enough pumpkin beer to blog about a different one for 30 days, but I’m going to try my hardest to blog about them for 13 days.  I will report on their color, ABV, cost (based on my local liquor store in Denver, Colorado), availability, and of course, pumpkiny-goodness!  Overall scores of awesomeness will be one to four pie pieces, as an ode to my anticipation of homemade pumpkin pie in November.  One pie piece is old and rotten, two is a green pumpkin from the grocery store, three is orange fresh from the pumpkin patch, and four is a hand-carved, smiling jack-o-lantern.

#1 – Oct 1, 2013: Pumpkick by New Belgium Brewing (Fort Collins, CO)   

lPumpkickLogo

Year of conception: 2013

ABV: 6%

Color: light amber, with a nice orange glow at the bottom of the glass from reflected light

Cost: $8.99 + tax for 6-pack of 12oz bottles

Availability: all liquor stores great and small

Description by New Belgium Brewing: “PUMPKICK is brewed with plenty of pumpkin juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice, but it’s the cranberries and touch of lemongrass that send your taste buds sailing.”

Pumpkick has pleasant aromatics, with defined hints of nutmeg and cinnamon.  The first sip is a tangy assault on your tastebuds, but after sips two and more, the beer simply melts onto your palate.  It’s a very easy beer to drink, but also a very easy beer to forget.  As for the touch of lemongrass, I would argue that there are more than a few stalks per bottle, that culminate in a sour aftertaste.  The lemongrass and cranberries also seem to insult rather than complement each other.  That being said, my hat is tipped to my hometown brewery for entering into the stiff competition that comes with all seasonal ales.

Pie Pieces: 2 – Green 

Girl, You Want That Hop Bod?!

All right, so you have a deep, undying love for beer. Sure, you’re not alone in the world. But do you love the smell of hops so much you would literally bathe yourself in it? Or so much that you would want the smell to engulf you 24/7 (whether or not you’re drunk)? Then you’re in luck, because there are some people as beer obsessed as you are with a penchant for entrepreneurship.

I’ve made a list of some cool beer and hop paraphernalia that might tickle your fancy. Or if you’re looking to buy me a gift, any of these would do. Thanks!

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Candles Made from Recycled Bottles:

A cool way to reuse bottles and decorate your home, if you’re into that beer chic look (which I am). Although the candles are unscented and more akin to tea lights, the bottled candles last a long time and look beautiful. Like these Growler Lamps that I desperately want to make (considering that Fitger’s does not give you the deposit back on growlers and I have several).

beer candles

Hop-Scented Candles:

the candle labThis is probably the most intriguing to me because of the disclaimer that not everyone, even homebrewers, will like the candles’ smell. Although saying that “it’s like sticking your nose in a glass of hoppy beer” sounds awesome, it worries me that the candle is based off “one kind of hop”. Tell me the kind, even name the candle after said variety. But in their defense, hops do have a strong smell and it’s definitely not for everyone. But if this candle can replicate the smell of the moment you drop the hops in the mash, I want it. Bad.

Hops ShampooESB Shampoo and Conditioner:

hops shampoo duffys ESB ShampooYes, please. Pour it on me. Hops shampoo sounds delicious, and I bet it is good for my hair what with its preservative properties. And the branding? Swoon. I could use a matching conditioner though, I don’t know if it would go with the rosemary mint thing I’ve got going on. Duffy’s ESB Shampoo and Conditioner look pretty good, albeit a little male-oriented, which is fine I guess. What’s cool is they actually used an ESB from Elysian Brewing Company to make it and in the description, detail the hops and malts that go into the beer and how it impacts the hair product.

Hops Lip Balm:

hop lip balm

I know it’s cheap to spotlight a product from the same brand I mentioned earlier, Atlantic Farms, but what’s cool about the hops lip balm is that they offer four different ones, a Lavender, Mint, Grapefruit and Double IPA (as if there weren’t enough hops or hop smell in it already – they even name them, Chinook and Cascade). All natural and organic, they’re not cheap, but damn they look tasty. The only question is, would it be weird to drink a beer with one of those on your lips? Maybe.

Beer Soap & Hops Body Bar:

foggy brew sudsdamn handsome hop shampooFoggy Brew Suds doesn’t just use hops, but “local varieties of lager, ale, stout and porter” to hand-make the soap. Each bar has the flavor profile on it (or I guess olfactory profile, because you shouldn’t eat soap) that describes both the smell and the texture. I’m not sure if I would use it for my body, but then again a nice stout would be so creamy and soft on my skin, I couldn’t resist. Damn Handsome Grooming Co. has their branding down – slick and manly and referencing brewing companies in the name, it almost makes me want to hate them for so clearly excluding me. But I get it, guys don’t like to shower, so why not make if fun and beer-focused? Eye roll. Hence the Hop Shampoo and Body Bar, which looks damn good. But most other stuff is sold out, and this one makes me the saddest – Fall Nut Brown Liquid Beer Soap made with damn handsome beer soapspent grains. But they have it all: beard oil, hair wax, even tattoo rescue oil. The thing I want most, however, is the seasonal favorite Pumpkin Ale Beer Soap that you get free with ordering (I don’t want to put soap in my hair, but I will use it on my body, thank you). I just bought the last one, sorry for you.

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The real question: would you consider me a crazy person if I had every one of these products? I hop(e) not, because I really, really want them.