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Nicole Simeone
Back on the Pumpkin Beer Trail
Welcome back to the Pumpkin tour! This was true of the Oktoberfest beers, and it’s true for the pumpkin varieties this year: Choice, choice, choice. I’ve barely scratched the surface of what available. So let’s get right into some options I’ve been sampling.
The Great Pumpkin Ale
I am surprised there aren’t more variations on this name. Who isn’t a Great Pumpkin believer? So when this popped up on a beer menu, I had no choice but to order it.
This brew is put out by Cambridge Brewing Company found in, you guessed it, Cambridge, MA. GPA and Flower Child are the two brews I see on shelves, and tap lists the most out my way, but their brewpub tap list offers a broader range of options. When COVID is under control, they’ll be on my day trip list.
Now, to the beer itself. GPA has a deliciously fragrant nose, rich with cinnamon. Again, no sugar rim is tinting these notes. I also get a hint of vanilla wafting up from the glass.
As you can see from the picture above, GPA is a sincerely beautiful, clear orange color, signaling to drinkers the seasonal gourd that went into making this brew. From the brewery’s description, they used 150 pounds of sugar pumpkins in the brew. Good grief.
The vanilla I was getting from the nose pulls through at the start of each sip. The spices, cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg follow in quick succession. In that order too. GPA is a reasonably sweet pumpkin. Harkening over to the Marzen sweetness. But just at the very end, the hop bitterness rises out if the pumpkin patch.
All the Charlie Brown references aside, this is a solid pumpkin brew. If i didn’t already have a fridge brimming with samplers, I’d have picked up a four-pack of this to have on hand.
Monkster Mash
Monkster Mash is a new offering from Spencer’s Brewing. I was quite surprised to see they were dipping their toes into the seasonal market. Spencer is known primarily for their Trappist ale and other Belgian style offerings. But growth, not greed, is good.
Bonus points for the name, of course. Very cheeky and clever.
In appearance, MM has a pretty standard color for pumpkins. As you can see, it’s a hazy amber. Not hazy in IPA capacity, obviously. Just compared against pumpkins like GPA and Pumking. MM doesn’t have an overly fragrant nose. I get whiffs of the grain mingled with touches of cinnamon and clove.
Many pumpkins lean hard on the spices, packing the glass with enough allspice to make the likes of Jack Skellington sick. This brew doesn’t do that. Monkster has just enough to be flavorful, and there is even a pronounced bready component here. It’s near to a crossover between a Marzen and a pumpkin.
I saw some folks on beer groups say this is just meh, but I would disagree. Big, robust ratios of the flavors found in pumpkin beers can turn a beer into a one and done—the after taste hanging on your palette like a level 5 clinger. MM’s subtle approach gives the beer staying power. It could have a little bit more kick, but I wouldn’t write this off as meh.
Pumpkin Creamer
This brew hails from Firefly Hollow Brewing in Bristol, CT. We stop in for a beer before frights and thrills on our yearly pilgrimage to The Haunted Graveyard at Lake Compounce. Of course, this year’s trek has been canceled, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t get a hold of their Pumpkin Creamer.
At the brewery last year, I believe I got this brew on nitro, which they did not can Pumpkin Creamer with nitro. So, I don’t feel bad in a repeat review since it is not the same thing.
As a general rule, my skepticism is piqued whenever I see lactose as an ingredient in beer. I don’t know why, but I don’t end up liking the end product. Pumpkin Creamer is an exception to that rule. And I almost didn’t try it last year because of it. Thank goodness for flights. I can commit to a four or five ounces disappointment that way.
Lactose bolsters all of the flavors found in the beer. It even helps with pumpkin pie insinuation in a glass, making the mouthfeel slightly heavier than others in the pumpkin class. While I say pumpkin pie in a glass, I don’t want anyone to think this is a clove bomb variety of pumpkin. The allspice flavors are well-tempered. The hops and the hints of vanilla keep PC from overpowering the palette.
There are two downsides- one, the brewery is not right around the corner. Two, Pumpkin Creamer is not available all year round. Ugh…I know the horror of such drawbacks. #firstworldproblems
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