In Search of the Great Pumpkin Ale, Part 5

At last, I've reached the end of my pumpkin ales. I am so ready to move on to different styles of beers, there's no way I can describe how relieved I am that we've come to the last remaining bottles in my collection.

I realize that I barely scratched the surface of the number of pumpkin ales available in Ontario, West Québec, New York State, and Delaware (my final tasting), but I hope that I've raised an interest in this interesting style of beer. And I know that some of my beer-loving friends (yes, I'm talking to you, Katy and Scott) have amassed a much greater collection of pumpkin ales, but for me, the number that I had was considerable, seeing that I've never had more than two different pumpkin ales in one season.

I reviewed 12 breweries but I tasted at least a half-dozen more that I decided to leave out of my reviews. And to spare the readers who may not care for pumpkin and spice in their ales, I fear that a dozen was too many.

But I've reached the end with the final three, none of which is available in the LCBO or is made in Canada. This weekend, I went south of the border. And once I've given my review of these beers, I'll give you my top five pumpkin ales and a couple of my least favourite ones.

I spread the final tastings out over three separate sessions. The first one, I had on Thursday night, with dinner. And thankfully, it renewed my love of pumpkin ale.

UFO Pumpkin
Harpoon Bewery, Windsor VT
5.9% ABV

I have my friend, Tom, to thank for this one. My buddy went for a beer run to Vermont and returned with a trunkful of beer. He came straight from the border to our weekly social event, Thursday Pints, and as we headed out he showed me his haul and offered me a bottle of this unfiltered pumpkin ale.

I'm honoured.

A cloudy amber orange with an off-white, foamy head, this ale delivered a nose of baked apple-spice cake. On the palate, I was immediately hit with spices, a hint of orange citrus, and brown sugar. The finish was all pumpkin pie.

This pumpkin ale hit the mark exactly. It was delicious and makes me want to venture down to Windsor next year. UFO is a favourite.

On Friday, I shared another beer with an expert: brewmaster Adam Rader from Mill Street. This one was from my recent trip to Cortland, in the Finger Lakes district of New York State.

Pumpkin Ale
Cortland Beer Company, Cortland NY
ABV NA

I came across the CBC by accident. My family and I were looking for a place for dinner in Cortland, and when we turned down a street off the main road, we passed an old fire station that was converted into a brewery. We pulled over and I hopped out.

I had a small sample of their pumpkin seasonal and decided that I would take some home. It was available only in a growler, so I made the decision right then and there that I would share it. I was hoping that I could share it with my three buddies, but neither Katy, Scott, or Tom were available, so I thought I'd take it to Adam.

Reddish-amber with a thin, off-white head, I caught a buttery nose. Adam pointed out the smell of popcorn, and it all came together. I also smelled pumpkin spice. On the palate, I tasted a toffee spice cake with a slight sweetness that accumulated as I finished my glass; the sweetness became cloying and coated my tongue. The finish seems to get sweeter as the glass emptied. And neither the growler nor the brewery Web site provided the alcohol content, though I couldn't taste anyone.

This is a good pumpkin ale, but I was glad that I shared. For me, it was too much to drink on my own. As it was, I left Adam the growler with half of the ale remaining. But I repeat: it was good.

I saved my final beer for yesterday (Sunday). I loved the beers that I had tried from this Delaware brewery and expected another awesome ale. What I got was not what I expected at all.

Punkin Ale
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Rehoboth Beach DE
7% ABV

I first had Dogfish Head beer this summer, in Charlotte, NC. Then, I had the incredibly intense 90-Minute IPA. Great hops, better flavour. A couple of months ago, I attended a beer tasting and tried several more, and I fell in love with this brewery. So I couldn't wait to try the pumpkin ale.

And thanks go to Katy, who gave me this bottle when I started collecting pumpkin ales.

In the glass, I saw an unfiltered liquid the colour of a pumpkin skin: deep, intense orange. The head was thick and foamy. On the nose, I smelled intense pumpkin and spice with a hint of ginger, almost like ginger beer. In the mouth, I tasted a sweet and sour flavour, and a fruit that reminded me of plums. Throughout my tasting, I had a craving for egg rolls.

There was citrus on the palate, but not much in the way of hops. At least, not the intense hops that I associate with Dogfish Head. The finish was hot, due to the high alcohol content.

Punkin was a nice ale, but I couldn't help but feel disappointed. The love I developed for this brewery didn't continue with this offering. Punkin was not going to fall within my top five beers.

So which pumpkin ales rated as my top five?

1. Beau's Weiss O'Lantern: incredibly flavourful and well balanced, the combination of pumpkin ale and wheat ale won my heart.
2. Southern Tier Imperial Pumking Ale: this is an all-time favourite that is a great substitute for actual pumpkin pie.
3. Harpoon UFO Pumpkin: what can I say? I loved it.
4. St-Ambroise Citrouille: this offering is crisp, clean, flavourful, and reinforces why this brewery is one of my favourites.
5. Nightmare on Mill Street: while this beer tastes slightly different in the bottle and on tap, I prefer the draft version, but the bottle is right behind it.

If you can find any of these ales, pick them up. Cherish them. If you can't find them, make sure you get your hands on some next year.

Which pumpkin ales fell short for me? Quite a few of the ones that I reviewed and didn't review fell into that category, but there were two pumpkin ales I will avoid in the future.

• Black Creek Historic Brewery Pumpkin Ale: not enough flavour, pure and simple. Not worth having again.
• Brooklyn Post Road: I purchased two bottles of this ale. The one that I reviewed wasn't finished, was dumped down the drain; the second, I gave away.

 So that's it. That's my review of pumpkin ales. Next week, I look forward to sharing something completely different.

Beer O'Clock: Tasting Overload

This weekend, I went to a beer tasting with a small group of beer lovers. There were seven of us in total, and each of us brought a few bottles of beer that was either new to us or that is hard to come by in the Ottawa area. We had more than 15 different beers to sample.

So many, in fact, that we didn't have a chance to go through them all.

So many, that I lost track.

So many, that I forgot some of the last few glasses.

Some of you might think that this was just one big piss up, but I assure you that we didn't each drink one bottle of all that was on offer. We shared bottles, from growlers down to your standard 341-ml bottles. We had no more than four to six ounces per tasting. And sometimes, a sip was all it took.

So while we sampled a lot of beer, I probably consumed no more than three or four pints. Tops. And I had a designated driver.

Years ago, when my wife and I hosted or attended wine tastings, we typically had no more than six wines to try, and that was a good thing. You could concentrate on a variety that was easy to keep track of. Some wines would be memorable; others would be decent; once and a while, you'd encounter a wine you'd want to forget. But with six bottles, you remembered them all.

I made a lot of mistakes at Saturday's tasting, but first and foremost my biggest blunder was not writing anything down. Not taking names, details, and tasting notes. I had planned on writing down my findings, but once we sat down and dug into our first beer of the evening (a seasonal blueberry wheat ale), I decided that instead of "working" I would just enjoy the evening. Just socialize. Just experience the moment.

The company was great, but I still wish I had at least photographed the bottles so that I could refer back to them.

But because a lot of these beers are not available in many areas, including my own, I was thinking that it would be pointless to give you details.

So take this post as a cautionary tale: if you're going to do a tasting, keep track of what you have.

Here are some of the beers that I did find fascinating:

• Blueberry Wheat Ale, Ashton Brewing: this was a nice light-flavoured beer to refresh our palates and warm us up.
• White Horse Ale, Mill Street: I first tried this unfiltered ale from a cask at the National Capital Craft Beer Week festival. It has a great balance of creamy spice and hops. It's one of my standard pints at the brewery's Ottawa pub. Drinking it from a growler felt special.
• Milk Stout, The Duck-Rabbit: pass the chocolate-chip cookies! This was an amazingly creamy stout with a slight sweetness that reminded me of chocolate milk. It was my favourite dark beer of the evening. From North Carolina.
• Nightmare on Mill Street Pumpkin Ale, Mill Street: this was a beautifully flavourful pumpkin ale that had a great balance of spice and real pumpkin. I'll be reviewing this beer properly in an upcoming review of pumpkin ales, so I almost skipped the tasting of it this weekend. I'm glad I didn't.
• Venskab, Beau's: this is a creamy-smooth Belgian Tripel-style ale. Aged on ice-wine-soaked oak chips and then aged again in Canadian white wine barrels, there is a nice fruit and yeast flavour. Beautiful.
• 90-Minute IPA, Dogfish Head: I first had this massive IPA in a restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina a couple of months ago. Afterwards, I made it my mission to find more. I picked up a couple of 4-packs in Washington, DC. Love it.
• Ten Fidy, Oskar Blues: my wife summed up this stout with three words: "It's a committment." This beer was so dark that no light passes through it. Heavy licorice and molasses flavour and a whopping 10.5 percent ABV made this the heavyweight of all stouts.

We tried other wheat ales, other IPAs, and other stouts (I had a pumpkin spruce stout that was simply overkill). And while I didn't take notes, didn't take names, I learned a lot. My tasting skills were put to the test and I feel I held my own. I was in good company with people who knew their beer and liked to share.

I overloaded my tastebuds. I learned that we have to limit the number of beers we try in a tasting. Towards the end of the evening, I was tasting previous beers in the ones I was putting to my lips. I had too much.

But I also learned this: I want to do another beer tasting again soon.