brew

Pumpkin colored; spice flavored

For 21A we chose an autumn appropriate pumpkin beer. I have mixed feelings about the style as I think the pumpkin part is mostly a gimmick. I don’t think it contributes much flavor at all. Skipping the pumpkin and calling it a harvest spice ale seems more accurate. All that said, nomenclature disputes needn’t diminish a tasty brew. The nicely orange beer has a great spicy aroma with plenty of ginger and nutmeg. As predicted the taste does not include pumpkin but the spices are delicious. There’s not much sweetness or what is there gets overpowered by the initial burst of spice (but not in a bad way). The finish has a touch of bitter the cuts through the lingering ginger for a mild aftertaste. This would be an outstanding session beer. Medium body, middling ABV, and flavorful without being big, bold, and palate-battering.

Our wort started with nine pounds of Maris Otter, a half pound each of caramel 40 and aromatic malts, and a quarter pound of special roast. Plus, of course, the requisite pumpkin: five pounds of the canned, pureed variety. After a ninety minute mash and a sixty minute boil with 1.2 ounces of East Kent Goldings it reached an OG of 1.046. Right before flameout we added the spice blend: half a teaspoon of cinnamon, a quarter teaspoon of ginger, and an eight a teaspoon of both nutmeg and all spice. We fermented with WLP002 English Ale yeast to fit the overall UK ingredients theme. The finish was drier than anticipated at 1.010 but the guidelines for this style are wide open. It’s more or less impossible to miss.

Bitter Brown Toffee

Back stateside the next beer is an American Brown. A maltier, darker beer is built on 8# of US pale ale malt. The brown part comes from a sizable (for a darker roast) 6 oz dose of chocolate malt, 6 oz of caramel 40, 3 oz of Victory, and 3 oz of caramel 60. American means hops but this one is heavier on flavor and aroma hops than bittering hops. A mere 0.60 oz of Horizon hops went in at 60 minutes, but then we added 1 oz of Amarillo at 15 minutes and another 1.75 oz of Amarillo at flame out. Trusty old WLP001 was the yeast chosen to do its job and stay well in the background. We hit our measurements nicely at both ends with OG 1.050 and FG 1.010.

It’s brown which is a plus – the ones with the color right in the name make it a dead giveaway should you screw up. Head retention is surprisingly decent after two plus weeks in a growler. There are hops in the nose but not as much as expected. The aroma is more on the earthy side than citrus or floral and sweet grain scent is clearly present too. The up front flavor has a strong toffee that I’m not very fond of but the hop bitterness catches up quickly enough to add balance. The finish is almost all bitterness with an earthy, resiny taste matching the aroma. I also get a bit of nuttiness that I associate with brown ales. If I made this again I’d reduce the caramel malts to mellow the toffee flavor and switch to American “C” hops of some kind(s) for a more classic US bitterness.