As I mentioned in my wrap up for Pumpkin Beer Week, I might yet receive more pumpkin beers to review. Well, indeed I did: the fine folks at New Hampshire's Smuttynose Brewing Company sent me three bottles of their Pumpkin Ale (at my request for samples). Tonight I opened up a bottle and here I am continuing Pumpkin Beer Week.

Smuttynose has done something cool on their website: they have a page of Brewer's Comments where they get the brewers to describe the beers and thoughts in developing them. The entry for their Pumpkin Ale is from September 2003, and in part reads:

The one characteristic I wanted clearly defined was that underneath the pumpkin and spice flavors was truly an interesting beer in its own right. I've had too many spiced and fruit beers that are overdone and enter the realm of soda pop, causing you to have one but not another, let alone several. And let's face it, I gotta sell beer here. So we started with a base beer that is orange in color and fairly hoppy. We knew the spices would need some sweetness for balance so we used a mixture of crystal and carastan malts. To this we added pumpkin pie spices at the end of the boil. We actually found that adding pumpkin into the fermentor at the end of primary gave us the most interesting pumpkin flavor, and so that's when we add the puree.

Several things stand out to me here. First, the beer is hoppy (which I recorded in my notes, as you'll see)—not something you usually find in a pumpkin ale. Second, they don't mash with pumpkin, as almost everyone else does—they add pureed pumpkin to the secondary fermentation stage (which is a common practice when brewing with fruit).

I wouldn't have thought of adding pumpkin after the fact—any contribution to fermentables that the pumpkin contains at this stage is minimal. Indeed, the whole point of mashing the pumpkin with the grain is to convert the starch to sugars and extract as much fermentable material as possible (thereby brewing this style very much in the tradition of the colonial American brewers). Very interesting—this makes this beer more of a hoppy pale ale infused with pumpkin rather than fermented with it.

In fact, at 6% alcohol and its spicing, if this beer were a little darker—throw a little chocolate malt in there, perhaps—it would be an excellent Winter Warmer.

Appearance: Nice shiny copper in color with a haze (not sure if it's a chill haze or a yeast haze... there seemed to be a bit of sediment on the bottle of the bottle, so it might be yeast). Off-white head that fell slowly.

Smell: Spices and toasted malt. Nutmeg, allspice. A bit sweet smelling—honey malt and syrupy and maybe a hint of Belgian candy sugar.

Taste: At first blush—spicy, and bitter from hops—a dry pitchy/resiny bitter that's not piney (like you'd expect a pitchy hop to be). Nice undercurrent of pumpkin character that reminds me of my own homebrewed version (or it is the spices that trigger this?). Earthy—pumpkin and hops combine to convey this.

Mouthfeel: Dry, the bitterness sticks with you. A bit of body here, not quite medium-bodied, firm but not chewy.

Overall: Much hoppier than I expected for the style. I'm trying to decide if the hops overpowered the pumpkin, or balanced with it, but this is definitely a beer worth trying.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores 85 out of 100, with 97% approval. On RateBeer, it scores 3.3 out of 5, and is in their 70th percentile.

I have more details from Anheuser-Busch to follow-up my post yesterday about their Winter's Bourbon Cask Ale and the Bare Knuckle Stout Mix-It-Up program.

First, on the subject of the Winter's Bourbon, I had sent in several questions (via email) as a sort of mini-interview. Here it is (forwarded to/from their brewmaster):

Florian Kuplent, Brewmaster, Anheuser-Busch, Inc.

For how long is the Cask Ale aged in the bourbon barrels?

Winter’s Bourbon Cask Ale is matured on bourbon casks for several weeks. [Emphasis theirs]

Is the ale yeast used of a particular style, or a proprietary strain?

We don't comment on the strain of yeast that is used - it is a strain from our vast collection of yeasts that we selected to create the flavors that we were looking for in this beer.

Has A-B been seeing success in the marketplace with this beer? (Difficult to gauge success against the A-B mainstream beers, I know)

The sales of Winter’s Bourbon, and the entire line of seasonals, have exceeded our expectations. Each offering in the seasonal program, ever since Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale debuted three years ago, has outsold the prior offering, as well as its own prior year sales. Craft beer drinkers have let us know that they enjoy the variety this program offers and that they look forward to the return of these brands each season.

Yes, I tend to have a slant towards the brewing process when I have questions. But there's clarification on the aging: it is on cask staves, and not in barrels, which is what I'd assumed. Makes sense in terms of volume—barrel-aging is intrinsically a smaller-volume process and the kinds of numbers A-B is producing preclude that here.

As for the "primary source" I was wondering about for more information on the Mix-It-Up program, here's the direct quote:

This an on-premise program for our Bare Knuckle Stout brand and we feature a different Anheuser-Busch beer each month for bar tenders to layer with Bare Knuckle. The drinks are themed such as the “Snow Drift” and the “Black Pumpkin” you mentioned. That’s really all there is to it which is why there’s nothing about it on the A-B Web site. We didn’t issue a press release on it.

This is sufficiently interesting to me that I sent in a few more clarifying questions about the Mix-It-Up program. I'll post the answers to those when I get them.

It's that time of year when the Winter Warmers and holiday ales are coming into season (despite many being release as early as October), so reviewing the free bottle of K-9 Cruiser Winter Ale from Flying Dog fits in perfectly with that seasonal mindset.

K-9 is a warming, malty, spicy ale that sits at 6.4% alcohol. According to the specs, it's brewed with 50/60 Crystal, chocolate malt, oats, and Munich malt, and hopped with Millennium and Saaz hops. The oats are a bit of an eyebrow-raiser, not something I would ordinarily associate with this style.

Appearance: Roasted brown in color, fairly clear. Deep red at the edges. Head is light tan, dissipated quickly.

Smell: Sweet, lots of spicy phenols, alcohol—kind of a whiskey/brandy character. Molasses, burnt sugars. A hint of some dark fruits... plums? Black cherry?

Taste: Reminds me of a strong Old Ale. Dark sugar flavors, dark and roasted malts, blackstrap, bitter alcohol notes. It really "pops" on the tongue. A bit of bitterness and spiciness from the hops, though the maltiness is the overall defining character.

Mouthfeel: Nicely medium-bodied and a bit dry. Warming alcohol heat and a bit prickly on the tongue.

Overall: Seems to me a faithful Winter Warmer, reminds me a bit of Jubelale (which is a good thing).

On BeerAdvocate, it seems to be receiving a lukewarm reception; it scores 80 out of 100 with 85% approval. On RateBeer, it scores 3.21 out of 5 and is in their 62nd percentile.

I received this in email from the folks at Anheuser-Busch:

Winter’s Bourbon Cask Ale is back for the third year and will be available next week! A fact sheet including the taste profile, ingredients, serving suggestions and food parings, is attached along with images.

For a new twist on this barrel-aged favorite, we’ve created the “Snow Drift” – Winter’s Bourbon layered with Bare Knuckle Stout. The combination of the roasted, dark malty notes of Bare Knuckle and the vanilla, hoppiness of Winter’s Bourbon Cask Ale create a great-tasting, festive mix. See image attached.

The “Snow Drift” is part of the ongoing Bare Knuckle Stout Mix-It-Up program, which features a different beer layered with Bare Knuckle Stout each month.

The fact sheet mentioned can also be found in this PDF here.

The Winter's Bourbon is A-B's answer to barrel-aged beers: it's aged on bourbon oak cask staves (which sounds like barrel-aging, but since it doesn't actually say "aged in barrels" I have my doubts) with vanilla beans. It's one I'll try if I get the chance.

What's interesting is the beer cocktail slant here; I hadn't heard of this "Mix-It-Up" program before, and I'm only currently able to find some indirect references to it. Apparently they also did a Halloween version, "Black Pumpkin," which was Bare Knuckle Stout mixed with Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale. I find it intriguing, though. Anyone have a primary source? I can't seem to find one, not even on A-B's own website.

A picture of the Snow Drift concoction is there on the left.

Update: I posted more information—clarifying issues on both the Winter's Bourbon and the Mix-It-Up program—here.

I'm playing catch up on various emails and announcements that came in during Pumpkin Beer Week that I didn't have time to get to...

The Holiday Ale Festival up in Portland (Oregon) starts this week: "the only beer festival in the Northwest to be held outdoors in the dark, cold and often wet month of December."

This has been growing in prominence in recent years and to my mind, it's the winter version of the Oregon Brewers Festival. Sadly, I've never been, nor will I be able to make it this year, which is a shame, because this is one I'd really like to check out sometime.

It starts this Thursday, November 29th, and runs through Sunday, December 2nd. It takes place in Pioneer Courthouse Square, right in the heart of Portland, and the admission/cost details are the same as the Oregon Brewfest: free admission, $5 for the mug, $1 per taster, $4 to fill the mug.

They've got an amazing-looking lineup of beers available, which Jeff has also noticed and commented on.

I'm totally jealous.

Whoops! I forgot to mention two other brewers who had sent me beer in response to my request for pumpkin beer samples—the reason they slipped my mind is because they were out of stock of their pumpkin beer—and they very, very generously sent me alternatives.

Dogfish Head was out of their Punkin Ale, and instead sent me along a bottle of their 90 Minute IPA. It's a great beer—I reviewed it earlier this year, and I'm happy to do so again.

Wild Goose Brewery was also out of their Pumpkin Patch Ale and instead sent me a six-pack of their winter seasonal, Snow Goose Winter Ale. Since this is a beer I can't get anywhere around here, I'll be reviewing/highlighting it in the next couple of weeks here on the blog. (Can you guess how?)

So, special thanks to Dogfish and Wild Goose in addition to the other brewers I mentioned yesterday.

The title says it all: the latest sample package from Flying Dog came today. What I like about Flying Dog—aside from receiving beer from them—is that they're proactive and embracing the grassroots nature of the web and blogs and technology. Reaching out to bloggers, being active on Flickr and Twitter and MySpace and such, launching (and brewing) their own open source beer project—all things which are really, really smart, and doing things that no other brewery (that I know of) is doing. Pioneering.

(The only ding I'd give them offhand is their heavy use of Flash on their website. I pretty much hate Flash-based navigation. It breaks things.)

Anyway, this latest sample package consists of three beers: the open source beer, Collaborator Doppelbock; Wild Dog Barrel-Aged Horn Dog; and K-9 Cruiser Winter Ale. The Collaborator and Horn Dog I'm particularly interested in, the first because of the open source project thing (naturally), and the Horn Dog because as they write:

This is a completely experimental beer. We took our Horn Dog Barley Wine and aged it in used Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey barrels for 13 months to give us a Barley Wine with a very distinctive flavor.

I'm loving the whole barrel-aging movement, so this sounds exciting to me.

I'll write up the reviews as I drink.

My "Pumpkin Beer Week" moved along very well; I wasn't lacking for anything to blog about, and in fact, I may end up doing a bit of a continuation—there may be some additional pumpkin beer samples coming my way, for one thing. Maybe at some point I'll blog a Pumpkin Beer Month.

Special thanks in particular go out to O'Fallon Brewery, Lakefront Brewing, and Southampton Brewing for providing me with samples of their pumpkin beers to review. All were tasty and makes me wish (as I noted) that (any) Oregon brewers would take up the pumpkin.

I'm not sure if I'll be doing a Theme Week next month—December is when I run my daily Advent Beer Calendar feature up until Christmas, which keeps me busy and I have too much fun with. On the other hand, why not? If I can think of a good theme—Winter Warmers/Christmas beers seems too obvious—I may go ahead anyway. Perhaps I should have a poll of what themes people would like to see?

And now, back to our regularly-scheduled blogging...

Southampton Brewing made some news lately with the announcement from Pabst that they (Pabst and Southampton) were entering into a strategic alliance wherein Pabst would market and distribute (presumably nationally) Southampton's beers. Like the Widmer-Redhood deal, my opinion is that it's a good thing—anything that enables an award-winning brewery's beers to reach me more easily is a good thing in my book.

And Southampton is definitely award winning: the Silver and Bronze for their Double White Ale and Saison, respectively, at this year's GABF. And they've pulled down medals for previous years, too.

So I had high hopes for their Pumpkin Ale, which comes in 22-ounce bombers at sits at a warm 6% alcohol. And I really like the label on this one; the packaging just looks good.

(Disclaimer: Southampton is one of the breweries I contacted about sending me a sample, and they very generously sent me 3 bottles of their beer to review.)

Appearance: A bit of a darker-than-amber amber, slight haze but still fairly clear. A nice finger of off-white head. The amber has a slight brown to it.

Smell: There's a soapy aroma here (from the head?)... The predominant aroma is the spices. (Cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, according to the bottle.) Behind that is a lighter vegetable character—a little green grass too.

Taste: Lighter, toasted malt punctuated with grassy green vegetable notes—like maybe the pumpkin wasn't roasted but raw (or prepared differently)? (Not a bad thing, just observation.) Spices are subtle on the tongue, with a bit of sweetness overlaying a peppery base.

Mouthfeel: It's a bit thin to be considered medium-bodied, and it has a bit of a sharp edge to the carbonation. A puckery film feeling to the mouth is left behind.

Overall: The soapy aroma at first was off-putting, but once I got past that (it disappeared) I warmed up to this beer. Well done, nice presentation and package, an enjoyable example of the style.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores well: 86 out of 100, with 100% approval. On RateBeer, it scores equally well: 3.5 out of 5, and in their 84th percentile.

The Pumpkin Lager from Milwaukee's Lakefront Brewery is the only pumpkin lager brewed (commercially) in the world, and they're old hands at this:

In 1989, Lakefront Brewery owner, Russ Klisch was reading dusty brewing tome, tippling one of our fine lagers and came across a beer recipe that Thomas Jefferson had brewed with pumpkin at his home in Monticello. Barley was scarce and expensive in the early days of the United States, but pumpkins and other squash were readily available. The idea that clicked with Russ’ philosophy of using the best ingredients available locally and incorporating them into the finest ingredients for making beer, and thus a legend was born.

1989 certainly puts them at one of the oldest pumpkin beers being brewed (Buffalo Bill's was in 1986, remember), and as a lager it stands out from the typical pumpkin beer. Using real pumpkin and a "proprietary blend of spices made here in Milwaukee for us by the acclaimed Spice House," they lager this beer for 4 full weeks, which gives it time to clear nicely and develop a clean, rich character.

(Disclaimer: Lakefront was one of the breweries I contacted for a sample of their beer, and they were kind enough to send me a full six-pack of their Pumpkin Lager, as well as a full sampler pack of 8 of their other beers.)

There's no listed alcohol percentage for this beer, but I'd guess in the neighborhood of 5%, which seems pretty typical for a Lakefront brew.

Appearance: Very clear, with a thin head, and fine bubbles rising from the bottom of the pint glass. Color reminds me of a medium-dark honey... a nice golden orange.

Smell: Sweet and spicy—the pumpkin is very pronounced and there's a pie sweet note—caramel and syrup and whipped cream all together. Nutmeg is prominent in the spices—also some cloves, a dash of cinnamon.

Taste: Smooth and clean taste of a lager (well-conditioned), with a mellow-sweet malty squash note—roasted pumpkin, a bit subtle. Spices contribute a tang... kind of a "chai" note. A touch buttery.

Mouthfeel: Crisp and clean, thicker, firmer body than a typical session lager. Perhaps like a bock? A bit of a nice, creamy aftertaste... adds to the "pie" character.

Overall: This is very nice and pleasant to drink... you get the pie aromas (whipped cream, too... how do they do that?) with each sip and warming spices. I find this to be a real pleasure to drink, an excellent pumpkin beer.

On BeerAdvocate, they're not as enthused as I am: it scores 79 out of 100, with only 66% of reviewers giving thumbs up; their loss, that one third that didn't care for it. On RateBeer, it scores 3.13 out of 5, and is in their 54th percentile—which is actually pretty decent for RateBeer.

A few links from around the web today.

First, a plug and a pointer to Magnolia Brewing in San Francisco, courtesy of Erik here in the comments. He says:

[G]otta give a shout out to Magnolia Brewing for their pumpkin ale, Barking Pumpkin. It really is good stuff. A nice dark ale that isn't overly spiced, they also roast the pumpkin seeds and use them to flavor the ale, giving it a spiffy nutty character.

Unfortunately, they only brew it around Halloween and don't bottle, so you'll have to visit San Francisco some fall to try it.

Pumpkin and pumpkin seeds—sounds extremely interesting.

Over on the Beer Bits 2 blog, Adam is contemplating brewing an Old Ale with pumpkin. That's some outside-the-box thinking I like to read about.

Finally, Josh over on A Good Beer Blog reviews several pumpkin ales for Thanksgiving. They're all East Coast beers, and his pick for the best was Cottonwood Pumpkin Spiced Ale. Yum!

Could it really be that there are no Oregon breweries producing a pumpkin beer? I'm sure that can't be entirely the case, but my preliminary investigations (on BeerAdvocate) strongly seem to indicate that. Come on, Oregon, what's up with that? You're at the forefront of the craft brewing movement!

Here's what I've found thus far: going through all the listed entries for the "pumpkin ale" style on BeerAdvocate—as well as checking a good number of breweries specifically—there were only two for Oregon breweries: a "Punkin Pie Ale" for Steelhead Brewing, and a "Pumpkin Patch" for Klamath Basin Brewing.

However, the one review for that Steelhead beer was from 2004, and it indicates the beer was sampled from the Burlingame (California) Steelhead location—not the Eugene one. And in fact, I can't find any evidence of a pumpkin ale on their website.

And the one review for the Klamath Basin beer was from 2006, and the brewery appears to have no website to reference. So I gave them a call, and found out that no, they didn't brew a pumpkin beer this year, part of the reason being it doesn't keep as well as other beers; they opted for a winter spiced seasonal instead.

However, the woman I talked to thought that there are in fact other Oregon brewers producing pumpkin beers, and she would talk to the brewers and get back to me via email. Awesome! So when I find out more, I'll be sure to write it up.

In the meantime, I thought I'd put together a wish list of Oregon brewers that I would love to see brew a pumpkin beer. Perhaps someone at one of them will read this and take pumpkin under consideration?

• Rogue: If ever there was an Oregon brewer who should make a pumpkin beer, Rogue is it.
• Deschutes Brewing: Home town advantage, naturally. They make some really good, tasty beers, and I'd like to see their take on a pumpkin.
• Barley Brown's Brewpub: The remote little brewpub in Eastern Oregon producing some amazing beers, at least the three that I've had (courtesy of my friend Kina). Shake things up in Baker City!
• Hair of the Dog: They just brew some amazing and unique beers, and I'd love to see what they'd come up with.
• Golden Valley Brewing: An interesting little brewery, with one of my favorite beers from the Oregon Brewers Festival this year. They're located in McMinnville, right in the heart of Oregon harvest country (especially for vineyards and hops)—a pumpkin beer seems like a natural fit.
• Roots Organic Brewery: They are brewing some mighty interesting beers—Coconut Porter, a Gruit—so a pumpkin seems like it would fit naturally in with their lineup. Plus, they could totally play up the organic thing with the pumpkins.

The O'Fallon Brewery is located just outside of St. Louis, Missouri, and each year brews a seasonal pumpkin ale. While researching the number of pumpkin beers that are available (in bottles) from various breweries, I sent out a number of emails inquiring if there were bottles of these beers that I could acquire for review. The good folks at O'Fallon were able to send me two bottles of their Pumpkin Ale.

[Disclaimer: Most of these pumpkin beer reviews are from breweries who generously sent me several bottles of their respective pumpkin beer after I contacted them.]

O'Fallon puts the "micro" in microbrewery:

Founded in January, 2000 by Fran and Tony Caradonna, the O'Fallon Brewery currently employs seven full-time and six part-time people.  In 2005 we brewed around 1850 barrels of beer...equivalent to about 25,000 cases.

Our 15-barrel brewhouse produces small batches of beer that take about two weeks from brew-day to packaging-day and makes around 200 cases or 30 kegs. We hand-fill our 50 liter and 1/6 bbl kegs and hand-pack each case of 12 ounce bottles in four 6-packs.

But don't let their size fool you. Their batches of beer are distributed to eight states (outside of Missouri) and have garnered awards at the GABF (2005 Bronze for their Unfiltered Wheat and 2004 Gold for their Smoked Porter). They are clearly a brewery to be reckoned with.

Their Pumpkin Ale is available beginning September 1st—it's their Fall seasonal—and they "add real pumpkin to the mash and then season the finished beer with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves," yielding a tasty, enjoyable 5.5% alcohol beer.

Appearance: Reasonably clear with a bit of a haze (yeast). Color is amber with a brown note to it. Poured a cream-colored head.

Smell: Pumpkin pie spicy and yeast; spices are less prominent than others I've had. Malty that is both sticky-sweet and fusel-y.

Taste: Rich and caramel-sweet, a touch of custard, creamy cinnamon spice. Spices are very understated, subtle. Definite roast pumpkin/winter vegetable character. Rich and big malty notes, very nice.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied and chewy, very nice presence on the tongue. Substantial, satisfying.

Overall: I very much like this, I think it presents an excellent example of the style. I wish I could buy this here in Oregon.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores 83 out of 100, with 83% approval from reviewers. On RateBeer, it scores 3.13 out of 5, and is in their 54th percentile.

I find it interesting that my pumpkin ale recipe is still the #1 result on Google when someone searches just that ("pumpkin beer recipe" places me at #2). The recipe itself is an extract-based recipe (with partial mash elements), and I thought I'd relay some notes and thoughts on the brewing of it based on my experiences over the years. (This also helps me organize my thoughts a bit because I think I'm brewing up a batch of it this weekend.)

Gravity and alcohol content: I've noticed, depending on the big variable involved in the recipe (i.e., the pumpkin), that my original gravity readings tend to be way high for what I estimate they should be. This is mostly because of the pumpkin particulate present in the wort, and this will tend higher the mushier (or more pureed) the pumpkin is. I've gotten an ABV reading of over 8% before! A normal expectation for this recipe is in the neighborhood of 5 to 6 percent.

Spices: The recipe calls for adding the spices and vanilla right at the end of the boil, and that's how I usually make the beer. The problem is, the primary fermentation can drive off a lot of the spice character from the finished beer (though I've always gotten a nice spice profile even so), so you might try adding the spices at different times. I added at bottling time once, and the beer tended toward being over-spiced, I thought. And once I tried adding the spices during the secondary fermentation to see if that balanced best, but I can't speak to the results—that batch went bad.

I think if you're going to stick with adding them at the end of the boil, bump them up to 1½ teaspoons.

Recipe variations: Instead of the Vienna malt, I'd just use American 2-row; it's just the more efficient use of grain for a partial mash. (The original recipe was, I believe, adapted from one that appeared in Brew Your Own magazine eons ago, and at the time I had on hand a bunch of Vienna malt.) If you're sticking with the "standard" type of pumpkin ale—basically an American Amber or Pale Ale—then I wouldn't mess around with any other specialty grains. However, if you're looking to mix it up a little and make a pumpkin stout or something (yum), go nuts.

Stroking my ego: If I do say so myself, this recipe makes a really good pumpkin beer—great aroma, solid flavors, and nice, chewy mouthfeel—really enjoyable. Something to look forward to. And, it's easier than it sounds; you just need to put in some extra time handling the pumpkin. As Alton Brown says, your patience will be rewarded.

The Pumpkin Ale from Buffalo Bill's Brewery has an interesting history. First brewed back in 1986, it may well be the oldest (and first) commercially available pumpkin beer on the market today. The beer got its start when Bill Owens (Buffalo Bill's founder) read that George Washington had brewed with pumpkin—so he gave it a shot.

Until 1997, their Pumpkin Ale was only available local to the brewery (in Hayward, California). In that year, the beer began being contract brewed by Portland Brewing (using Buffalo Bill's recipe)—an arrangement that manages the large-scale brewing and distribution challenges that a smaller brewery can't.

As a result, Buffalo Bill's is the most visibly available pumpkin beer, at least where I am in Central Oregon. Every year all the major grocery stores carry it and there are pallets of the brew at places like World Market.

At the brewpub itself, though, the beer is still brewed on-premise. Pumpkins are carved and roasted and added to the mash, and spices are added at the end of the process, in the serving tank.

I first wrote a review of the beer back in 2005.

Appearance: Very clear, copper colored with orange highlights. Fizzy head that fell quickly.

Smell: Spices—cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg—over a malty sweet backbone. A bit vegetable-y (green).

Taste: Light and malty—the pumpkin infuses the lighter body here with a semi-sweet pie quality. Spice tang—a little peppery amidst the holiday spicing character. A touch of molasses, burnt sugar.

Mouthfeel: Light bodied—thin and even a bit watery. Spices give it a kick in the aftertaste.

Overall: Nice flavors, but much lighter than I would expect (or want) in a pumpkin beer; I wonder if it goes through a filtering process that removes much of the body that pumpkins contribute. I also wonder if the version brewed and served at the actual brewpub is markedly different? All in all, it's a passable "gateway" beer to newbies, but it's too light and thin for my taste.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores 76 out 100, with only 56% of reviewers giving it a thumbs up. On RateBeer, it scores 2.94 out of 5 and is in their 39th percentile.

It's Pumpkin Beer Week here at The Brew Site—all this week, I'll be blogging about pumpkin beer in this second installment of Theme Week (where I spend the third week of the month blogging a particular topic).

This should be a busy week! I've got a number of reviews, some history, some homebrewing, and (I'm hoping) some interviews to run. Off we go.

It must be Michelob Month here or something... first I received and reviewed the Michelob Specialty Sampler Collection, and now this press release hits my inbox.

For the record, both of these beers (chocolate and cherry) sound pretty good. And I have to admit, my first glance at the headline made me think they were promoting a chocolate and cherry (together) beer... which also sounds good to me. Well, "Chocolate Cherry" sounds more like it should be a soda, but still.

Michelob Celebrate Perfect for Sipping, Savoring with Desserts

Hosts and hostesses who are beginning to plan their menus for holiday meals and get-togethers will want to include two special seasonal beers from Anheuser-Busch — Michelob Celebrate Cherry and Michelob Celebrate Chocolate, a duo of richly aromatic, smooth, complex and balanced lagers now available in most states through the end of the year.

Click through to read the rest of the press release

Just a reminder that next week is Pumpkin Beer Week here at The Brew Site, the second of my monthly "Theme Weeks." (Last month was Fresh Hops Beers.) I'll be blogging pretty exclusively about pumpkin beers, which will include a fair number of reviews. So stick around.

It's also Thanksgiving next week, and I figure, what better to go with Thanksgiving than pumpkin beer?

No, the title there isn't a mandate for the obvious, it refers instead to the "Taste Your Beer" website, which is offering an interesting product: a beer tasting and appreciation kit. What makes a beer tasting kit? Well, aside from what you'd expect—like a beer guide, a cheat sheet for hops, etc.—the unique feature is a set of 13 small jars of actual hops (commonly used varieties). The potential taster is thus able to learn via smelling the hops directly what characteristics each variety of hop has.

It's an interesting twist, to be sure, and a fairly clever one. I think the idea is to try to match the appropriate hop(s) with the beer you're currently tasting—so you'd open each jar and try to match the aroma characteristics of the sample with the beer. Perhaps you'd taste the hops as well (though I'd imagine you'd want to do that at a different time, so as not to throw off your taste of the beer itself). The goal is to build a better appreciation of the beer by understanding at least one of the components that goes into it.

One concern I'd raise, though, is over the freshness of the hops; even if bottled fresh, they'll quickly grow stale upon opening and through subsequent openings. And the jars are clear glass; you'd need to keep them in the dark to avoid excessive light exposure, further degrading their quality.

I'll see if I can get a kit to do a hands-on review in more detail.

Fully included in the kit (according to their site) for $49: 13 hop varieties (in glass jars), full access to both their hops and terms databases, an aroma palate cleanser (no idea what this is), quick start guide, beer color swatch, hop cheat sheet, and beer appreciation guide. You can also read their press release here.

By now it's reverberated back and forth across the beer world—both online and off—that Widmer and Redhook are merging into one company (though beers will continue to be brewed under each brand). The new company will be called the "Craft Brewers Alliance."

Although I have serious reservations about this name (it rubs me the wrong way mostly because it's such a sterile name based on a business strategy—I see something like "Alliance" and I automatically think strategic distribution agreement rather than an actual company), I can't help but see this as a good thing—a very good thing—for both companies, and for craft beer in general.

As John Foyston notes:

Craft beer has been the brightest star in the alcohol beverage industry. While sales for the mega-breweries have remained flat or slipped, craft brewers' market share continues to grow — by 12 percent in 2006 and 31 percent since 2003, according to the Brewers Association. Craft beer sales account for about 5 percent of the total beer market.

I figure a deal like this, that gets more craft beer into more markets, is a good thing all around, despite some of the (at best) tepid response I've seen online towards either brewery and their beers.

I also find it interesting that it's not just Widmer and Redhook involved, either:

The Craft Brewers Alliance will include two smaller breweries in which Widmer holds a minority interest, Chicago's Goose Island Beer Co. and Kona Brewing Co. of Hawaii. Widmer brews and bottles Kona's bottled beer sold on the mainland.

I don't know how pertinent this is, but if it means I get my hands on some Goose Island beers around here (we have Kona), right on.

(An aside: I can't help but wonder what differences the "native" Kona beers have from the Widmer-brewed bottled varieties. Any Hawaiians want to send me some to find out?)

And as usual, Jeff has some good posts about this here and here.

At any rate, here's the press release of the Widmer-Redhook deal in its entirety:

Click to read press release

Yes, it's Wednesday and I'm still catching up on weekend items. Or in this case, item. Anyway, we had friends over Saturday and among the beer they brought with them was Lagunitas Imperial Stout. The unanimous verdict: this was no stout, and barely an Imperial anything (porter, maybe). Quite unlike Lagunitas' usual standards, and disappointing.

And when I say "no stout," I mean just that: it had the deep ruby red color and consistency of, at best, a porter, or perhaps even a dark brown ale—I mean, you could see through it, and you should never be able to do that!

Hmmm... looking at BeerAdvocate and the Lagunitas website, I'm thinking a bottle of their "Imperial Red" must have gotten mislabeled and shipped out. That's the only explanation I can think of.

This is the final of the four beers from Michelob's Specialty Sampler pack, and overall, the one I like best of the four. At 5.9% alcohol, it's also the strongest of the bunch (though not by much). It's a pretty straightforward porter.

Appearance: Pretty dark—black brown (dirty motor oil) with the barest tinge of ruby at the edges. Tan head, faintly cocoa-y.

Smell: Dark roast coffee and chocolate; smoky astringent aromas. A little rye bread, maybe. Nice smells here.

Taste: Dry with roasted (slightly burnt) grains. Dryness is the big characteristic here. Bit of sourness from this as well. Some deep bitter cocoa flavors and dark coffee in the background.

Mouthfeel: A bit watery, lighter than medium-bodied. Dry and clean.

Overall: Good, a bit lighter than I'd like for a porter, but still very passable.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores 82 out of 100, with 86% approval—a good score, higher than their score for the Bavarian Wheat (which I commented was—until now—the highest I'd seen for a macro brew from them). On RateBeer, it scores 2.78 out of 5, and is in their 28th percentile.

Third beer from the Michelob Sampler pack, a Märzen (Oktoberfest) style beer. I loves me a good Märzen style beer and was looking forward to trying this one. It's 4.9% alcohol, the lightest of the bunch.

Appearance: Nice amber-brown color with a white creamy head on top. Clear.

Smell: Malty, with a touch of sourness/Euro-lager aroma...

Taste: Nice caramel malts with a bit more bitterness that I'd expect—a combination of roasted grains and hops I think (i.e., astringent plus hop bitterness). Noble hops, maltiness is fairly well-done though a little light. Caramel/toffee sweetness sits behind the initial bitterness, which is enjoyable.

Mouthfeel: A little light for what I'd like in a Märzen, but decent body (short of medium-bodied) nonetheless.

Overall: It's a middle-of-the-road for the style.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores 76 out of 100 and has a narrow margin of thumb up from reviewers—55%. On RateBeer, it scores 2.33 out of 5 and is in their 13th percentile.

A couple of fun beer-themed videos popped up on the radar today.

First, "Beer beer beer"... I'm not sure if it's overly cutesy or freaky, but I kept waiting for one of the glasses to break. You'll see what I mean. Via Kina.

Next, Guinness' new commercial, debuting overseas. Very clever and impressive—though I wonder (in this day and age) how much is real versus how much is computer generated. Via Boing Boing.

The next in the Sampler pack I received from Michelob. I'll give them credit for going with a Bavarian style weizen rather than the American style (à la Widmer) that other macrobrewers have done—not that there's anything wrong with the American wheat style (I like it fine), but an authentic German weizen is more of a challenge. And the macros tend to go for the low-hanging fruit...

On the bottle it says "unfiltered," though I have my doubts; I think it's at least partially filtered. But maybe not.

Appearance: Slight haze when I swirled the bottom of the bottle (at the end of the pour). [Not as much haze as it should have been.] Nice golden color, not much head.

Smell: There is a nice spicy weizen aroma here—estery-phenolic and a hint of cloves. Yeasty and a bit sour.

Taste: Light, wheaty with yeast overtones. A bit of that spiciness lends a crisp edge to the beer. A bitterness is there that doesn't seem quite appropriate. Overall it is in the appropriate style though, which I admit I'm pleasantly surprised by (signs of preconceived prejudices vis-à-vis macro wheats). Enjoyably sour with green fruits.

Mouthfeel: Light bodied, crisp and just sour enough to be refreshing—would be good on a hot day. I actually think mouthfeel is pretty right-on for the style.

Overall: I think my surprise at finding a decently crafted Bavarian is evident. Definitely a nice change of pace for a macrobrew.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores 81 out of 100, with 87% approval—I think the highest score for an American industrial brewer I've seen. On RateBeer, it scores 2.83 and is in their 32nd percentile.

Apparently there's a new brewery in Medford (Oregon): Southern Oregon Brewing Company. Found about them from this article here:

Southern Oregon Brewing Co. has released its first beers and has opened a tap room for public tasting and sales at its brew house. A golden ale and a porter are on tap.

Tap room hours are 4 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The tap room is at 1922 United Way in Medford, behind Lava Lanes. Tasters at the 24-foot bar and tables can view brewery activity through two large plate-glass windows.

Owner Tom Hammond and brewer Anders Johansen, whose resume includes stints with Pyramid and Deschutes breweries, are brewing once a week. Southern Oregon Brewing's 20-barrel brew house is capable of producing 620 gallons per batch.

They don't appear to have a website yet, or appear online anywhere else, so they appear to be brand new. That's cool, southern Oregon is under-represented for breweries, in my opinion. Perhaps I'll give them a call to find out more.

The Pale Ale is the first of the Michelob Specialty Sampler beers from the promotional package I received. What I find interesting (and a little amusing) is the fact that all of these specialty beers proclaim "all malt" on the label; normally, macro-brewed beers are brewed with a large percentage of adjuncts like corn and rice, both to lighten the color/flavor/body and to reduce cost. Michelob has bucked this trend among the macro brewers (at least for these specialties), but I can't help pointing out that most craft brews (from smaller brewers) are normally all malt, with adjuncts often used as perfectly acceptable additives or to special purpose.

(Okay, got my dig in on the macros, even though I think it's a valid point to bring up.)

Besides being all malt, the Pale Ale is also dry hopped—also unusual for the big brewers. It's also a sessionable beer at 5.2% alcohol by volume.

Appearance: Straw-gold color, darker than expected for a Macro brewer. Very clear, with a big white head.

Smell: Light, though bready and a touch of caramel. Raw bread dough, some yeast. A light presence of Noble hops.

Taste: Wash of hop bitterness right up front, followed by grainy malt (wheat kernels) and a little bit of toffee sweetness. Some estery notes. Some of that "industrialized" character that comes, I'm thinking, from the (extensive?) filtering and possibly pasteurization.

Mouthfeel: Very light, and crisp with a sharp tang of hops—leaves a bit of puckering dryness in the mouth.

Overall: Much less hop presence in the nose for a beer that's dry-hopped, but they are present in the mouth. I can tell it's a pale ale by the estery yeast notes, but still very much like a (Macro) lager—though drinkable and more flavorful than a typical industrial. I'd pick this over a standard macro lager every time.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores 75 out of 100, with slightly less than half—48%—offering up approval. On RateBeer, it fares less well, scoring 2.2 out of 5 and sitting in their 10th percentile

(In general, expect the rating sites to be harsh on any macro-brewed beer.)

Today I received the Michelob Specialty Sampler Collection from Anheuser-Busch, plus a set of six Michelob beer glasses. This Sampler Collection is a special 20-pack of four "premium all-malt beers" that essentially constitutes a seasonal variety pack from Michelob. The four beers are their Pale Ale, (Bavarian-style) Wheat, Marzen, and Porter.

The glasses are very cool, too; Pilsner-style glassware with unusual stems at the base (you can see what I mean in the picture below). This is definitely the largest PR package that I've thus far received, and I'll post the usual disclaimer: it's free, and there are no strings attached, and I will write about it freely and be honest and transparent in my reviews.

(In writing this I can't help but think about the beer blogging ethics debate that flared up among a number of blogs recently; for the overall summary/aggregation of it all, Jay's post is unparalleled. Good issues are raised all around there, but in general I'm shooting from the hip in this blogging ethics thing, pretty much defining it for myself as I go. (Of course, I also feel I have more freedom to do that in many ways.) You'll all have to let me know how I'm doing.)

Anyway, I'll be writing up reviews on these Michelob seasonals over the next few days; I think the last time in recent memory I've had a Michelob (etymologically, I love that word) was a Michelob Ultra a couple of years ago when nothing else was available. (Didn't care for it.) Beyond that? Couldn't say. So this is good.

Check out the pictures:

This gives a pretty good idea of the size of this package; 20 bottles in the box, plus there was a second box with the 6 glasses (2 of which are here).

A slightly fuzzy picture of the glasses. Silver rimmed tops, etched logos, and the curved stem base (detail below).

Sierra Nevada's fresh hop ale, Harvest, did make it to Central Oregon after all. In its 11th year, Harvest is one of the country's oldest fresh hop ales, though this is the first year that Sierra Nevada has bottled it. (In previous years it was only available on tap at their brewery.)

This beer sits at a respectable 6.7% alcohol by volume, and though I would classify it as an IPA, according to BeerAdvocate it's "merely" an American Pale Ale. Also, I find it interesting that it is the only beer I have (thus far) seen packaged in a 24-ounce bottle—rather than the standard 22-ounce bomber or something like a 750ml champagne-style bottle. It certainly stands out on the shelves.

Appearance: Extraordinarily clear, slightly dirty-copper colored like a shiny but slightly tarnished penny. Frothy, rocky head, very light tan.

Smell: Green hoppy notes—reminds me of stems and sap from the hop vine. A little candy syrup behind it? A touch spicy. I first thought "Cascade" but I don't think it is... [Turns out I was half-right... Centennial for the bittering, Cascade and Centennial together for aroma.]

Taste: Hoppy with a woody-bitter tang and an expansive bouquet that fills the mouth. Malt is slightly roasty and reminds me of a red ale—clean with a tad of astringent nearly-burnt grains. Spicy and a hint of white pepper.

Mouthfeel: Dry and refreshing and a little watery this side of medium-bodied. A little prickly from the alcohol heat in the end coating the mouth and sucking a bit of moisture up.

Overall: I rather liked it, I thought it was drinkable and approachable and there's much pleasure from the green bitter hops. A well-done fresh hop ale.

On BeerAdvocate, they really like it: 91 out of 100, with 100% approval. Similar story on RateBeer: 3.85 out of 5 and in their 97th percentile.

Repeal Day is one month away (December 5). I got this via the site contact form, it's not a press release per se, but it's close enough, and it sounds like a worthwhile goal all around—celebrate Repeal Day and support a good environmental cause.

And just to be clear, the Shenango River is in Pennsylvania.

The "BOARD" of the Shenango Valley is happy to announce...their 2007 Charity Repeal Day Celebration with all proceeds benefiting the Shenango River Watchers.

WHAT:
1st Annual Charity Repeal Day Celebration and Beer Tasting.

WHEN:
Wednesday, December 5th from 6 to 10pm

WHERE:
Chestnut Street Cafe, Downtown Sharon, PA

WHY:
The event will raise money for the Shenango Valley River Watchers while promoting an appreciation for fine craft beers made available through local beer distributors and microbreweries.

WHO:
The BOARD (The Brotherhood Of Appreciating Repeal Day)

The history behind the BOARD...
The B.O.A.R.D. is a loosely affiliated fraternal organization founded by a small group of friends who enjoyed good beer and good times with higher a goal to make Repeal Day an annual celebration with a noble cause.

Repeal Day marks the repeal of the 18th amendment to our constitution, representing the end of a 13 yearlong ban on the manufacture, sale, and transport of alcoholic beverages in the United States. With the help of several local distributors and microbreweries, we have put together Western PA's first Repeal Day celebration since 1933. Participants will enjoy samples of a wide array of craft brews poured by experts that pride themselves on the craft. Live music, pub snacks, and a silent auction of beer paraphernalia will provide diversions for all.

The Shenango River Watchers are a non-profit watershed group founded to clean up, preserve and protect the environmental, scenic and recreational attributes of the Shenango River. For more information about the River Watchers visit their website at http://www.shenangoriverwatchers.org/.

For more information please feel free to contact the BOARD via email at repealday@gmail.com or visit http://repealday.blogspot.com. Or call John Mikulas (Media Contact) at 330-502-9415.

This month's Session is hosted by Tomme Arthur of Lost Abbey fame, and his topic selected was "Beer and Music - The Message in a Bottle."

For this session, I am looking towards my fellow bloggers to share a music and beer moment with.  It could be that Pearl Jam show I attended 7 years ago where I was forced to drink 5 Coronas to stay warm.  But more likely, it could be an album or song that you’re always listening to.  I, for my part, will be writing two blogs.  One will be about a particular memory and the other will be about musical stylings and my beers.

(I have to admit, this month's Session snuck up on me. I mostly forgot about it as this time of year is always a busy one for us, with myriad other things going on—I only remembered at the last minute.)

This is a tough topic for me because music is not something that I spend a lot of time on; most of the music I listen to is whatever happens to be on the radio while I'm driving and while I own a few handfuls of albums (and MP3s) I don't listen to them all that often. If there's music in the background of a place I go to (brewery, restaurant, etc.), I usually pay no attention (unless it's live). So, sad to say, music and beer is not something I can really speak to.

Now having said that, there have been a few exceptions. A number of years ago my brother was living in Portland in an apartment building at 7th and Yamhill, and behind him, on the other side of the block, was the Speakeasy Tavern. (He could enter the alley behind the building and cut through to the Speakeasy; it was very handy.)

The Speakeasy (still there; it's located at 609½ SE Taylor Street) is a classic hole-in-the-wall dive bar at the bottom of an apartment complex, half underground. It's small, dark, smoky, and being Portland, they have good beer on tap. And, they have (or at least, had; I haven't been there in years) a jukebox.

One weekend in Portland, my brother, my dad and I popped into the Speakeasy—first time I'd been there, I think. We had Black Butte Porter and loaded up the jukebox with a variety of music: Johnny Cash, Billy Joel, John Mellencamp, AC/DC, Vanilla Ice—just stuff that for us is fun to listen to. It was a good night, drinking dark beer in a smoky bar with the music we wanted to hear.

Other times when music and beer will make a noticeable impact on me is when it's inextricably appropriate to the beer and the setting. Biddy McGraw's, for example; the Irish-est Irish pub I know of in Portland. Way back when they were located on Hawthorne Avenue (they're currently at 60th and Glisan), they were always packed to the gills and each time I'd been there (only a handful of times), they had an honest-to-god Irish band playing live Irish music. (This I know for a fact because one of the band members, Seamus, was my brother's landlord at one time and was truly Irish—and yes, same brother as at the Speakeasy.)

Now that I think about it, could there be any more appropriate beer music than Irish music? Particularly when what you're drinking is Guinness?

Well, perhaps, but it's definitely worth exploring.

The good folks at Butte Creek Brewing (thanks Scott) were kind enough to send me a bottle of their Fresh Hop Organic IPA (the full name is "Fresh Hop Organic Sustainable Harvest India Pale Ale"... quite a mouthful!), which I opened tonight. It's one of the only fresh hop beers (other than Deschutes Brewery's) that I've been able to sample.

Butte Creek has been making a respectable name for themselves with their organic line of beers, and this fresh hop ale is (I believe) their first foray into the fresh hop arena. It's 6.6% alcohol by volume, somewhat lighter than their regular IPA. I really dig the label, of which I present a poor substitute (professional photographer, I'm not).

Appearance: A very clear, nicely red-amber—a hint of honey—and a nice fluffy light tan head.

Smell: Caramel malt, hops are green and mild and steel cut. They're not as prominent as I'd expect, which is a little surprising.

Taste: Malty and rich—hops are strong and crisp and clean—they coat the mouth as if oily, but they're not really oily at all. More powdery and dry. Has an earthy note. Nice kick at the end. Residual sweetness from the alcohol.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with a slight syrupy thickness. Nice hop character in the aftertaste leaving you a bit puckery.

Overall: A nice IPA with a respectable hop bite—the fresh hops here lend a fresh, clean character and maintain a big presence (though not in the aroma).

On BeerAdvocate, it's too new: 2 reviews, averaging 4 out of 5 in score. On RateBeer, similar story: only 5 reviews, averaging 3.38 out of 5.