Whilst on my rounds at the St
Albans Beer & Cider Festival last month, I noticed two Pumpkin Beers on tap, these
included the likes of Pumped Up (4.2%) by New River Brewery and Pilgrim
(5%) by Abbeydale Brewery respectively. Until recently I’ve never heard of
Pumpkin Beer, indeed it is seldom known in the UK and only a handful of Breweries
in this country have released their own take on the beer style. The reason for
their lack of popularity, as the appropriately named blogger Pumpkin Pie notes “the
trouble is though, they can be hard to find. Particularly in the UK. And there
are two key reasons for this, the first of which is ‘demand’. Surprisingly (or
perhaps not) we’re yet to really fall in love with pumpkin flavoured products
on this side of the water.”[1]
Indeed, Pumpkin themed products are rife in the US from soft drinks, toys and
hand soaps, along with the hyper-commercialisation of Halloween which helps further
their popularity. Moreover “the second factor is the pumpkins themselves.
Pumpkins are harvested once a year and take a long time to grow. This means
that there is a small window in which to harvest them and make beer.” [1] Pumpkin production in the UK, pales in comparison to the US, which makes it much harder for brewers to source Pumpkins in the first place, hence the scarcity of Pumpkin Beers. To
understand more about this elusive beer style, we need to look into its
background and how it is produced.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, as
colonists from the UK emigrated to the Americas, they also brought over the
demand for brewing beer. However, with the lack of barley cultivation at the
time, this made things difficult for the new settlers. Beer Sapiens note “during the first years of
colonization, it was not easy to get quality ingredients to make beer, either
due to scarcity or high cost. For this reason, settlers began to use
alternatives as a source of fermentable sugars.”[2]
The use of Pumpkins in brewing as Colleen Graham states “the original brew of
pumpkins, molasses, bran, and corn malt was brewed by American colonists who
couldn't afford imports from Europe.”[3]
The earliest recorded example of Pumpkin Beer dates from 1771, when the
American Philosophical Society published a recipe for Pompion Ale. As Horst
Dornbusch notes “it was made only from pumpkin juice and, unlike modern pumpkin
ale recipes, does not call for any addition of cereal malts. It is thus more a
recipe for a pumpkin wine than for a pumpkin beer.”[4]
Pumpkin was a substitute for malt, spices were also used with this beverage such as cinnamon,
cloves or ginger. It was also seen as a health tonic, highly recommended by doctors; and it was often
mixed in cocktail with Rum and brown sugar. However its use an alternative to
malt in brewing soon declined and the use of Pumpkin in brewing all but disappeared, as Beer Sapiens
adds “despite becoming a staple throughout the 18th century, its popularity
began to wane in the early 19th century with increased access to quality malts
and the use of pumpkin in brewing became rustic and unremarkable.” [5]
Ironically the rise of the American brewing industry and the establishment of
commercial cultivation of barley led to the demise of Pumpkin Beer. However, all was
not lost, in 1986 just as the craft beer movement was gathering pace in the US,
a brewery based in California called Buffalo Bill released a beer called Pumpkin
Ale (6%). Made from real organic Pumpkin and spices such as Cinnamon, Clove
and Nutmeg, it was an Amber style beer replete with the flavourings of a Pumpkin
Pie. This curious brew soon gained a popular following, and soon other
breweries across the States subsequently brewed and released their own Pumpkin
Beers. Today, it has become a popular beer style, indeed dozens of breweries across the
country, including the majors like Brooklyn, Shipyard and New Moon release
their own Pumpkin Beers on a seasonal basis between September – November,
conveniently targeting the Halloween period for maximum commercial potential. Moreover, they have even featured in beer festivals such as the Great American Beer Festival which now has a seperate category for Pumpkin Beers.
The brewing of Pumpkin Beer is
not as straightforward as it sounds, and has often been misinterpreted as
Pumpkin Ales on occasion. Indeed, “the name Pumpkin Ale does not identify an
actual beer style, but rather a characteristic of some beers. In other words,
pumpkins can be added to very different beer styles”[6]
Birra Balladin notes. Although traditionally used in amber ales, it can also be
used in Stouts, Porters, IPA, Barrel Aged Strong Ale, Belgian style Ales and
even Shandy to name a few, so as an ingredient it is quite adaptable. The
production of Pumpkin Beer, falls into two different methods; the beer can be
made from pressed or pureed Pumpkins, however this process is difficult to
achieve as Grainfather states “Pumpkin is very subtle so being able to get the
flavour is difficult and if you’re using fresh pumpkin you will require a lot
(at least 2kg or 4lbs in 23 litres).”[7]
There are various ways of extracting Pumpkin as Colleen Graham notes “all
pumpkin beers get their flavor through the introduction of adjuncts, though
each brewer has their own approach. Some include real pumpkin, roasted or as a
purée, in the brewing process, while others don't use any pumpkin.” [3]
Sometimes, brewers prefer to use spices instead in order to replicate the
flavour of Pumpkin, from a combination of ingredients that you would more
commonly find in a Pumpkin Pie, that include Allspice, Nutmeg, Vanilla, Cloves
and Cinnamon. It also been the case that brewers have used a combination of genuine
Pumpkins and spices when brewing Pumpkin Beers. As an adjunct, Birra Baladin mentions “generally speaking, pumpkins
enhance the beer dryness, but they also give a gentle sugary feel at the end of
the sip.” [6] Depending on
how the beer is brewed, Pumpkins can either have a distinct influence on the
flavour and aroma profiles, or merely add a delicate adjunct to the other
ingredients of the brew.
Despite being popular in the
states, Pumpkin Beers have been slow to jump across the pond to the UK. One of
the earliest breweries to capitalise on this style was Brewdog, who released Pumpkin
King (5.4%) back in 2014. It was made
in the traditional way, with Pumpkin Puree and spices including Grains of Paradise, Star Anise,
Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Allspice, Ginger and Clove. It has been described by their publicity
department as having aromas of Autumn favourites like toasted marshmallow and toffee
apple. One review described it as “on opening the 330ml bottle I could smell
the spices from the pumpkin and zesty hops, as well as the sweet smell of
caramel malt. At 5.5% volume this golden brown ale is a taste explosion and not
for the faint hearted.”[8]
Subsequent, a slew of other breweries across the UK took to producing their own
Pumpkin Beers, including long established brewers such as Spiced Pumpkin Ale
(4.2%) – Arkells, Pumpkin Ale (4.5%) – Everards and Headless
Horseman (4.2%) – Hambleton. The soon to be defunct Wynchwood Brewery in
Witney, were well know for their brand of beers known as
Hobgoblin, so it came to no surprise when they produced their own take on this
beer style known as Pumpking (3.8%), this seasonal beer as Jibber Jabber
notes “is actually brewed with pumpkin plus some warming spices. The ruby
coloured ale also has hints of toffee and dried fruit for the perfect October
drink.”[9]
Although more amber in colour than described here, this beer was widely available
until recently, although with the impending closure of the brewery, this popular
beer will sadly join the graveyard of former beers. On the whole, most Pumpkin
Beers are hard to find in the UK and a good majority are brewed by independent
craft brewers who have had a more limited commercial radius than the major national brewers.
These elusive beers are often sold in canned form and can be found in the
occasional bottle shop or craft beer pub if you look hard enough, and although
these beers tend to be amber ales of varying strength, occasionally you may
find something that bucks that trend such as Carve Ye Yams (5.2%) by
Elusive Brewing, a sweet porter laced with the combination of Pumpkin puree with
Pumpkin Pie spices that helps invigorate the coffee notes through the use of Hasbean
coffee beans. Although the kaleidoscope of flavours left some confused with one
reviewer noting “it has a rich dark chocolate malt flavour to begin with, merging
with roasted coffee and all the spices of nutmeg, and fiery cinnamon and
ginger, and a touch of cloves. What I couldn't note strongly in the flavour was
the pumpkin.”[10] Sometimes
putting too many flavours into a beer, can overtake the subtleness of Pumpkin.
For the foreseeable future the
appeal of Pumpkin Beer seems to be limited in this country. For many connoisseurs
and real ale enthusiasts they will see it as another gimmicky marketing ploy to
promote Halloween Beers, and in some ways, they are right as some brewers do
clearly take advantage of the Halloween festival to promote themed beers. Other argue that
Pumpkin Beer should held in more regard, indeed The Three Drinkers argue “some
traditionalists see it as a tacky gimmick, but in fact fruit ‘n’ veg have been
used in beer making for centuries, as a relatively cheap way to add sugar or
natural flavour.”[11]
Equally seen as a fruit or spiced beer, when done right Pumpkin can work very
well with beer as a flavouring. So does Pumpkin Beer has a future as a potential
popular beer style in this country, unfortunately the writing on the wall doesn’t
look good, and it seems that it will remain consigned to the growing list of seasonal
ales that occasionally appear on the market, but ultimately never gain
traction.
[11] “Pumpkin Ales to enjoy this Autumn” by The Three Drinkers
