It’s The Great Pumpkin Beer Debate

Well here it is, the topic no crafter beer drinker wants to talk about ...PUMPKIN BEER!

In an era where beer has been bastardized beyond recognition, people are getting all up in arms over a simple beer which just so happens to be the original beer of the Brave New World aka the "the 13 Original Colonies" aka a little place called the United States of America!

So let's talk about the pumpkin, it’s orange, it's round and it's very slimy with many many seeds inside of it. But really, the pumpkin itself has a long history of being one of the oldest food sources of the American continent. It out ages beans and even corn!

When the colonists first came to this land, they had limited food supplies to work with and a matter of fact, most pilgrims never even seen the ford before. After living through the cold harsh winters of New England (which was simulated in that one Thanksgiving episode of the Brady Bunch) the pumpkin became the everlasting food!

After the Revolutionary War ended, citizens actually saw the pumpkin as a symbol of American independence...really. There was a guy named George Washington, you might know of him because he had wooden teeth, but he was a beer brewer … and actually while I was doing research on this topic, I found out that the ol chap somehow became the first President of the United States, it's true, even a beer geek can become President! 😀

So this George guy was pretty crafty, so crafty he could almost be considered the first craft brewer …along with that president thing he did. But around 1771 he was trying to make some beer with fruits and vegetables and he decided to use something called pumpkin!

Barley malt was kind of scarce around these parts back in the old days since shipments would come over on ships every few months. It makes you wonder why they didn't just start planting it and continue to grow it but hey I wasn't there. So without a constant source of what the basis of beer is made from, he decided to use pumpkin because not only was it easy to get locally but also it contained a large amount of fermented sugars for brewing.

As time went on more barley was added to beers and Linus' great pumpkin buddy was slowly phased out due to having a more supply of traditional beer ingredients in the new world.

So onto the modern era of the beer….

There was a guy named Bill Owens, who owned a brewpub called Buffalo Bills in Hayward, California. At the time Buffalo Bills only brewed three beers, a lager, an amber (of course it was the 80's haha) and a dark. Bill wanted to make another beer and while doing some reading he found out that George Washinton, (that president guy), used pumpkins in brewing so Bill said "whoa that's so gnarly brah, I'm going to make the modern pumpkin beer!" Thats my best impersonation of Bill in a California surfer Keanu voice.

Bill went to the local grocery store, bought a huge pumpkin, roasted it and added it to his amber recipe mash. He then added yeast and allowed it to ferment for a couple days before trying it. After it was all set he gave it a swig and was shocked he tasted...nothing.

He soon learned that pumpkins basically have no flavor, so back to the store he went. This time he bought some pumpkin pie spice mix and added it in the next brew session and whala! the modern pumpkin beer was born!

To be honest, most if not all modern pumpkin beers do not even have any real pumpkin added. I mean I’ll give credit to breweries that do add it but most of them are just a mix of nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, clove, ginger and maybe cardamom .… (hopefully not black cardamom because the brewer might sneeze and have it go everywhere (like in the episode of Cheers where Woody was trying to make the best Bloody Mary mix).

So I have to say, it blows my mind that modern craft beer drinkers, the same ones who drink a Triple hazy barrel aged lactose breakfast cereal double dry hopped pizza bacon double cheeseburger NE shrimp rusty screwdriver imperial IPA are apparently grossed out by a pumpkin ale.…. I mean come on people!

So the real reason I'm writing this article is to declare that....even with the chance of being tarred and feathered....is to say …..I like pumpkin beers!

This time of year I like to continue my fall beer styles after being burned out by Oktoberfest beers, and believe me, I'm friggin burned out of Oktoberfest beers for the season.

I like to move onto something that still a fall ale something or rather and pumpkin spice and Minnesota Nice beer and ciders fit that bill.

So if you are also on the pumpkin train, welcome, if not, you are just in denial and frankly are just dissing ‘Merica. Haha

Long Live the Pumpkin Beer !

Photo - Denim Beer Machines Coffee