TRICK OR TREAT!
It's no secret that Americans love Halloween and all the seasonal treats that go with it. As an American brewer myself, I grew up with pumpkin pie, pumpkin cake, pumpkin bread, pumpkin lattes, and yes—even pumpkin beer.
I've seen Halloween grow in popularity every year in Australia, and in a bid to have a little holiday fun ourselves, we are debuting our own Pumpkin Ale this year. It will be no surprise that the headline ingredient here is plenty of roasted pumpkin. After roasting, the pumpkin is added to the brewing grains, which are a balance of sweet and toasty malt varieties that complement the natural sweetness of the pumpkin.
Arguably even more important than the pumpkin is the blend of spices that are added to the beer just before packaging. The spices used are the same ones found in an American-style pumpkin pie—cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and ginger. These warming spices are secretly the star of the show, and deciding on just the right amount of each spice to use is the most critical step of making a pumpkin beer.
If we've done our job properly, the end result is an easy-drinking amber ale with a nice malt backbone, clean finish, and just a hint of warmth and spice to round it all out. It's the perfect beer to sip out in the graveyard on Halloween night.
Cheers,
Reid
Head Brewer
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