The Wall Street Journal breaks down some pumpkin beers. Interesting quotes: “Pumpkin Beer, just a bad today as they were back then.” And “Pumpkin Beer is basically a marketing gimmick.”
In fact, it was–and too often still is–awful. Here’s why: Sweet and nutty when roasted, pumpkins turn sour when their sugars ferment into beer, giving off an unpleasant cidery tang. In fact, one of the first published recipes for pumpkin beer (from 1771) included an ingredient that was more akin to pumpkin cider: pressed, fermented gourd juice. Brewers hid that taste with a mix of boiled spices like cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. And that’s where it all went wrong.
The one’s making the cut include Smuttynose Pumpkin, Dogfish Head Punkin, The Bruery Autumn Maple, Unita Oak Jacked, & Jolly Pumpkin La Parcela. Are pumpkin beers that offensive to your tastebuds? They way they sell out each season, I’d be inclined to say otherwise. [WSJ]
The guy who is supposed to be an authority here is confused about a lot of things. He makes so many blanket statements, and unjustified statements. This is embarrassing. He doesn’t seem to know much about beer at all. He even used the locution “regular beer”. What is regular beer?
That’s exactly what was floating around in my head. Pumpkin beers are not “just as bad now as they were centuries ago.” That’s why Weyerbacher Imperial, and DFH Punkin are gone bascially before the first week of October is done. As for the gimmick? Small breweries don’t have the time or the money for gimmicks.
Unita Oak Jacked is probably one of the best I’ve tasted.