Elysian Brewery Co.’s Great Pumpkin Beer Festival is celebrating its 13th year in operation where beer lovers can enjoy 80 plus pumpkin beers from near and far to be poured. From that huge stash, 20 or so from Elysian’s pumpkin-crazed brewers and their collaborators.
Prior to this awesome event, I had the pleasure to sample four of Elysian’s pumpkin beers: Night Owl Pumpkin Ale, The Great Pumpkin Imperial Pumpkin Ale, Dark O’ The Moon Pumpkin Stout and Punkuccino Coffee Pumpkin Ale. Each had their own unique tastes based around a pumpkin flavor.
Night Owl Pumpkin Ale (6.7% ABV; in 12 oz; 22 oz, draft) is a very drinkable pumpkin ale that is brewed with seven and a half pounds of pumpkin per barrel and spiced in conditioning with ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice. Goes down smooth. Dark and pumpkiny.
The Great Pumpkin Imperial Pumpkin Ale (8.4% ABV; in 22 oz, draft) pours deep copper with ghostly white head. You will notice the intense tastes of pumpkin, sugar and spice on the nose with a nice bready and malty backdrop to tame all those autumn spices. Overall pure excellence.
The result for the Great Pumpkin Imperial Pumpkin Ale is that you will be tasting a remarkably smooth, balanced and delectable fall treat. Elysian has added extra pumpkin and roasted seeds to the mash, kettle and fermenter. Finally, it is spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice. This is outstanding. The spices are just right, big and bold and hit you right up front. Then they fade out and you get this excellent roasted pumpkin flavor.
Dark O’ The Moon Pumpkin Stout (7.5% ABV; in 22 oz, draft) is a pumpkin stout that pours dark as night with a creamy tan head. As you drink this stout you will notice a slight smokiness on the nose with malty bittersweet chocolate. Additionally, there is a state of a little coffee that is most definitely has a subtle earthy pumpkin and spices taste for an overall nice and creamy mouth.
After the first few sips the malt and cinnamon dominate the palette until Dark O’ The Moon Pumpkin Stout warms up and the pumpkin shines through once more.
Punkuccino Coffee Pumpkin Ale – (6% ABV; in 22 oz, draft) is Elysian’s concoction ofbeer and caffeine because they said why not? This is a pumpkin ale with the attitude of a world-weary barista, Punkuccino packs a short shot of Stumptown coffee in your pint with just a shake of cinnamon and nutmeg. This is an absolutely brilliant coffee flavor with a hint of spices and sweetness from the pumpkin. By far one of the best beers you will be enjoying this Fall season.
For their Great Pumpkin Beer Festival this year, Elysian is partnering with Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Elysian and Fred Hutch began a partnership five years ago through Obliteride, an annual bike ride where every rider-raised dollar goes toward lifesaving research at Fred Hutch.
During each session, Elysian has a giant, several-hundred pound pumpkin that is scooped, scorched, filled with Elysian pumpkin beer, sealed, conditioned, and then tapped at the fest for all to enjoy.
Overall, it was a great experience sharing beers from Elysian. Again, what did you think I got right and what do you think I said wrong? Let us know in the comments section.
Disclaimer: For purposes of this review, Elysian provided a sample of their beers.
Source: B2C
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