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I'm so excited!

Pumpkin Ór available at Mulligans Grocer today. I think I know where I'm going for lunch!! <!-- s;-) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s;-) -->

-Sorry if I didn't explain this well enough, earlier.
Trouble Brewing's released a pumpkin ale version of Ór on cask and it's available right now at Mulligan's Grocer in Stoneybatter.

Pumpkin ale is a modern American re-envisioning of a traditional early American (well technically colonial so pre-American) style of beer that includes pumpkin as a fermentable; the modern version is spiced with a blend of spices that is typically used in pumpkin pie. (Although the exact blends vary, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, cloves and ginger are often included.)

This is the first pumpkin ale commercially released in Ireland to my knowledge.


Adam

This beer is a little taste of home for me and a great early birthday present.

-Every 3-5 years my birthday falls on Thanksgiving so for most of my life my "birthday cake" was pumpkin pie. It's one of those things I REALLY miss this time of year especially with the pumpkin shortages last year.

This is the most pumpkin pie-like beer I've ever tried and I'd hold it up against any American-made pumpkin ale. Thom really out did himself on this one.


It's on cask and it certainly seems slightly sweeter than normal Ór, but that could just be because of the slightly warmer temps and lower CO2 levels. The additional perception of sweetness really works with the spices to make it seem even more like pumpkin pie.


My guess is that they didn't buy commercial pumpkin pie spice but blended their own and included ginger in the blend (the exact blend used in pumpkin pie spice is always a bit of a controversy). It certainly seems light and fresh and I think makes it incredibly drinkable and I have a general rule that spiced beers just can't be drinkable but Pumpkin Ór seems to be an exception. (If I were a betting man I'd say spices added directly to the cask to taste based upon previous lessons learned from the raspberry Ór that was released for the all-Ireland craft beer festival.)

The spice blend between pumpkin pie and an American or Dutch apple pie (which are spiced unlike the Irish variety) are so close that this REALLY tastes like "apple pie beer" to me, too. -This is why I'd leave out ginger, myself but I realize that this is all personal preference.


It's great and I really encourage people to try it. I'm quite proud of the unique freak cultural oddity that is pumpkin ale and pumpkin pie, but pumpkin ale truly is a traditional American beer as the early colonists added whatever fermentables they had on hand to make up for highly priced imported malt. (Although I doubt the early versions were spiced and definitely not with this blend of spices.)



Adam
I've been waiting and hoping and praying for more edgy beers out of the Irish micros and hoping that they'd get released outside of festivals and now with Trouble Brewing's Pumpkin Ór, the peated Shandon Extra Stout from Franciscan Well, and MetalMan's very uniquely spiced wheat beer, "Alternator" I'm like a kid in a craft brew candy store! (I'm gonna have to take back my snarky comment from last week about the Irish micros only releasing the riskier beers during festivals, if this keeps up.)
-And 8 Degrees just announced a spiced Christmas ale, too! Woohoo!