Serve in a tulip at 8-12 °C
What it tastes like
Ask most drinkers what a pumpkin beer tastes of and they will describe cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and ginger. That is fair. Pumpkin flesh gives very little flavour once it has been through a mash and a boil; what it adds is a touch of body, a faint earthy sweetness and an orange cast in the glass. The spice blend, the same one Americans put in pumpkin pie, is what people actually recognise.
The style grew up in the United States, where colonial brewers short of barley used pumpkins and squash as a source of sugar. The modern version came back with the craft movement in the 1980s and turned into an autumn ritual. Underneath, the base beer can be almost anything: an amber ale, a brown ale, a porter, even a strong ale aged in a barrel.
A good one tastes like a beer first. The malt carries toffee and biscuit, the spice sits on top as seasoning, and the finish stays dry enough for a second glass. A bad one tastes like a candle shop.
Style profile
- Look
- Copper to deep amber, sometimes brown when built on a porter. Clear to slightly hazy, with an off-white head of modest staying power.
- Aroma and flavour
- Cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and ginger over caramel and bready malt. Pumpkin itself reads as a light earthy sweetness. Hops stay quiet so the spice can show.
- Mouthfeel
- Medium body, a little fuller than the base beer would be on its own. Moderate carbonation and a gently warming finish in the stronger versions.
- Ingredients
- Pale and crystal malts, sometimes a little brown or chocolate malt. Roasted pumpkin or squash in the mash or kettle, a pie spice blend late in the boil, clean ale yeast.
In India
We have no shortage of pumpkin. Kaddu, kashiphal and red pumpkin turn up in every sabzi market, so a brewpub can roast its own instead of opening a can. The spice cupboard is already stocked too, though Indian drinkers notice clumsy clove quickly because they eat it every day. This is a seasonal beer and best on tap, fresh. Brew it for Diwali or the first cool weeks of November, when a spiced amber feels right and the heat has eased.
At the Indian table
Food pairings contributed by Anuradha Rao
- Kaddu ki sabzi with puriThe sweet-sour pumpkin and fennel in the sabzi echo the gourd and spice in the glass, and the carbonation lifts the fried puri.
- Bengali kumro chhokkaPanch phoron and gentle sweetness pick up the beer's spice without fighting it.
- Tandoori chicken tikkaCharred edges and smoked paprika meet the caramel malt, and the spice blend ties in with the garam masala.
- Kaddu ka halwaGhee, cardamom and roasted pumpkin sit right alongside a malty, spiced beer, as long as the halwa is not sweeter than the pint.
Brewed in India
- Pumpkin Ale, Toit Brewpub source