Behind the Bar: Erik The Red Pumpkin Ale Homebrew

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Author: Barmacral Tigana

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With Halloween comes pumpkin season, so how better to celebrate Halloween with a pumpkin beer? Pumpkin (and pumpkin spice) everything tend to be a very North America-centric trend though and although there are many excellent pumpkin beers available, none of them are available here in the northern part of Sweden.

So instead I’m going to introduce you a bit to the world of homebrew, with my own pumpkin beer. Called “Erik The Red Pumpkin Ale” we cut a pumpkin in half, scraped out the seeds and baked it for an hour in the oven until the flesh was soft enough to scoop out. Then the next day we roasted it in the oven until the top started to turn a golden brown and we added it to our beer. Alongside the pumpkin though we also added a few pumpkin spices such as cinnamon and allspice. What came out of this was a deep red ale with a strong spicy nose and moderate pumpkin flavour throughout.

An average 5% this beer has a small and short-lasting off-white head and a deep ruby colour to the beer. The beer is clear with no haze to speak of and has a pungent nose to it, smelling strongly of pumpkin pie spices. The flavour is easy drinking with little bitterness and a moderate pumpkin character backed up by hints of caramel and roasted notes. With very little lasting power though, this beer disappears off your palate almost as soon as you swallow it.

Rating: 3.5/5 – An easy to enjoy beer on a fall evening, this one will disappear quickly and keep you comfortable while those trick-or-treaters come to the door looking for delicious candy.

Beer Facts: Homebrewing Beer

Homebrewing is an increasingly popular hobby that is available to anyone of legal age and access to a kitchen and a closet. At its simplest level you need little more than a pot, a bucket, a bathtub or large sink, and a stove (a few other small parts too). At its most complex, well, some people start breweries. Homebrewing can be very rewarding and is an economical way to drink good quality beer for much cheaper than what you can buy at the store. Personally, I do it for the same reason another person might bake or cook or sew costumes as a hobby – I find it very rewarding to taste the results of the recipe I devised and the processes I perform in my efforts to create the best beer I can.

Tar Valon Times Newsletter version