Posts Tagged ‘pumpkin ale’
Hurry Up And Wait
Friday, August 27th, 2010
It seems to be the norm these days … Christmas cards are in the shops before Halloween, Oktoberfest beers are on the shelves early August and Pumpkin Beers seem to be available year long …. ok, I may be exaggerating a little there but seriously … these products are on the shelves EARLY! I’ve been asked a few times recently when our pumpkin seasonal will be released, often in the same breath as “but you know that (add brewery name) release theirs next week!” Good for them I say but we’re in no hurry. I’d like to think that Oliver Ales march to the beat of our own drum …. there’s no reason to rush these things. Last year I brewed my first ever pumpkin beer on September 24th. I’m guessing that we’ll be brewing around the same time but, y’know what, our farmer will make that decision for us. When he says he’s ready to harvest his pumpkins, then that’s when we’ll brew our beer. Yeah, that’s right people … pumpkins … in a pumpkin beer. Seems like a “no brainer” I know but check the ingredients of that “pumpkin beer” you’re drinking … was it brewed with pumpkins or just pumpkin pie spices? There are plenty out there, good & bad and love ‘em or hate ‘em they’re not going to go away any time soon. I’m looking forward to brewing ours ,when said farmer decides the pumpkins are just right! Like I said, I’m in no hurry, he knows best and the pumpkins we bought from him last year were excellent and made for (in my opinion) great brewing pumpkins. More than a few people out there seemed to agree, as the beer (Freddie’s Revenge (A Nightmare On Pratt Street)), was one of the fastest selling seasonal ales I’ve ever made. I’ve made no secret of the fact that, in the past, I’ve always resisted requests to brew a pumpkin ale. As an Englishman it just didn’t seem, well, “right”! Trust me, go to England at Halloween, you’ll see what I mean …not a lot of pumpkin action to be had and, of course, we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving so no pumpkin pie! Last year however I had a change of heart. I looked at the “project” from a different angle. Could I brew a good pumpkin ale with my limited experience of the style. It was too intriguing to resist. I did a little on-line research (thank you home brewers everywhere) and secured the phone number of a farmer who grew pumpkins deemed to be very suitable for brewing by my friend (and, again, home brewer) Tony. I formulated a recipe, purchased 150lbs of pumpkins and “Freddie’s Revenge” was born. As I said, I’m excited to brew our pumpkin beer but I’m in no hurry … when the pumpkins are ready!
Let me know which pumpkin ales out there you consider to be worthwhile. Do you care if they’re brewed using pumpkins and/or spices? I know that Brad of Beer In Baltimore visited the Evolution Brewery today whilst they were brewing their “Jaques au Lantern” so I’m hoping he’ll post something about that. Looking forward to trying that one, they make some really nice beers.
If you’d like to read a bit more about my first pumpkin ale experience check out the blog archive at http://www.prattstreetalehouse.com/2009/09/hello-pumpkin-pt-2/
yeah, we roasted 150 lbs of pumpkins
looking forward to wednesday
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
Please join us on Wednesday evening from 6pm at the Metropolitan Coffeehouse and Wine Bar for an Oliver Ales pint night. We’ll have our pumpkin ale, Freddie’s Revenge (A Nightmare On Pratt Street) on cask as well as 3 Lions Ale and Harvest Ale on tap. Come along, have a pint and snag a logo pint glass to add to the several dozen you’ve already picked up this week!
Cheers
Steve
the friday question
Friday, October 2nd, 2009
We received some varied an interesting suggestions for the name of the pumpkin ale but we can be a bit fussy here at the brewery and we weren’t loving any of them so we’re going with our own, “Freddie’s Revenge (A Nightmare On Pratt Street)” . However we do appreciate the efforts of those who took part so we randomly drew a name from the hat (well, a pitcher actually) and the winner was Mr. Scott Scharf. Now Scott has won tickets on a previous occasion so we are offering him 2 tickets for the BAM kick-off party at the Ale House (Oct. 8th, 8pm) as an alternative. How’s that sound Scott? If Scott is agreeable then the Oktoberfest tickets are up for grabs again this week. The question is this …. our Winter Warmer will be released on the 6th November, a very important day for a certain someone who will pour the first pint at the Ale House … what is the name of that certain someone? Answer via the comment section below.
Have a great weekend.
Cheers
Steve
A quick update … Scott is using the Oktoberfest tickets to take some friends to the event so 2 tickets for the BAM party @ the Ale House (Thursday , 8pm) are on offer for this weeks question. Winner will be announced Wednesday.
weekend round-up
Monday, September 28th, 2009
Well, after Friday’s brew I had to hot foot it back home, shower, change into a shirt and tie and get back downtown for a beer pairing dinner at The Center Club. We were presenting our Ironman Pale Ale, Harvest Ale and Pagan Porter as pairings with the Chef’s offerings for the evening. Incredibly, this was the first beer pairing dinner that I’ve ever hosted and it was thoroughly enjoyable. The 30 or so guests were very receptive and a genial atmosphere prevailed. The beer was well received and many interesting and thoughtful questions were offered, which I hope that I dealt with satisfactorily. I had the pleasure of talking with a number of the guests for some time after the dinner had concluded!
Saturday saw a 7 am start as I had to be in the brewery to check on fermentations before driving to Westminster for the Maryland Microbrewery Festival @ The Union Mills Homestead. I arrived at the site @ 9.30 and set up the Oliver stand between The Raven and White Marsh Brewing. I have never attended this festival before although our brewery was present last year so I had heard all about the terrible weather and it’s effects upon the site. The site itself is beautiful and the festival very well organized but again the weather conspired against us. A light drizzle developed mid-morning and grew heavier throughout the day so that by the time the festival ended at 7pm, conditions were miserable. I salute the festival goers of Westminster though as, despite the conditions, attendance was fairly strong and many people persevered until the bitter end. Needless to say, my car was stuck in the mud but organizer David pushed me to freedom and I began my perilous journey back to Baltimore. Driving conditions were terrible and I passed many accidents on the way and I exhaled with a mighty sigh as I arrived back at the brewery, thankful that I wasn’t among them. Maybe next year the sun will shine and the festival will be the glorious event that it can surely be.
As you will know if you’ve read my previous posts, I’ve recently made my first ever pumpkin ale. It has been somewhat disheartening though that most of the pumpkin beers I have tried this season have been, well, crappy! It was a great relief therefore to have the pleasure of trying Mike of White Marsh Brewing Co’s pumpkin ale whilst we were at the Union Mills Microbrew. Fest. It has restored my faith in the style somewhat. Mike’s is nicely balanced with a pleasant but not overly aggressive spice character as I hope that mine will also be. Mike used squash rather than pumpkin in his, as many recipes do. Ours is fermenting nicely and will be transferred to conditioning tank later this week, at which point I will sample it. I will post my initial opinions of our effort at that time.
Cheers
Steve
hello pumpkin pt.7
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
Damn, if only we got paid overtime! It’s almost done though, just the post brew cleaning happening now. We collected at an original gravity of 1.058 and we’ll be shooting for 5.6% a.b.v. Keep an eye out for tomorrow’s “Friday Question” post for a pumpkin related question. Just time to grab a quick pint at Metropolitan. Hooray!
hello pumpkin pt.5
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
Mmmmm … spices. This seems to provoke a lot of “smells like my Mother’s kitchen” type comments. Not my Mother’s kitchen though …. raised in England by a German Mother, pumpkin pie was as alien to me as Yorkshire pudding was to you!! (Her apfel streusel kuchen though was heavenly). Anyway, the run-off is progressing nicely, nice and clean with a beautiful bronze color. I’m going to start bagging the rest of the pumpkin now and get that in the kettle too. My local farmer’s cattle are in for a treat tonight (the spent grain is picked up by a farmer for cattle feed) so long as they’re partial to a bit of pumpkin that is.
Hello pumpkin pt.4
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
Wort transfer to the kettle is now happening. We’ll aim to run the wort in over the course of 3 hours during which time I’ll grind some nutmeg and add it to some broken cinnamon sticks and cloves in a boiling bag which will be suspended in the boiling wort. Leaf fuggles are steeping in hot liquor in the hop percolator and we’ll be adding fuggle pellets to the wort when it reaches boil. The remainder of the pumpkin flesh will also be bagged and suspended in the boiling wort. As you know the pumpkin itself makes little contribution to the flavor of the beer but hey, we do things the old-school way here at Oliver’s Brewery!
Hello pumpkin pt.3
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
Well the mash is in and here it is …
pumpkin ale mash
As with all of our brews it is a single step infusion. It rests in the mash tun for 90 minutes whilst all those wonderful enzyme catalyzed reactions occur and then we’ll start transferring the wort to the kettle where the rest of the pumpkin will be added. Smells great by the way!
Hello pumpkin pt.2
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
Well, the day I swore would never happen is upon us! I’ve spent 9 years refusing all requests to brew a pumpkin ale but the pressure has finally gotten too much and I’ve caved in! Yeah, “U-turn” city baby! So assistant brewer Justin and myself spent the morning chopping pumpkins and removing seeds etc. Our chef Freddie is roasting them right now and we’ll be dividing the roasted pumpkin flesh between the mash and the boiling wort. It’s going to be a long, long day in the brewery. I only hope that we can get through it in time to stop by Metropolitan for a pint or two of Pagan Porter with Vanilla. I’ll be posting updates throughout the day.
team Oliver Brewery with a few pumpkins
Freddie gets ready to do some roasting!
hello pumpkin!
Thursday, September 17th, 2009
O.K., it’s on! We will be off to the farmer’s market on Sunday to purchase a considerable quantity of pumpkins (or a “shit load” as we English say) and on Tuesday the fun will begin! I’ve never brewed a pumpkin ale before so it should be an interesting experience. Gotta say, I’m a little nervous as pumpkins can cause problems in the mash but, as anyone who has seen the brewery here will know, we like to do things the hard way at Oliver’s! As well as using roasted pumpkin in the mash and the boil we will also moderately spice the ale with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.
Keep a watch out for tomorrow’s post when we will announce the winner of our recent homebrew competition and also some details of a cool homebrew event that we will be holding at the Ale House as part of Baltimore Beer Week.