Steamworks' Great Pumpkin Ale

Steamworks Brewing Company

today has been a bit of a foodie day, starting with a 9am wake up text from Tippler Selma stating: 'learning how to brine & stuff a turkey today with a chef in kits... wanna come?'. not how I was expecting to start my day, but I'm game. for some reason, Selma's failed bid on a stuffed, cooked and delivered turkey from Chef Brian at Mon Bella Bistoria instead resulted in getting a great lesson on how to dress and cook a turkey. this lesson, as most lesson's should, came complete with a bottle of Sumac Ridge Stellar's Jay sparkling wine. thank you Selma & Chef Brian!

as there will be a lot of great paired wines at dinner tomorrow, I decided to grab some beer from Steamworks. ladies and gents, I introduce to you - THE GROWLER. 64 oz of Steamworks Great Pumpkin Ale is in my fridge, chilled and ready for tomorrow's feast. I described this beer to Tippler Chris as 'liquid pumpkin pie', which didn't seem to impress him. He tried it a couple of nights ago and felt that it wasn't as sweet as I made it out to be. when I went to fill up the Growler, the bartender gave me a nice little sample of it, and Chris was absolutely right. Steamworks has definitely toned down the sweetness on this year's batch. but, what this ale is not lacking are those classic pumpkin pie spices, such as nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, and ginger. I'll have to update this after a full tasting, but the little bit that I tried has gotten my taste buds excited for tomorrow (that, and the anticipation of an amazing Thanksgiving dinner).

[on a side note, I highly recommend the Growler for home beer consumption. in Vancouver, Steamworks and MJG Breweries allow you to get this filled with any of their tap beers. while the shelf life is short (2 days), Growler's are inexpensive ($11/64oz), have essentially no environmental impact, and most importantly, provides you with really fresh beer.]

***__________________UPDATE_____________________***
I had a couple of pints of this on monday, so I have a better assessment of the beer. again, all those spices really came through in the taste. there is a little more sweetness than I had originally thought, a little reminiscent of root beer with some caramel. it wasn't very lively, but I'm going to blame that on the fact that it was a draft beer poured into a twist-off Growler bottle 24 years earlier - carbonation lose was inevitable. overall, it was a really nice seasonal beer with a two pint limit.