Pumpkin Ale
Steam Plant Brewing Company / Stacks Restaurant

a very unique beer here, looks like a blonde ale, but is a robustly flavored pumpkin ale, the lightest of these i can recall seeing, without any malt color at all, looks like a pils even, just a short white head from the tap, super plain in appearance, you would never know what it is by looking at it. im used to some malt in these, some orange color, some toasted sweetness to balance and support the spice profile, but here we dont have any of that, a nearly inconsequential grain profile, which is wild to me, even more curious that the usual suspects in terms of spices and added flavors work so well in it, they dont seem to miss the malt, despite what logic and tradition would suggest. cinnamon, clove, vanilla, and a light toasted thing that must come from real pumpkin, not sure where else it would come from, without any deeper malts in this, the flavors are together, there the whole time, and not at all overdosed, they even seem to like the light crackery pale barley in here, less can be more, and it appears thats the case here. some light bitterness from the spices, but a little vanilla sweetness too before the drier finish. i think i wish for a slightly cleaner fermentation, not in terms of any sweetness left, but in terms of yeast profile, it almost has the fruitiness of a kolsch strain, and its a little out of place, it should be closer to invisible i think. this is cool and its unique, i have never seen one this pale, but with all the traditional flavors, and even if the pumpkin itself is hard to appreciate, if its here at all, the beer is a good one. a little thin in body, but the carbonation is there and the flavor is good. fun one for a chilly fall afternoon.