pumpkin vs pumpkin spice

Get yourself a good gourd. To me that has the most real pumpkin flavor

 

Pumpkin alone doesn't bring much flavor to the table, it's pretty bland.. Pumpkin adds texture and gives it body.. it's spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, etc that usually give pumpkin beers life..

 

Pumpkin itself doesn't add much to the flavor. When people say they like "pumpkin" beers, they mean that they like the "pumpkin" spices added to the beers.

 

pumpkin alone brings astringency and dryness. think of getting your hand near your mouth while carving a pumpkin as a kid. you can tone this some by roasting the pumpkin before using it. we make a series of beers with various gourds and avoid the yankee candle pumpkin spices. we are often critiqued for "no pumpkin flavor and over hopping." the bitter dryness perceived as hops is actually unadorned pumpkin. its a fun game

 

I actually just brewed a pumpkin stout, and BB1313 is absolutely correct. While pumpkin gives the wort some body and possibly a faint aroma, that's pretty much it (regardless of whether you add it to the mash, boil and/or secondary). A lot of "pumpkin" beers do not even have pumpkin in the recipe since it often results in stuck sparge, which is a pain in the dupa. Rather, the pumpkin pie taste is achieved solely through a mixture of difference spices.

 

As others have said, most of the flavor from pumpkin beers comes from the spices. Here's my list of favorite pumpkin beers:

Anderson Valley - Fall Hornin'
Arcadia Brewing - Jaw-Jacker
Hoppin' Frog - Frog's Hollow Double Pumpkin Ale
Lakefront Brewery - Pumpkin Lager
New Holland Brewing - Ichabod Pumpkin Ale
O'Fallon Brewery - Pumpkin Beer
O'Fallon Brewery - Imperial Pumpkin Ale
Rogue - Rogue Farms GYO Pumpkin Patch Ale
Samuel Adams - Fat Jack Double Pumpkin
Samuel Adams - Harvest Pumpkin Ale
Slapshot Brewing - Gourd Damn (my tasting notes on this say "nicely balance")

The O'Fallon Imperial Pumpkin Ale and Lakefront Pumpkin Lager are rather spice heavy, so if you're looking for something more balance, they may not be what you're looking for. Also, from what I remember, the Hoppin' Frog was a bit spice heavy also. Since I can't remember for sure, I think I'm going to have go buy some more and see for sure.

 

Raw pumpkin adds little to no flavor. Roasted pumpkin however can be quite tasty, but getting the pumpkin roasted just the right amount is apparently a very tedious process and thus many breweries opt to use pumpkin puree or throw in some raw pumpkin just so they can say that it is in there, and in these cases it is really just the spices that produce the flavor for the beer.

If you are really curious, go munch on some raw pumpkin and see what sort of flavor you get there. It's just a squash essentially.

 

This topic seems to come up every year....

As others have mentioned, pumpkin adds very little in the way of "flavor" per se....it does add some "mouthfeel" or body to a beer, as well as some fermentable sugars....I will be brewing several types of beer this weekend and will be baking / caramelizing some pumpkin puree to add to the brew kettle. It's a bit of a pain in the ass, but it does add something to a beer.

Most "pumpkin beers" out these days are simply pumpkin spiced beers, some with real pumpkin, some without.

 

Pumking always strikes me as an excellent pumpkin ale. Warlock, however, was a great disappointment. I was expecting pumpkin flavored imperial stout. Ended up with a semi-imperial stout with all the 'spice' flavor and really no pumpkin at all. I bought a whole case when I found it for dirt cheap ($20 for a case of 1-year old warlock) and I had never had it at this point... I eventually choked down that whole box!

 

This.

 

For a good example of what pumpkin alone adds to a beverage, try Woodchuck Pumpkin Cider. No spices, just apple cider base and pumpkin.

 

Well with pumpkin spices in a stout I wouldn't expect to be able to taste any pumpkin at all given its almost non-flavor in the context of spices and dark malts, etc.

 

Interesting because it's already out, which makes me wonder what they used to achieve that flavor. Canned pumpkin? Spices only?

This beer gave me insta-hangover. I was about a third through a bomber and I already had the meanest headache. I assume from all the residual sugars. Not fun.

 

I think pumpkin has flavor in both the stout and the pumpkin ale. It's soft and has a bitter part, it also has a mellow sweetness when roasted. In the pumpkin stout stronger flavors like coffee and chocolate can wash it out as the beer warms. There's definitely a sweet orange vegetable presence on a pumpkin beer is what I mean to say.

 

As many have stated, the pumpkin doesn't add much unless roasted, but it hasn't been ,mentioned yet that there are other types of squash that have been used to give a more pumpkiny taste to beer than actual real pumpkin does. I cannot speak to which ones however as when I make pumpkin perception beer it always comes from the spices and mouthfeel as opposed to using real pumpkin. The beers I have had that use real pumpkin always seem more subdued on the flavors that you typically associate with pumpkin. Most people are looking for pumpkin pie flavor, not raw pumpkin.

 

Shit, I 'm a man, baby. I don't drink pumpkin spices just like I don't drink cheesecake beer