Out of the Bottle: Flaming Pumpkin

It's Halloween night and Flaming Pumpkin is ready to frighten away the ghosts and goblins. Hopefully it won't also frighten away the people who drink it.

This is my first Pumpkin Beer, so I was flying blind outside of doing research and trying commercially available brews. I basically cobbled together suggestions I thought were the best approach to the style, with a vision in my head of what the finished product should taste like. So how did it turn out? Pretty good.

My goal was pumpkin pie in a bottle. What I got is more spice than sweet, but I still like it. The pie spices are right out front, with clove and cinnamon leading the way. The sweeter flavors are muted and focused toward dark sugars from the brown sugar and dark crystal malt. Bitterness is just enough, with no hop flavors competing with the spices. And what about the pumpkin? You can taste it. It's subtle. But you can definitely tell it's there.

Overall? I'm quite happy and hope that my niece likes what I've brewed for her. It has also inspired me to take another stab at this next year.

What would I change? I'd dial back the heavier spices a bit. I'd also switch to a light brown sugar and drop the Extra Dark Crystal in favor of sweeter Crystal malt varieties. Until next year, I'm pretty content with what I've got.

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