Is now the time to brew a pumpkin ale?

I was looking to brew a pumpkin ale to be ready for the fall. Is now a good time to brew one? How well does the pumpkin flavor/spices taste after a couple months, does it fade or become more pronounced? I'm thinking about maybe doing a porter as a base.

I brewed mine about one month ago, go ahead and brew it. It needs some time for the flavors to mello out. Porters can be a bit dark for this style, try an amber ale.

I have one going right now. I just got my keg setup, but the pumpkin ale is going in bottles to age until fall.

mountainbrewdude said:

I brewed mine about one month ago, go ahead and brew it. It needs some time for the flavors to mello out. Porters can be a bit dark for this style, try an amber ale.

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A bit dark for the style? Pumpkin beer would fall under the specialty category which could use any beer as a base. Currently the only amber I've made didn't come out quite the way I like it. I'm not brewing for a competition either. My simple porter recipe was delicious and has been rather consistent thus far. Rather than experiment and have another beer not come out so great, I've decided a porter would probably go well with the pumpkin flavor/spices. I see lots of pumpkin porter recipes using the term in search.

Yeah, you'd be fine with a porter... but pumpkin beers *typically* use ambers.

Still, if you like your porter, then have at it! I had a porter from one of our local breweries (http://flat12.me/) that tasted like a glazed ham, so if you want yours to taste like pumpkin then I say do it!