Bourbon / Whisky Pumpkin Ale

[aprichman]

Anyone have a good recipe they would be willing to share? I love pumpkin spice and bourbon but haven't seen many recipes featuring this combination.

 

[RPh_Guy]

You could use your favorite bourbon to make a tincture/extract with your preferred spices and add that after fermentation.
A little bourbon goes a long way.

I use bourbon to make vanilla extract for beers, and add to taste.

Cheers

 

[JDWebb]

You could use your favorite bourbon to make a tincture/extract with your preferred spices and add that after fermentation.
A little bourbon goes a long way.

I use bourbon to make vanilla extract for beers, and add to taste.

Cheers

Try using Cruzan Black Strap Rum also, makes good extract!

 

[aprichman]

Yeah my current plan was to add a tincture of bourbon infused with spices to the keg. Probably a pinch in the boil at flameout too. I've used this method for bigger stouts, typically with 8 ounces of liquor. Usually around 7% ABV and up.

It's such a natural pairing I am a little surprised there's not more recipes out there. The pumpkin ale I'm planning on brewing at the moment will be a little smaller at ~6% ABV.

 

[JDWebb]

My experience with pumpkin has been just dumping a couple cans of organic pumpkin into the boil didn't do anything but add a creamy mouthfeel. I think a better raw pumpkin flavor comes from roasting a whole pie pumpkin or two chopped in about 2 inch chunks, then letting them sit in secondary for a few weeks. The spices are what is going to give it the flavors reminiscent of pumpkin pie. Be careful with the spices, a little bit goes a long ways. start with teaspoons, not tablespoons.

 

[aprichman]

I was planning on roasting an actual pumpkin (a pie variety). Farm fresh pumpkins should start to be available towards the end of the month or in early October in Oregon.

Probably 2.5 lbs in the mash, 2.5 lbs in the kettle.

I've thought about "dry hopping" with pumpkin but it seems super messy and I'm not sure I want to deal with that.

I've had pretty good luck with spices in past beers. I agree that a light touch is needed.

 

[lump42]

You could use your favorite bourbon to make a tincture/extract with your preferred spices and add that after fermentation.
A little bourbon goes a long way.

I use bourbon to make vanilla extract for beers, and add to taste.

Cheers

This is what I do for insurance to my spice beers. I use the lowest shelf bourbon that I'm willing to put in mixed drinks. I keep the proportions the same as I do in the brew and let sit in a mason jar. After a few weeks/months (honestly when I remember), I filter the tincture with a reusable wire coffee filter. I don't lose as much tincture with the wire basket over the paper filters. I've keep tinctures for pumpkin pie spice, apple pie spice, vanilla, and cinnamon. They go great in coffee on a crisp fall Sat. morning.

 

[rwiseman63]

A couple of years ago, I wanted to quickly free up a keg, so I combined the remaining half of a Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale clone with the remaining half of a Pumpkin Ale, and it was quite delicious. I am going to try to do something similar this year as a single batch, but I haven't quite figured out the details. I think I will make a basic Pumpkin Ale, and after primary fermentation, split the batch into 2 secondaries. In one, I will add bourbon and an oak honeycomb, and in the other, I will add cinnamon sticks and a scraped vanilla bean and let them sit for a couple of weeks. I could probably do it all in the same secondary, but I want to see how the flavors develop independently over time.

 

[lump42]

A couple of years ago, I wanted to quickly free up a keg, so I combined the remaining half of a Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale clone with the remaining half of a Pumpkin Ale, and it was quite delicious. I am going to try to do something similar this year as a single batch, but I haven't quite figured out the details. I think I will make a basic Pumpkin Ale, and after primary fermentation, split the batch into 2 secondaries. In one, I will add bourbon and an oak honeycomb, and in the other, I will add cinnamon sticks and a scraped vanilla bean and let them sit for a couple of weeks. I could probably do it all in the same secondary, but I want to see how the flavors develop independently over time.

They acutually sell a Kentucky Pumpkin Barrel ale now. https://www.kentuckyale.com/products/lexington-brewing-company/kentucky-pumpkin-barrel-ale

 

[JDWebb]

I love anything with bourbon, more bourbon, and some bourbon in it. Anything. Here's part of my bourbon shelf.

 

[Kickass]

I brewed this pumpkin spice, sans pumpkin, last week. It turned out really nice. Good spice nose, low to medium spice flavor. You can easily add the spices to a few oz's of bourbon and add it prior to bottle/keg instead of at flameout.

I actually had some leftover wild turkey and vanilla beans that were flavoring oak cubes for a RIS I brewed a few months ago. When I kegged the the pumpkin spice ale I had a growler's worth remaining so I added a little of that leftover oaky, vanilla turkey juice to the growler. I'm calling it, Small Batch Private Collection.