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Pumpkin Ale!!????

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Reverend JC

2500 gallons year to date
Joined
Jun 30, 2006
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Location
Your Mom's
At the rate it seems people are brewing that stuff on this forum i would guess it is a great tasting brew.......................not for me. I had some of the Blue Moon Pumpkin ale and it was bad to say the least. I was expecting pumpkin pie in my mouth happiness. That did not arrive. Actually to its credit i guess did taste like a gourd, just as I mentioned before, not like pumpkin pie.

Anyones recipe here taste like pumpkin pie?
 
Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale is the wort excuse for a ale I've ever tasted. Even the AB product is better. Try shipyard or Dogfish Heads pumpkin ales. While they arent the best, they sure take the cake over Blue Moon (brewed in Canada BTW).
 
Reverend JC said:
Anyones recipe here taste like pumpkin pie?

Doing this one again soon. I still owe Rich Brewer one...sorry bro, they went like hotcakes



% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
74.4 8.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) America 1.036 2
9.3 1.00 lbs. Crystal 10L America 1.035 10
9.3 1.00 lbs. Muntons LME - Wheat England 1.037 3
4.7 0.50 lbs. Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt 1.033 2
2.3 0.25 lbs. Biscuit Malt Belgium 1.035 24

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.50 oz. Cascade Whole 5.75 11.5 60 min.
0.50 oz. Saazer Whole 4.30 7.7 45 min.
0.50 oz. Cascade Whole 5.75 3.1 15 min.


Yeast
-----

White Labs WLP008 East Coast/Alt Ale


Notes
-----

2 TBLSP Nutmeg

3 TBLSP Allspice

3 Sticks of Cinnamon

1 oz Vanilla


2 Large cans 100% Pumpkin
1 in mash, 1 in boil
 
It's not just you. I was considering brewing a pumpkin ale and was delighted to see that my local liquor store had a couple to sample - Blue Moon and Dogfish Head. Even though I'm a big fan of Blue Moon, I decided on the Dogfish Head.

I absolutely HATED it.

I could tell that it was well balanced and "technically" well-made, but the mix of flavors just didn't work for me. I choked it down and am now wondering what I'm going to do about the other five that I have. I know I'm not going to drink them!

THANK GOD I didn't brew 5 gallons!!!!
 
Sorry to beat a dead horse, but, since when is anything from Blue Moon supposed to be the bellwhether for any kind of acceptable beer? Their regular "white ale", or whatever it's supposed to be, tastes like candy gummy sharks mixed with Fresca. Ugh. The pumpkin is even worse.

I'm a huge fan of Dogfish Head, but it's pricey stuff. Middle-of-the-road, I like Smuttynose. It's balanced, not too spicy, not too bland. Post Road isn't bad, but I don't care for Buffalo Bills---it's got too much cinnamon in my opinion. Weyerbacher's Imperial Pumpkin is DELICIOUS stuff, but not cheap.

Not sure what my pumpkin is going to taste like. It's still in secondary. I'll let you know.
 
I just brewed my own pumpkin and tasted it after a week in the bottle, unlike the Dogfishhead, which I thought was awful, mine has just the slightest pumpkin pie flavor and a bit of a pumpkin aftertaste. I think most of the commercial examples don't use pumpkin, just spices (I know this is for sure the case with Dogfish Head as it was discussed on Basic Brewing Radio).

Maybe pumpkin ale just isn't for you, I'm not a huge fan of it myself, I mainly brewed it to give away (so I don't have to give away the beers I like).
 
Evan! said:
... since when is anything from Blue Moon supposed to be the bellwhether for any kind of acceptable beer? Their regular "white ale", or whatever it's supposed to be, tastes like candy gummy sharks mixed with Fresca. Ugh. The pumpkin is even worse.

There are plenty of fans of Blue Moon on this very site. Just because you're not a fan doesn't mean it's not a good beer
 
Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale is disgusting, IMHO. I've tried a few pumkin beers and I'm just not a fan.
 
lemme chalk up a pumpkin ale by blue moon was not for me either...

i also cannot bring myself to dump pumpkin puree in my mash ;)
 
rdwj said:
There are plenty of fans of Blue Moon on this very site. Just because you're not a fan doesn't mean it's not a good beer

There are plenty of PBR fans, too. Don't take offense, I'm just offering up my personal scathing distaste for this brew. You see, I knew that Blue Moon fans existed, because there's gotta be someone buying that beer, or else they'd go out of business. But to be entirely honest with you, outside of a few girls I knew in college who were just looking for any alternative to Natty Lite, I've never known anyone who liked Blue Moon. I'm very serious, no exaggeration. You're the first. It's like a bigfoot sighting...very cool! Seriously, don't get all defensive. Drink what you like. :mug:
 
Evan! said:
There are plenty of PBR fans, too. Don't take offense, I'm just offering up my personal scathing distaste for this brew. You see, I knew that Blue Moon fans existed, because there's gotta be someone buying that beer, or else they'd go out of business. But to be entirely honest with you, outside of a few girls I knew in college who were just looking for any alternative to Natty Lite, I've never known anyone who liked Blue Moon. I'm very serious, no exaggeration. You're the first. It's like a bigfoot sighting...very cool! Seriously, don't get all defensive. Drink what you like. :mug:

LEt's see - PBR, college girls, big foot sightings - ya, nobody would consider that insulting.
:rolleyes:
 
rdwj said:
LEt's see - PBR, college girls, big foot sightings - ya, nobody would consider that insulting.
:rolleyes:

Only if you take it personally. I'm just recounting fact here. I've never known anyone to like Blue Moon except for some girls I knew in college. If you feel "insulted" by that fact, and it is indeed a fact, then so be it. As I said, drink what you like and don't worry so much about what other people think.
 
Evan! said:
Only if you take it personally. I'm just recounting fact here. I've never known anyone to like Blue Moon except for some girls I knew in college. If you feel "insulted" by that fact, and it is indeed a fact, then so be it. As I said, drink what you like and don't worry so much about what other people think.

Honestly, I don't care what you think. I'm just pointing out that you're "observations" are WAY off the mark on this one.
 
Don't mind him, he's from Charlottesville. He can't help himself. :D
 
Personally I think mixing college girls and PBR is a great idea. Me and bigfoot have practically made a past time out of it....
 
rdwj said:
Honestly, I don't care what you think. I'm just pointing out that you're "observations" are WAY off the mark on this one.

How can my observations be "off the mark"? They're my own personal observations. Given that, in this case, "the mark" is extremely subjective, there's no real way to miss "the mark". I'm just recalling my own experiences. That, and I personally think that Blue Moon tastes like gummy sharks and fresca. That's my 'pinion, and I'm stickin to it. :D
 
Evan! said:
How can my observations be "off the mark"? They're my own personal observations. Given that, in this case, "the mark" is extremely subjective, there's no real way to miss "the mark". I'm just recalling my own experiences. That, and I personally think that Blue Moon tastes like gummy sharks and fresca. That's my 'pinion, and I'm stickin to it. :D

I like Blue Moon and now you've gone and hurt my feelings.

*runs off crying like a college girl*

:mug:

(the stuff gives me a monster headache though)
 
I don't care for the Smuttynose Pumpkin that I just bought. I tried it twice, and it's way too spicy and bitter. Maybe pumpkin beers are not for me.

Now, re: Blue Moon. I just had their Oktoberfest on draft at a local resturant and I found it delicious.
 
I like Blue Moon.
I don't drink it that often and never have it at home, bu I like it, so when I saw Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale I thought I'd give it a try and picked up a sixer. Tasted nothing like Blue Moon OR like pumpkin Ale to me, but I still enjoyed it.
Of course I also enjoy college girls full of PBR (well, maybe only slightly more than moderately full), so take it for what it's worth...
 
Wow, i did not mean to spark a topic so close to peoples hearts. My Post was not to put down Blue Moon, it was the only pumpkin ale i had to choose from at the store i went to, so that is my only pumpkin ale frame of reference.

Definately let me know how some of your recipes turn out because i do like pumpkin pie and if it is a beer close to that it may be worth brewing IMO.


Reverend
 
Reverend JC said:
Wow, i did not mean to spark a topic so close to peoples hearts. My Post was not to put down Blue Moon, it was the only pumpkin ale i had to choose from at the store i went to, so that is my only pumpkin ale frame of reference.

Definately let me know how some of your recipes turn out because i do like pumpkin pie and if it is a beer close to that it may be worth brewing IMO.

A) I felt like a good ol' fashioned flame war. Sorry bout that. But it WAS fun.

B) I'll let you know---just be forewarned: you lose ALOT to the pumpkin solids. I used 4 cans of pumpkin puree in mine, and tried to strain it. No dice. I ended up having to just dump it all in the primary...including (GASP) the solids that contained a bunch of hop pellet remnants. I let the solids settle out, and I was left with like 6 inches of what I guess you could call "trub", but it was mostly pumpkin solids. I actually ended up brewing a supplementary 1-gallon batch, with hops and spices and some DME, because I lost so much beer on my initial racking. If you use pumpkin, I'd make it an extraordinarily large batch, in anticipation of losing at least a gallon, maybe more.
 

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