Langunitas IPA at Pour George, NYC

Nice start, but a little warm and quickly flattened like a Guntar's Tin drum.   

Can't judge this Langunitas IPA by the supply chain or delivery devices. 

Ommegang Wit at Poor George, NYC

New tap guy nails it!  Had to wait for him to tap a new keg of the Ommegang Wit.

Nice color, head aroma. Flavs?  Creamy mouth feel with a just a light clove followed by pure bananas!  That's what I'm talking about!  Jonny Stecchino would be rockin this beer out with his...  ummm, banana out!

Wittest Wit I've had this season. Good job new bar back! 

Catawba, Niagara and Pumkin Wines after EC-1118

Today was a fine snowy day to play wine thief with the grape juices that have been farting and converting sugar to ethanol in just the right spot in the house, at about 60 dregrees, starting out on average at 17 Brix for the pumpkin wine, and 20 for the Catawba and Niagara. 

The pumpkin alone was light, and not quite bland, but the blend is dried out like a John Ford dessert movie, clean, light, thin mouth feel, but tangy, maybe even "foxy"...  (que the Jimi Hendrix). 

Once it's shocked, cleared and sweetened back a tad, it should be very good as washing down fish. 

Ugly Truths about Home Brewing

I really need to clean up the record keeping on home brews; it's hard to keep sterile and write record things well.  Spreadsheets are worse (keyboards are generally filthy).  

Maybe text to speech texts to myself are the best bet. 

Dark Belgian on Hudson Ale with Hard Heirloom Cider

This dark honey pumpkin cranberry ale was well enough on its own, but why would anyone go ahead and leave well enough alone with that, right?  

I had some Hard cider sitting around, outside in the freeze, that seemed flat, and shocked to death, so I decided to finish this Dark Honey Pumpkin Ale in the spirit of a Lambec, like a Gueuze, or a Kriek, only with Heirloom Cider Apples rather than, high acid, high sugar sour cherries.

In fact, I did end up adding some sour black cherry juice I had sitting around for juicing purposes, so a few bottles will be rather more like Kriek than mere metaphor. 

Well, the Nottingham came back to life when I took it inside, which meant frothy head on the cider, perhaps more than the Ale, which transferred over to the ale when I snapped this photo.  

The Cider thinned the mouth feel of the Ale well enough at 1/4 the jug, and way more at 1/3, so I kept adding ale to bring down that hollow cider taste (and perhaps the headaches it sometimes imparts).  

Right now Notthingham yeast is battling it out in the bottles with the other dry ale yeast I used for the beer.  I'm using PET bottles to avoid any trouble, and a few Champagne bottles with mere caps, hoping the small added honey I put in for carbonation won't make for pop goes the weasel. 

Stuff tastes great, but needs a few taste testers to really say.

Troops Await Orders at Dark Honey Cran-umpkin Bottling Assault

Bottling Dark Pumpkin Ale with various adjuncts today from a boozy test Kitcken.  

Cranberry has done an absurdly tasty bit of magic on the base ale, which was a dark brown smelly, tasty number without a lot of froth.  That's where the sugar of the Cranberry ramped up the tiny bubbles. 

Spruce is up next.  All in all, this pale has made a very good batch of Radical, Extremuste, Belgian-on-the-Hudson style, beverage finger painting.   And it should do well for the ramp up to NYE, 2013 too.

Captain Lawrence Captain's Kolsch

Niiiiiice!  Nice Golden color, head and clean aroma, with no medicinal taste.  Nice light balanced hoppy flavs, with sour notes, and a thin mouth feel that I dig... could be the best thing to come out of Westchester (NY) since the functional alcoholic follies of Mad Men from Raymond Carver's world... either that or "Bill W.", the guy who founded AA. 

Not too jazzed by the old timey, cartoon Sea dog name or slick Disney-Vegas style Pirates of the NY Bite label, but digging the flavor.  Joe Camel is not a partner.  But I'm going to start using "dig" for understand for 2013 because Mayans never promised you a sky dive, you dig?  
 
And I'm also thinking, "first of all, the kid gets three cheers for making and pulling off a Kolsch in the US, so shut your blow hole, Moby the Dick!"

New Belgium Saison on Tap at Benny's in Chicago

Beatiful color, froth and aroma. 

Light, slightly sour, yet delightfully balanced flavor, a little creamy, but no off flavors.

Great starter beer or good too for last call, and Benny's had the best Jazz trio I've heard in a long time backing up this beer, playing a little "Charlie Brown's Christmas Theme". 

Great beer, classy great venue.

Leffe

Presents wonderfully in the class, both color and massive froth, with a light banana, clove aroma, followed by a light clove malted tast, balanced against very little to bitter the flavor. 
Made a nice starter beer, when followed by a few strong, hopped up American IPAs (Sam Adams' Latitude 48).  

Sam Adam's Latitude 48 IPA

Big bold Cheesy hop aroma, then mild cheese flavor upstages the hilariouly giant head and lovely amber toasty malt color.  This was the perfect beer to have waiting in the glass after returning to the party from feeding the meter in the biting, cutting, raw Chicago wind assault.   I know, it sounds like a very specific situation, but I think it will map over well to most freeze out conditions, to remind you that cold is not the only force of nature that stings... and in a good way.

Through the Ale Darkly

Honey Pumpkin Christmas Ale with Chinook Hops, Alpha 11.9% Beta 3.2%.

At this stage, this offbeat adjunct ale tastes better than anticipated, after all, it was not a kit, but components that came together to makes some promising flavor.   The next step will include a few Radical additions, to use storied beer writer and brew master, Randy Mosher's phrase.  We're talking pine needles, clove, nutmeg... seasonal flavors. 

I'm going to set aside a few gallons for test kitchen ideas, including Kelp for texture.   

Flying Dog's Snake Dog IPA at Between Peruvian Cafe

Nice froth, beautiful light but golden color, very sharp chedder aroma.com follow dutifully by well balanced, slightly bitter if creamy, slightly sweet malt.  

Oddly, this beer's head feels a little like cold cafe au lait.  Not much heat from the ABV. 
Very nice.

Three Floyds Alpha King Pale Ale at Floyd's in Bucktown

Now, here's the hoppy, carmalized Pale ale I'd hope to get served, were I stationed in India around 1840, dealing with a lot of spicy food I'm unaccustomed to eating and building empire.  This beer literally burned my upper lip for holding it too long in my mouth while writing this.  

These Floyds are CRAZY!  

Very well done.  I can't kind of see why there's a cultish following in Chicago. 
Let's see:  aroma is not cheesey, but does have the lime citrus quality there's talk about.  Dark caramel color delivers as predicted, sweet, but full flavored, rich big boneded, pound cake flavor to keep the hopped up Alpha dog on his leash. 

This is an awesome beer, on spite of the hype, so listen to the label, which encourages you to give it a go, govena. 

Gaffel Kolsch at Huettenbar

Bold head, clear golden color, and an outstanding Banana Flambe aroma, if you will, by which I mean a tasty caramelized banana flavor, with a great balanced salty lager taste and feeling, but guess what: it's ale, a light delicate ale, with subtle spicy notes.  Boom!

Now what?

The aroma on this beer is bedeviling, like something McDonalds made in a lab out of the remains of NYC Skells, in a brave new world.  It literally has a slight chipped beef flavor, with that hint of vinegar.  

Chipped beef is made with corn starch, so maybe this is too...   this Kolsch is nothing to overlook.  

Huettenbar in Lincoln Square

The line up at Huettenbar including Anchor and Three Floyds.

Three Floyds Jinx Proof at Huettenbar

Nice color and head, as you can see, and very drinkable, as you can also see (I usually photograph them full).  It's odorless to a little musky and tastes very slightly bitter if well balanced to the medium body clean, malt.  I looks like a slightly darker Bud or Mehiller, but 3x as tastey. 

Three Floyds Zombie Dust (Cask) in Map Room

Big head, nice hoppy aroma, well balanced, hints of the barrel.  Done and done, get me another one.

Dupont Saison

Loverly light color, subtle aroma, slight bitter Belgian, though not sour enough to go again under these conditions.  

Good starter beer.

Three Floyds Dreadnaught at Map Room

Beautiful color and head, as you can see from the photo. Strong hop aroma, strong bitter hop flavor, cheesey, citrus, medium bodied nice caramel malt. 

Another awesome Floyd hop and malt delivery device. 

Revolution Brewing Bottom Up Wit

Pours beautiful, with nice color, suitable head, yet aroma, none.  

The taste is mild bananas you'll find in these Wit Weiss numbers, maybe just a few steps down from Julius' completely bananas Hefe Weiss that was slurping last night.  

But now that I think about it, I like the step down, mild hint of bananas, over the full El Hefe on a Saturday afternoon in December, when there a few NCAA bowl games worth watching without the kind of distracting banana dancing Julius brings to the party.   Just enough to remind one that this too shall pass (the raw, chopping cold Chicago winter winds outside).

Despite the lack of aroma, this Revolution has a very nice clove, banana flavor to infultrate a medium body, light clean bodied malt.  

You might ask,"why must the nector of liberty be drank from the skulls of the slain", but to you, I'd say Revolution Brewing's Bottom Up is the perfect tonic to all the top down, Soviet style centrally planned propaganda you'll hear over our airwaves. 

It's a light, egg cream version of a banana split without the bloated afterglow.  

Langunitas' Little Summthin Summthin at Skylark on Cermak

You can see from my closeup shot of this tap pour that the color and head are what one comes to expect from the Langunits, if you've joined the cult by now, but not so easy to see was the aroma of its high hoppy notes or the full body of this pound cake.  

The sumthin sumthin here was a flavor that I spent the entire pour trying to put my finger on, just as if that Jane Mansfield drawing of a woman on the tap handle were seated next to me at Skylark in the wee hours.  

I want to say "plastic", but not in the negative way that is impossible not to, so I won't call the flav plastic, per se.  It's not a punchline from a Dustin Hoffman, Mike Leigh production, or something you'll find at the picnic tables outside that comb factory at the tip of the Baja peninsula in Mexico, which remains free from onerous regulations that would mute those tones in the air there.  

No, it's not a plastic in the negative sense, for I didn't stop drinking for a minute, even as I never stopped thinking about it.   I'd call it a delicious plastic, like the scent of a Pez container as you gobble those last few sugar cubes.  It's sumthin alright, but I'll be damned if I can actually tell, but I'll tell you this, you'd be a fool not to order a pint of this to get a little sumthin sumthin on the side, no matter what you slurp down on the regular.

Three Floyds' Zombie Dust on Tap at Skylark on Cermak

Zombie Dust!  Don't let the hilarious name fool you, this is not gimmicky painted lady.  In spite of the fleeing head, Zombie dust has a hypnotizing hoppy aroma, clean clear golden color, medium body, and a flavorful, well balanced bitter end.  

This is the kind of pull that sticks with you, something you remember enough to... let's see-- go back for more. 

There's a lot of hype with these Floyds, but this Zombie Dust on tap has enough going on to zombifie "the hataz".


 

Left Hand Brewing's Nitro Milk Stout pours dark and frothy out of the tap in front of me at Chicago's Skylark on Cermack, where scenes from the unromantic comedy "The Breakup" were shot, starring go Google it. But there is nothing unromantic, unvarnished or unsweetened about this stout, just like it's sibling sans "Nitro". For those unaccustomed to sweet ales, unfermented and unfermentable milky lactic sugars, it may take a few tugs of the mug getting used to, or as some clever woman who tasted my 2am Nitro pointed out: "the left hand probably just takes longer".

Skylark can be like that too, lot's of great craft beers (it had three, 3 Floyds on tap last night) and lots of cut ups too, just waiting for a punchline.

Langunitas' IPA

Langunitas IPA.

Full fatted finger head off the tap, followed by a clean, sharp cantaloop, cucumber melon family aroma, then a bitter hoppy taste, not creamy, but medium body, not light and all dimed out like old girl after the third shift at Mustang Ranch by teh fermentations. Like that description in mixed company, it's not at all what that one might expect from something near the color around Meh-iller time.

Now, I'm not sure it's a GTO 420 big block flavor, as the billboard suggests, but I'd sure go again. I'm thinking something's riding shotgun on the hops and it reminds me of the kind of water they serve in boutique hotels and day spas, with slices of cukes floating around or all those melons in the pick-your-own fields, north of the Golden Gate.

Julius Echter, Hefe-Weiss Guy?

This beer is bananas... and clove, and maybe slight citrus, as has been suggested, sure.

But I had issues with it, and this is my 3rd session with it, so this review is bananas too. 

Sure, it begins with outrageous head out of the bottle (no, not I Dream of Jeannie, the other kind, so grow up), and a beautiful golden haze in the glass. And it's a big bold and unstoppable head that is revived with each pour right to the bottom of the bottle. The head was so remarkable, it made me think that I'd really like to see some of these American craft beers, such as Dogfish Head's Raison D'Etre ought to do that for our entertainment dollar.
 
Yes, and next, the aroma is pure bananas; and we're talking aroma like windows down along Costa Rica's Caribbean coast line, south of Port Limon, where miles and miles and miles of banana plantations grow.  And like the mosquitoes on Costa Rica's East coast, it took a little getting used to for me.  By the third gulp, I'd say my journey on this new path to Mecca was well underway.  I'm a fan, maybe not many of those reviewers here, but it grew on me, kind of like Brooklyn Dub music years ago, which was the craziest thing I ever heard, until I started buying CDs from DJs in basements on Ralph Avenue.

Change, it's the constant, oui, even if it's not de Fromboise.

So despite my reservations, I realized this beer is well more of an immovable object than I am an unstoppable force in matters of taste, despite my reservations were backed by the persistence of cider memories, recalling what happens to sick ciders, where low acid apples are used (eating apples verses fermentation apples, which were largely wiped out of many American orchards during prohibition) or no acid is added to prevent the transition from apples to banana flavors.  The culprit there: acetaldehyde, which works on cider's tannins.  The solution-- Champagne yeast to dry out all the sugars, or just make vinegar.  And this beer, among other Hefe Weiss style beers, made me wonder if something similar isn't going on.

So I looked up the yeasts used to make Hefe Weiss on White Lab's website: Acetaldehyde, which indicates 11.9/ppm.  Bingo, right?  Wrongo, no!  No, because there are dry ale yeast strains that deliver 36/ppm that don't deliver Josephine Baker's banana dance... (which would make a great commercial for this beer by the way, with a kind of Fahrvergnügen soundtrack, if they ever decide to go big, and do a super bowl campaign against big bland brother's horse show, right?  Hey, it's an idea... maybe not a great idea, but clearly bananas make some monkeys go wild).

Moving on,  the mouth feel is slightly creamy, yet thin bodied, like more of an egg cream than milk shake (or lard shakes in many of these fast food drive thrus), and without a lot of heat from the hooch, making it light and lovely like one of Hitchcock's leading ladies, you know, before he terrorizes them with birds, or insane inn keepers, or Soviet era spies... .   

So basically, overall, like most reviewers here, I'd give this beer like 4 to 5 Eva Marie Saints.  Would I order it again?  Are you bananas: would you watch North by Northwest again, if only for the train scene?

Exactly. 



(by they way, it was just $2 bananas at the Chicago Deli around the bend, making it a screaming, howling, yelping, poop throwing buy).
 

Crispin Hard Cider

Wonderful fleeting head, nice dark color, molasses aroma that knocks down that thin, hot body many ciders give you, and it's less a trick than a well designed diversion from the trouble with most hard cider.

So no hint of the acetaldehyde, which combines with tannin to leave a haze and thin overly attenuated body that has an rice paper mouth feel.

Don't get me wrong, acetaldehyde is the basis of many great sour flavors that can be harnessed to good effect, including french, Belgian "Framboise" beverages,and others that lean toward banana and lemon aftertastes. But the molasses work around with Stout yeast is kind of neat solution that seems to give this cider more body than many others on the market, not that there are many on the market. 

On the other limb, personally, I kind of like using Cherry juice, and even Peaches to do the slight of hand in this regard verses the burnt, caramel notes that molasses offers, leaving an almost dry, caramelized coffee after taste.  Nonetheless, kind of a stroke of mad genius discovery to balance cider's body problem. The apples for Crispin ciders are West Coast grown, announces the label proudly.

At $4.99 the quart, I'd have no probs buying this for dessert drink over sweeter things, or to freak out Craft beer- stout drinkers a little at a gathering. There again, I enjoy black coffee.

Speaking of gatherings, the website sponsors a link to the St. Crispin's Day speech:, staring Kenneth Branagh and those happy few, those band of brothers who remade Henry V, and apparently Crispin drinkers. Seems like a whole noble, traditional Camelot thing.  I had just one, and feel I get more and more inspired and courageous with each sip.

Kalnapilis Grand Lithuanian Lager

Giant frothy head out of the gate, light, flowery nose and subtle, hopped bitter taste, well more flavorful than big bland brother brews; at 5.3% ABV this beer is deceptive because non of the alcohol is very detectible. The malt here has a kind of a perfect day for a bananafish quality.   

Similar to German pils.  

At a time when Craft brewers are jacking consumers up for $9.99 the quart, Kalnapilis is grand, a grand value at $2 dollars.

Left Hand Brewing's Wake Up Dead

Deep dark color, nice spiced aroma, not hoppy, bitter coffee correcto flavor, like spiked Iced black coffee on a summer Roman afternoon to keep you "correcto" when some nerve wracking vacation event takes you temper from zero to P.O.'d. 
Mouth feel's thick but glycerine, like table wine with a nearly Bourbon finish.  This stuff just taste strong... deff a sipping beer. 

Apart from watching a team I hate wine the superbowl, or some college friend egging me on for old time's sake, hope not to have too many occasion's to drink enough to "wake up dead".  Go slow bros. 

Dogfish Head Raison D'Etre is half there (needs the tiny bubbles)

Dogfish Head Midas Touch

Not to whine, but this beer is grape... I mean great!  I mean grape and great.  

Let's see:  Clever label (CSI forensic finger print), nice giant, if self destructing head, beautiful gold, if cloudy color, breaded, if mildly hoppy aroma (that may well be "saffron", as promised), and delish balanced grapey, dry dessert, or citrus-sangria sherry wine taste, but with a thicker, ale mouth feel.   This beer is like a time machine, into the grave of some tyrant-plutocrat, who pulled such a storied ticket in life's lottery, yet now, thanks to Sam in Md, and his storied success with Sabco's Brew Magic, you and I can pony up just (as in justice) $12.99 for 4 pack that makes "every man a king"....  (was that Louisiana's Gov. Huey Long, said dat?  Well you know'dat.)   

Pay the man, bite your lip and take the trip!

Long Hammer IPA

By the way, pairs like Fred & Ginger with a blackened Sesame Yellow Fin salad. 

Long Hammer @ Quarterdeck in Ft Laudeerdale

Long Hammer IPA-- let's see, smell and taste: nice color, not much head, a nice cheesey hop aroma, and strong cheddar hops permiates the flava: moreover, it's thin, well attenuated, very mildly creamy. 


I'd rather one of this after mowing all this lawn down in South Florida than say, Mehilla.  There's a British dude at the next table over-smoking, as he talks loudly about his new  telephoto lens, and some con artist who stole $200 million dollars, and this beer stands up to those affrontz. 

I had two of these because the cheeeeeeeze!

Fwd: Left Hand Milk Stout

Left Hand Milk Stout at Yardhouse; Very Delish.

Yardhouse craft beer pub chain, 113 Beers on Tap.

So, right away, I'm seeing Chocolate Stout or Framboise with Ice Cream... yup, were almost there, end must be near: 12/21/2012, the end.  

First, I'm going with the Lost Coast Tangrine to start, listed under a Lambic style.  Here goes somthin...   no aroma, nice gold color, orange flavor, mildly sweet, but not much different than Bud's Shock Top... maybe less Tangish(TM). Good for dessert, but could use a tweek for interest.  

Next up, Magic Hat, Circus Boy (Wheat)...  kind of bland, no head or aroma.  Kinda P.O.'d.  Maybe its the end of a keg...  tastes like Meh Meh "Milla Time".. 

Next.
Monk in the Trunk, very nice.  Meets all needs, and kicked that raw, red onion down the stairs.  Best beer so far.

Next, a Yardhouse special combo mixture of Youngberry Framboise and Young's Chocolate Stout, which was dessert with an approx ABV of we're getting bombed now. 

Next: Dogfish Head's Belgian Style Raison D'Etre, an 8% ABV monster that can barely contain the heat under its lingering, "mohogany" creamy, caramel refrain.  I'd say there's berries up in there too.  I like it, but I need to see an inch of head on it to go from hell meh to hell yeah! 

Breckenridge Vanella Porter:  nice head, dark color, odorless, sweet and an almost medicinal vanella quality, slightly burned like the inside of a bourbon barrel.  Not too meh, even if its hard to screw up vanella.  grows on you, but not enough for another. 

Victory Brewing's Golden Monkey Belgian style spiced & strong at 9.5% ABV.  nice head, and color, but basically hot creamed corn on tap... leaves me thinking:  "This is not my beautiful house."


I'm thinking the taps/lines or inventory controls may be a bit hinky here. 

Sierra Nevada Celebration 2012 is as good as any to ring in the end of times... .

Wine making time: Delaware, Concord, Niagra & catawba, using EC-1118 and Montrache strains.

Did crappo "Buffalo Wild Wing" just punk home brewers on ESPN TV, with their crappy KFC with hot sause knock off and Miller swill? Seriously?

Pairing: God is great! Longboard lager with whipped hummus and feta salad. Boom!

Long Board Lager: nice head, light, not very hoppy at all, all the way attenuated, to the point where only the better angles of creamed corn are left, then filtered... like a good, light Greman Pils. This is a nice, smooth, creamy  mellow lager with a kick in the chops (5+% AbV).

Winemaking Week

It's winemaking time again. And after the arrival of 4 pales of more or less native NY varieties, the show is on the road.  Delaware, Concord, Niagra and Cataba are getting chewed up by just two different varieties of yeast, the voracious Lalvin's EC-1118 for the Niagra and Delaware, and the classic Red Star Montrache for Concord and the Cataba juice.

I put up 4 gallons in carboys, and a side gallon for tasting, experiments with adjuncts (berries, fruit and herbs) and yeast insurance.  Last year, it was dandelion and Lemon Balm, largely because they grew like a weeds and took over the garden and greenhouse, and there was the hibiscus, largely because it was a bargain on Amazon.  Both worked well, adding a little something extra in terms of flavor in the bottle.

What didn't work as well was the oak I used to flavor the concord.  It was stronger than expected, so there's a word to the wise when adding oak in the aging, more can be less. 

This photo is last year's Concord, but I've got a good bunch of photos from this year's Operation Jug Wine, which I'll try to post when I get the hand of the Blogger functions. 

The Pumpkin Table wine is ready... not sure if I should sweeten in back a tad. But the EC-1118 was epic, as it rescued the Cuvee from the pumkin's heroic defense of its sugars.

Fall 2012's Pumpkin Apple Hard Cider: when God gives you apples and maybe pumpkins

Fall of 2012 was an odd harvest because of the odd weather for heirloom apples up in Red Hook, NY, where growers take the time and effort to grow varieties that are particularly well suited for Cider (Hard cider). That is, higher acid varieties, sour to the taste, but also higher in fermentation sugars, the stuff that feeds yeasts and kicks off the kick and carbonation (when bottled) in Hard cider.  Many of these varieties were wiped out with prohibition, in favor of sweet tasting, low acid varieties you'll find in place of previous generation's sugar blast of choice Coca Cola, in Juice boxes of children. 

These are apples that give Cider a more rich, fuller flavor, as grapes do versus making wine of pure cane or beat sugar.

Some varieties came early and blew out fast, narrowing choices for Hard cider makers who did not plan if not check with orchards accordingly. That's me. And so this year's batch began with several pounds of the high acid, heirlooms left, including Pippin, Esopus Spitzenburg, Russerts, and few others including a crab apple variety.  These higher sugar, higher fermentation varieties made for an extraordinary, bright, full bodied batch, using the voracious sugar gobbling Notthingham Dry Ale yeast, which makes a truly awesome, slightly sour, crazily carbonated fall option.

This first photo is last years Hard Cider ready to drink in just 2 weeks.  While it was good, but kind of thin and more hollow flavored compared to this year's batch, with the fancy apples.

This year, I also took a portion of the batch and added roasted canned pumpin to the wort/must, as well as cooked can caramelized fresh pumpkin to see how the Notthingham would devour the fermentables and also what it would leave behind for flavor profiles. 

The result was sort of dry, a kind of swede mouth feel, without a lot of pumpkin flavor before the addition of spices (the classics for Apple and Pumpkin pies: clove, allspice, cinnamon, etc,).  I sweetened a few bottles back with honey, and the result was happy for those who prefer sweet to dry.  All in all, good stuff, it's been great to wash back the other white meats, pork products, from sausages to chops.

This is this year's batch, which carbonated like a Belgian ale in the bottle. 

I bought a lot of pumpkin, and ended up making a batch of Pumpkin Ale along side the Ciders to see if I could match or out do the growing variety of pumpkin ales in bars each year, this time of year. 

A lot of brewers believe it comes down to the spices, and not the actual pumpkin, but I used actual pumpkin to see if it would impart a different, better flavor, mouth feel, as it did with the Ciders I infused with pumkin patch.  And it did, but that a story for another post.

This fall's Spiced, Pumpkin Haed Cider, which came correct with the addition of pre prohibition (so called, heirloom), variety fermentation apples.

Home brewed pumpkin cider bottling time