As fall starts knocking on our door, Elysian Brewing always announces their Great Pumpkin Beer Festival, and with it comes the announcement of this year’s pumpkin beer releases. With the festival heading into it’s 13th year, I couldn’t wait to see what Elysian had in store for us in 2017.
This year Elysian will be releasing four exciting pumpkin variants, and since they’re already in my ‘fridge, I thought now would be a great time to highlight them….so off we go (in no particular order).
Up first is a returning favorite of mine, Punkuccino. As the name would indicate, this beer is a coffee pumpkin beer brewed with Stumptown coffee. The beer pours a deep brown/black color and the aromas lead with cinnamon and end with coffee. I found a bit of deep chocolate in the aroma as the beer warmed (not that it had much of a chance to warm) and a more prominent pumpkin aroma as well. The flavors lead with classic pumpkin pie spices, again with the coffee taking stage a bit later in each sip. The cinnamon and nutmeg play nicely with the subtle chocolate and pumpkin flavors and the coffee finishes off the mix of flavors very nicely. Punkuccino hits 6%-AbV. 
Up next we decided to try Night Owl Pumpkin Ale. This beer is brewed with 7.5-pounds of pumpkin per barrel as well as ginger, nutmeg, clove, cinnamon and allspice. The beer pours a deep copper color and there is a lot of spice and yes pumpkin in the aromas. The ginger is prominent in the first few sips, but the pumpkin and cinnamon soon balance it all out. The beer is well balanced with sweeter caramel, toffee and pumpkin flavors evening out the prominent spice character of the beer. This is a really interesting take on a pumpkin beer. Night Owl hits 6.7%-AbV. 
We decided to change up the flavor profile of the first two beers and sample Dark O’ The Moon pumpkin stout. This beer pours an almost black color with roasty aromas of chocolate, cinnamon and pumpkin. The flavors follow with traditional sweet and slightly roasty pumpkin with a less prominent cinnamon presence. I really liked what I was calling burnt brown sugar flavors and how well they played with the roasty pumpkin flavors. This is a really drinkable pumpkin stout that hits 7.5%-AbV. 
Finally we held the biggest beer of the bunch for last…The Great Pumpkin imperial pumpkin ale. This beer pours a dark copper color and it is brewed with extra pumpkin and pumpkin seeds. The aromas lead with pumpkin and rich sugar followed by cinnamon and traditional pie spices. The flavors remind me of pumpkin pie with loads of pumpkin, sweet marshmallow, cinnamon, honey and even some subtle bread-like pie crust flavors. The flavors finish with a bit of a roasty and spicy mix and just a touch of booziness. This is a really drinkable and satisfying big beer (thus the name) that hits (8.4%-AbV).
Be sure to get out there and launch your fall pumpkin beer tasting with these classic brews from Elysian Brewing. All four beers are available now in 22oz bottles and of course if you’re close to Seattle, WA…you can enjoy them at Great Pumpkin Beer Festival. The beers are diverse, satisfying and well balanced and they are perfect to share with friends and family as fall rolls into town. As always, when you do sample the 2017 Elysian Pumpkin beers, be sure to let us know what YOU think.
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