The Dark Pumpkin

We are now well into October, the bewitched month, a time of year when fall has generally arrived, and the rich hues and smells of autumn are everywhere. As in recent years, but in higher numbers, pumpkin products are rampant. From coffee to candy, baked goods to beer, the orange gourd is October almighty.
Frankly, I’ve lost count of just how many pumpkin beers my eyes have spotted this year. The numbers are just too many to count! This is not to say I’m against all of this pumpkin pleasure. I’ve moved past my late July condemnation of the early pumpkin push, and have now embraced these veggie-flavored types of beers. But when it comes to pumpkin beers, I want something more, I need the unusual, I crave a twist.
At the 2010 Great American Beer Fest in Denver, I was overwhelmed at the array of the country’s best beers on display. Every style and variety to be had at your fingertips, save for those that ran out and ones I just didn’t have enough time to try. However, of the few that stood out in my mind weeks later, it was the unusual but timely beer from Elysian Brewing Co. that continued to bubble up from the deep recesses of my brain; Dark O’ the Moon.
This beer was and is a pumpkin stout, the first I had ever encountered of this style. It haunted my dreams most mysteriously and deliciously since. Yet, in my subconscious the beer and the concept lay dormant, like some unacceptable desire or a displaced dream, only to bubble up whilst having a subpar fall brew. That was, until last fall when I encountered a fantastic beer, an Imperial Pumpkin Porter, Epic & DC Brau’s Fermentation Without Representation Collaboration Beer. The mental and gustatory floodgates were opened.
My desires had again been rekindled, and I longed for the darkness of porter and stout to blend with the earthy and spiced nature of pumpkin ale. No defense mechanism could keep me from this sweetest dessert beer.
As if a dream became reality, a release update email spoke of a wonderful creation from Southern Tier Brewing Co., where their spicy sweet Pumking would be enveloped into an imperial stout called Warlock.
Continuing the chocolaty, pumpkiny ecstasy was the Tuesday newsletter from Ratebeer.com, that week listing ‘The World’s Best Pumpkin Beers.’ Agree with the list or not, the top 10 contained four of these amazingly devilish concoctions, including Dark O’ the Moon, Saint Arnold Pumpkinator Imperial Pumpkin Stout, Midnight Sun T.R.E.A.T. Imperial Chocolate Pumpkin Porter, as well as an oak-aged version of that beer. To top this all off, Warlock hit stores this weekend.
The dark pumpkin revolution is upon us, and we should all let our desires run wild with the rich, spicy deliciouness at hand. Be the picky pumpkin picker and pursue pleasure. Enjoy the brews … Cheers.
 
Gene’s Haufbrau has at more than 200 beers in bottles or on tap. While they don’t have every beer the Beer Snob writes about, they probably have most. Gene’s is located at 817 Savannah Hwy. 225-GENE. E-mail the Beer Snob at publisher@westof.net.