Dark Side Of The Pumpkin

Happy Halloween fair readers, may the ghouls and goblins miss you this weekend, and hopefully your sweet tooth bounty will be full and delightful. Fall is in full swing and the holiday season begins, so hang on tight friends, here we go.
As we rocket toward maximum pumpkin, not only with jack-o-lanterns and orange gourds on every step at every house, stores are lined with oranged-tinged labels espousing hints of this and essence of that. This is not to say I’m against all of this pumpkin pleasure. However, I’m pretty much done with the typical pumpkin beer offers. Bring forth the dark pumpkins.
It was the 2010 Great American Beer Fest in Denver, Colo. where I first encountered the sinister sister to standard pumpkin ale in Elysian Brewing Co.’s Dark O’ the Moon. This beer is a pumpkin stout, and it haunted my dreams most mysteriously and deliciously ever since. At the time, no dark versions of pumpkin beers existed, at least not in the Carolinas. Yet soon, they would come into existence.
Nearly all instances of darker side are in the porter and stout vein, blended into or with the earthy and spiced nature of pumpkin ale. A fantastic combination, if you ask me. I recently encouraged you to try a dark pumpkin, Guinness and pumpkin ale, which shows off the unification well — roasted notes and dryness of stout balancing the sweeter and softer elements of pumpkin ale.
Not to fear, maybe no bar offering stout and punk on draft is near, just enter your local bottle shop dear.
Just today while looking at a beer store in North Carolina, I spied many Halloween treats that aren’t available in South Carolina just yet. However, they are worth going on a wild ghost hunt for. After spying more than a dozen different ordinary pumpkin ales, it was the shadowy examples, lurking on the shelves that ticked my murky fancy. Southern Tier’s imperial stout Warlock stood three stacks high on the floor, a sign that this overly sweet, black licorice meets melted candy corn syrup has likely past its prime. Much more enjoyable and not spooky at all is the Imperial Pumpkin Smash stout from Crown Valley Brewing. Imperial indeed, but rich cocoa and chocolate stout flavors meld with pumpkin, vanilla and spice; divine.
New this year from Deep River Brewing Co., Pumpkin Pie Porter is a lower gravity selection that drinks easy, leaning toward porter and spice at the expense of the veg.
Another North Carolina product, Xibalba from Wicked Weed is highly recommended. I have issues with this brewery’s exorbitant pricing and heavy handed sour program, but this imperial pumpkin ale with cacao nibs, chilies and spices is a zombie’s dream. Rich, spicy, roasted and slightly sweet on the finish, this beer gives a burn as it reaches room temperature.
Uinta Brewing’s Oak Jacked Imperial Pumpkin Ale has been a much loved seasonal for years now. For 2015, and my winner for this year is the Jacked B Nimble, Imperial Black Pumpkin Ale. Dark malts and burnt brown sugar join the original Jacked flavors of oak, bourbon and vanilla. Scary good. Drink these evil concoctions under the full moon this Halloween. 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.