Prepping for Pumpkin Ale *Updated*

***Release Party UPDATE below***

As the leaves start to turn from their bright greens to yellow, oranges and reds, orange is the color on most craft beer fan's minds. When autumn returns, pumpkins become ever present in brewing seasonal offerings. Today, I helped pick the pumpkins at Venetucci Farm on a wonderful fall morning to get pumpkins ready for their Venetucci Pumpkin Ale.

Venetucci Farm's new barn looks over the pumpkin patch

Bristol's Venettuci Pumpkin Ale is on its way!

The Venetucci Pumpkin Ale might be my favorite Bristol beer. I love pumpkin beers, they signal a change of seasons. Autumn and Fall are generally my favorite times of the year, and these beers are the epitome of Fall. Of course most breweries in town make pumpkin beers, and many of them are great. Last year I tried the Trinity, Phantom Canyon and Rock Bottom pumpkin beers and all were wonderful. Trinity's beer is really worth trying if you can get your hands on in. Bristol's beer gets the most attention however, and perhaps rightly so. The proceeds of the beer are donated to the Venetucci Farm, and the beer itself has a wonderful smoothe texture with nicely balanced spices. I don't know if I can decide a favorite pumpkin beer ever but Bristol, Trinity, and Upslope are certainly contenders for first. Last year, FotB readers did a blind taste test of some local pumpkin beers and Bristol's was the clear winner.

Bristol was kind enough to send along some photos. Here we see the Bristol crew picking, cutting, and roasting the pumpkins, getting them prepared for the brew. It is said that roasting the pumpkins and getting them a bit carmelized will add some carmel-pumpkin flavor to the beer. Generally the spices contribute most of the pumpkiny flavor. However, the pumpkins play a huge part in making the beer smoothe like pumpkin pie.

The pre-orders for this beer have already taken place so your if you want some you have a couple options. You can either show up to Bristol on the night of the release or you can try to find it at a local liquor store. I went to the opening last year and it was a ton of fun, even though I waited for a whole hour to get in! I got my allotment of bottles and I had three pints of the beer at the bar. Also last year there was some controversy as some local liquor shops charged high prices for the beer. That may happen again but generally if you go to some of the places we talk about on the blog you won't run into that problem. Regardless, the whole situation is a ton of fun, whether you're showing up to the taproom or hunting for the bottles around town...you won't want to miss it.

Here's the information about the release party:
Thursday, October 25 / 5:00 pm
Bristol tasting room, 1647 S. Tejon, Colorado Springs

Things You’ll Want To Know:
--There is a 2-bottle limit per person.
--A limited number of bottles will be available for purchase at $5.99 plus tax per bottle (bottles may not be consumed in the tasting room).
--Pints will be available for $6.00 each.
--Growler fills will not be available this year so that the line will move faster and so there will be more beer to go around.
--If the brewery sells out before you get some, don’t forget to try the liquor store. They’ll have some, too!

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Reader's Choice: Colorado Springs Best Pumpkin Beer (Kind of)

Overview:

Over the weekend we announced that we would have a Reader's Appreciation Blind Pumpkin Judging and eleven of our facebook fans responded. Last night they all came over, we all got to meet each other and then we got down to the business of blind tasting four different Colorado Springs pumpkin beers. A winner was chosen. I purchased all the beer and I did not participate in the judging. See info below for the results and also to see how this is not a complete survey.

Local Halloween Beer Releases

Halloween beers are wonderful. Here's a list of what you can expect to find around town this month. Drink em fast because most will disappear quickly. Also, Coaltrain will have a good variety of pumpkin spice beers, but those also tend to disappear quickly. Lsatly, check back here for updates, not all the local breweries have told me what they are up to yet.

October 7
Trinity Brewing - Emma's Coffin Pumpkin Saison
Brewed with brown sugar, garam masala, torch roasted Vennetucci Farm sugar pumpkins, white sage, coriander, and grains of paradise. This version of our seasonally rotating Saison tastes like liquid pumpkin pie .... If you were in Belgium that is! 10.5% ABV - $17.95 for a 750ml bottle.

October 13/14
Phantom Canyon - Halloween Pumpkin Ale
It looks like the Brewer's Dinner on the 13th will feature the pumpkin ale, however it won't be available to everyone else until the 14th. From Alan: Pumpkins were used in early colonial American brewing as a way to supplement expensive imported malt with locally grown and plentiful ingredients. Over one-hundred and fifty pounds of pumpkin are added to the batch making a beer with a sunset orange-amber hue, pumpkin aroma and a slightly spicy finish from a blend of vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, coriander, cloves and caraway. 6.1% ABV.

October 15
Rock Bottom Colorado Springs - Pumpkin Harvest Ale
Pumpkin in the mash. Kettle. Fermenter. And bright tank. If you don't taste pumpkin its your fault.