 Pumpkin Patch Ale |
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Pumpkin Patch Ale |
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Hey Rogue? Just what the heck took youguys so long to make a pumpkin ale? That’s what I want to know. Pumpkin beers are among my very favorite styles of brew. They’re also an American original, dating back to the time of the Pilgrims. Pumpkins, of course, are native to North America, and hence were fair game to end up as a prime candidate for fermentation. Witness this 17th century ditty:
If barley be
wanting to make into malt, Feel free to belt that one out in the middle of your Thanksgiving dinner this year. You’ll surely be the life of the party. Speaking of Thanksgiving, let’s get back to Rogue and their Chatoe Rogue Pumpkin Patch Ale. If you’re looking for a beer to enjoy this Thanksgiving (or Christmas, or anytime in between for that matter), you need look no further. That beautiful orange bottle will surely look good on your holiday dinner table, as well. Rogue says: The newest addition to the Chatoe Rogue series is Pumpkin Patch Ale, a beer made using fresh pumpkins grown in a patch that borders Rogue’s 42 acre hop yard. The pumpkins are picked, loaded into Rogue’s farm truck, driven immediately 77 miles to our brewery in Newport, quickly roasted, and pitched into the brew kettle to create a batch of Pumpkin Patch Ale. Ingredients are listed as: Rogue Farms Pumpkins, Great Western 2-Row, Carawheat, Weyermann Carafe Malts, Rogue Micro Hopyard Rebel Hops, Ginger, Cloves, Vanilla bean, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, Free range coastal water and Pacman Yeast. Alcohol content is not listed on the bottle but the original gravity is listed as 14 degrees Plato; using the rule of four that would yield 5.6% by volume. Bitterness is mild at 25 IBUs (appropriate to the style). I paid $8.98 for a 750ML bottle at Total Wine. Chatoe Rogue Pumpkin Patch Ale pours to a murky brown color with a thick creamy head formation and a spicy, pungent nutmeg nose. Taking a sip, I get lots of dry nutmeg and cinnamon spice all at once, vegetal stringy pumpkin beneath, chewy malt, with a decided dry spicy finish. As the beer warms, the ginger comes out at the beginning of the sip followed by a hint of clove. There’s caramel, too, and the vanilla comes out in the middle. The finish is perfectly balanced and dry from all the spice, too. Really and truly one of the best pumpkin beers I have had, very much akin to a slice of pumpkin pie in a glass. Maybe the closest yet, I think. I absolutely love the way all the spices work with the caramel and especially the vanilla; if you threw a slice of rich pumpkin pie in a blender you might end up with Chatoe Rogue Pumpkin Patch Ale. Not to be missed…… Update 10/12/2017: Chatoe Rogue Pumpkin Patch Ale is now simply known as Rogue Pumpkin Patch Ale, and it's mostly the same beer. I say mostly because it's now a little stronger at 6.1% alcohol by volume, with slightly different ingredients. From the website: Rogue Farms Dream Pumpkins; Rogue Farms DareTM, RiskTM, Carafa II & Crystal Wheat Malts; Rogue Farms Independent Hops; Orange Peel, Cinnamon, Cloves, Cardamom, Vanilla, Ginger & Nutmeg; Free Range Coastal Water & Pacman Yeast. The malts seem a little different (not sure of the details on those Rogue malts), and orange peel is a new ingredient. The beer is still wonderful, however, so pumpkin pie like but with plenty of stringy pumpkin, thick with ginger and nutmeg and cinnamon and cloves and a touch of vanilla. Wonderful, and about the same price, too, as I paid $9.49 for a bottle at Target. Update 10/10/2019 Rogue Pumpkin Patch Ale on tap at Taco Mac! Special Beer Promotion (SBP) release! It's as wonderful as ever, rich with spice and meaty pumpkin flavor. I make it a point to enjoy this beer each fall, but this is my first time enjoying it in draft form. Ironically, it's less expensive this way than in the bottle, for me anyway. I can get a 25.4 ounce bottle at Target for $9.49, which works out to $.37 per ounce. A pint will run you $7 at Taco Mac, but I can get a 23-ounce Chancellor Mug fill for $9.30. Factor in the $2.50 credit I earn towards any future visit, and I actually pay $.30 an ounce for draft. Such a deal for what is one of my very favorite pumpkin beers of all.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box. *Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer. (B)=Bottled (D)=Draft |
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