Longwood Brewery Full Patch Pumpkin Saison: Day 22 of my Advent Calendar exchange with my father, featuring a Nanaimo beer brewed to a strength of 9.0% abv that I thought I had missed out on this year, however it magically showed up in my advent calendar. Most of the local pumpkin beers are simply pumpkin ales, there are a few variants which are good (like this one and this one) but for the most part the local ones are a bit boring in my opinion, not bad, just boring for a beer geek like me.
Aroma and Appearance: This beer pours a surprisingly dark mahogany colour with two fingers of foam and some decent carbonation. This is one of those beers you could just sit and smell for awhile, the aroma is intriguing and full of nuts, squash, nutmeg, raisins and a bready rye like doughy malt that’s hard to describe with words.
Flavour: Some nice spicy peppery notes up front with nutmeg, sage, squash and nuts all bundled up in the middle, finishing with more spicy pepper and herbs.
Overall Impression: What a treat for a pumpkin beer, a nice variety where the pumpkin works with the beer but isn’t the main feature, which to me is a good sign of a smart brewer. I find that pumpkin is better utilized as a mashing ingredient and less uses for pumpkin flavour which is often created with spices and no the pumpkin itself.
Rating: Excellent at 8/10, one I hope they make again.
Food Pairing: If you are going to consume a pumpkin beer with a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, choose this one as the spice profile will complement all the foods quite nicely.
Here they are getting the pumpkins ready (smash, smash, smash!). Thanks to Longwood Brewery for pointing this video out to me which is from their Instagram account, be sure to give them a follow they do a good work on that platform.
West Coast Beer Geek 