It’s The Great Pumpkin xBmt! Does adding pumpkin to a “pumpkin” beer actually make a noticeable difference? For this week’s xBmt, we compared the same beer made with with and without pumpkin, both receiving the same spice additions. The results are in!
Damn, you are up early (as am I).
Also, enjoyed the post (as usual).
This is awesome. While I haven’t pondered the pumpkininess of so-called pumpkin beers, I would DARE you to try this same experiment with oatmeal. Like an oatmeal stout vs. oatless stout. Try that one. The latter experiment, I have been wanting to try for quite some time.
about what I expected. I have to use a ton, roasted, for it to show. Only time I entered it I mentioned the cinnamon but not the pumpkin. Neither judge noticed it. shrug
great stuff, thank you.
Unita’s Punk’N beer is one that I thought your could really sense the pumpkin…maybe it’s a mouthfeel thing. Of course being in New England, you can’t go anywhere without seeing Shipyard Pumpkinhead…which I used to drink but now won’t touch it.
And you should disqualify the results from the woman in the Steelers shirt…obviously she has not taste 
Good topic for an exbeeriment.
The results are pretty much as I would expect and the commentary regarding some slight differences in flavor and mouthfeel seemed on par. I have definitely had pumpkin beers where the use of pumpkin is noticeable (Uinta Punk’n as theDarkSide notes) and others where it is not.
I have a mix of roasted pumpkin, butternut squash, and sweet potato currently sitting in a fermenter of an amber based beer. I am curious as to how or if this will come through in the beer.
very interesting.
It really is kind of surprising it doesn’t come through more. It’s not a flavorless thing being added like cane sugar.
have you ever tasted pumpkin meat, raw, uncooked, and unspiced?
kinda bland to me.
I have. I’ve also tasted unadulterated roasted pumpkin, it doesn’t taste all that different, surprisingly.
Good job, Marshall, and it’s nice to have my own perceptions confirmed.
That the spices are the real culprits?
FYP
Thanks for the fix and sorry Malcolm!
yep
While the pumpkin beer season descends upon us (I saw an entire aisle dedicated to pumpkin beer offerings at my local beer store), I would note that at a competition I judged at last weekend, I was advised that not one pumpkin beer was submitted to the Herb Spice Vegetable beer category. The judges for that category were pleased.
No pumpkin peach ale? I was sure pumpkin peach was going to be all the rage this season.
I have always said the way to make pumpkin beer was to get a can of Libby’s pumpkin, just one, pull it out of the cupboard and show it to the wort. Then return it to the cupboard for next year’s batch of beer.
I still like pumpkin beer and or pumpkin spiced beer.
+1 . everything we eat labeled “pumpkin” - pie, cookies, bread, etc gets 99% of it s flavor from the spices we now associate with “pumpkin”.