I'd love to just make this entire post a love letter to Michigan in the fall.
There's not a single cloud in the sky. Not one. You haven't lived until you've driven down tree lined streets of historic Michigan houses, bright and pristine baby blue as the perfect neutral to branches laden with leaves from every firey color imaginable. It can transform a drive home from work into a 7 minute slice of Pure Michigan heaven. I can leave work fuming and return to my home going on and on about beauty and nature and love like I smoked something.
The other thing I love about Michigan is that our "fall harvest" is something that is completely unfathomable to people who haven't seen it. Just look the next time you buy your fruits and veggies this season, look for that "Made in Michigan" and feel proud about what you're eating.
Like any good Michigander, when on the precipice of October, you must faithfully fill your grocery cart with all things pumpkin. I can't wait to wake up tomorrow to my pumpkin coffee creamer and pumpkin granola, enjoy some pumpkin ice cream this evening, and stock up on canned pumpkin to make some pumpkin chili in the crockpot.
But don't let me get carried away.
This is a beer blog, after all.
What I'm really trying to lead up to with all of this is that this month, I am exclusively featuring pumpkin beers.
And I've got quite the line up planned, from in and outside of Michigan.
But for today, I wanted to start with Michigan
So we're looking at North Peak Brewing Company's Hooligan (5.5%), which is a self described hoppy pumpkin ale.
Pours a pale orange/yellow, like squash, with very little head. Also very little haze.
Hoppy aroma, very little pumpkin coming through, but there is a touch of it. Hops come through with a mix of grapefruit and floral notes, with a touch of bitter. There's some crustiness to it, making it taste more like a crunchy pumpkin cookie than that pie flavor you get with a lot of pumpkin beers, likely because that creamy pumpkin squashiness doesn't come through. Little spicy, both in a baking spice and warming kind of way, on the end. It's mostly those slight hints of spice that make this resemble a pumpkin ale.
Mouthfeel is very, very drying.
The hoppiness drinks like an APA, for sure. I actually am enjoying this beer, one of two that I've enjoyed so far from my sampling of North Peak brews.
All I can say on an end note is not to expect that you're probably expecting when you see "pumpkin" on a label. There's not a lot of sweetness. There's not a lot of baking spice. It's not a very thick beer, nor is it very carbonated. But it sure does taste good.... whatever it is.
Tune in soon for the next review from THE GREAT PUMPKIN (BEER) OFF
