Pumpkin Brew Roundup

Pumpkin is our ingredient of the season. We have a stew, cookies, and popsicles to go with your pumpkin brewfest (because you’re planning one, right?).

Today we’re hopping back into the archives and republishing Sarah’s Pumpkin Brew Roundup (originally published in October of 2014). You have off today, right? Why not spend the afternoon sampling a variety of pumpkin ales? If you’re not that lucky and are stuck sitting at your desk on this Monday, we figured you could at least read our review and pick up a six-pack on your way home… and that’s how we justified talking about beer on a Monday. Happy sampling!  liveseasoned_fall14_pumpkinbeertastetest-4

I’m not sure any other flavor has captured everyone’s hearts like pumpkin has.  As each autumn rolls around I see more and more pumpkin products popping up on shelves and appearing on menus.  We wanted to do some type of pumpkin taste test, but since running around to six different restaurants seemed time-consuming and a little bit expensive, we settled on a mixed six pack of pumpkin brews.  I love trying seasonal beers, especially Oktoberfest, so I figured a roundup of pumpkin beers and ciders would be just as enjoyable.  There are also a ton of pumpkin beers out there so finding six was easy peezy. I actually ended up picking four pumpkin beers and two pumpkin ciders, because come on, apples are our ingredient of the season and I just couldn’t resist. Spoiler alert: I actually enjoyed the ciders more than the beers!

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While I would like to pretend that I know a ton about beer, the truth is, I drink a lot and I know a little.  I’m pretty adventurous in that I will almost always try a ‘new to me’ beer when I’m at a restaurant or brewery.  If the brewery has a tasting flight, you can bet I’ll order one as long as I’m not driving.  That being said, I would love to give you apt descriptions of each of the beers I tried, but I can only give you my opinions (S for Sarah) and those of my tasting partner (K for Kevin). The descriptions of each brew are taken from the respective brewer’s websites (B for brewer) so that you have a bit more information.

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Harpoon Pumpkin Cider 4.8%*

  • S: Smooth, crisp and drinkable with no carbonation.  Strong apple flavor and a hint of clove. Reminds me of kombucha.
  • K: Light and watery with a sweet finish.
  • B: “Real pumpkin and freshly pressed apples are combined with seasonal spices to craft this pure and natural craft cider. Apple forward taste with all the traditional Autumn flavors of pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, clove and nutmeg, and a touch of sweetness for balance.”

Ace Hard Pumpkin Cider 5 %

  • S: Sweet with a bit of fizz, but not much.  Almost tastes like sparkling apple cider, without the sparkle.
  • K: Apple taste, thick, fizzy and sweet.
  • B: “We add cinnamon, cloves, and allspice to fermented apple juice to produce a 5% ABV cider which tastes just like pumpkin pie!  It is light orange in color with a full, rich taste. We carbonate the cider and cold- filter it 4 times before we bottle and keg it.”

Harpoon UFO Pumpkin Ale 5.9%

  • S: Full bodied and smooth.  Overwhelming malt and spice flavor. A little too heavy for my taste.
  • K: Dry and bland, but crisp feeling.
  • B: “Imagine a pumpkin vine wound its way in a field of barley, and a brewer harvested it all to make a beer.  The malt combination provides a smooth body and slightly sweet flavor, which balances perfectly with the earthy notes derived from the pure pumpkin. The taste is a solid malt backbone highlighting German Vienna and Munich malts with a nice dose of pumpkin and spice, reminiscent of pumpkin pie.”

 

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Shipyard Pumpkinhead 4.5%

  • S: Old apple pie, cinnamon and nutmeg.
  • K: Garbage, sweet beer (?), yuck, lingering bad aftertaste. (Can you tell this was K’s least favorite?)
  • B: “Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale is a crisp and refreshing wheat ale with delightful aromatics and subtle spiced flavor.”

Brooklyn Post Road Pumpkin Ale 5%

  • S: Heavy, full, rich and aromatic.
  • K: Dark, rich, phosphorescent and pumpkin flavored.
  • B: “Hundreds of pounds of pumpkins are blended into the mash of each batch, creating a beer with an orange amber color, warm pumpkin aroma, biscuity malt center, and crisp finish.”

Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale 6.35%

  • S: Full, heavy and bitter.
  • K: Bitter, fizzy, IPA like.
  • B: “We brew our ale with the addition of pumpkin to the mash, along with traditional spices to create a delicious American original.”

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Tasting six pumpkin beers and ciders at once was enlightening.  I realized that most of them actually don’t taste like pumpkin.  To their credit, they taste more like pumpkin pie or apple pie.  The spice combination and aroma is there, but an overwhelmingly pumpkin taste is not.  K and I thought that the Brooklyn Post Road Pumpkin Ale had the most pumpkin flavor and after reading all the brewers’ descriptions, it sounds like Brooklyn adds the most pumpkin mash to the mix.  I didn’t expect the beers to taste exactly like pumpkin, but sometimes I order a blueberry beer and I’m like, ‘holy sh!t, that tastes like blueberry!’ Know what I mean?  I definitely didn’t have any of those moments, but I did realize a few things about my tastes during the pumpkin brew tasting session. Pumpkin beers are consistent in that they’re full-bodied and spicy, making them a heavier beer to drink.  I probably wouldn’t order more than one or two.  Pumpkin ciders are much easier to drink because they have the flavor without the carbonation.  They’re a bit sweet and only slightly fizzy, which actually reminds me of kombucha.  I was never a fan of hard apple cider because I thought it was too sweet, but with the added nutmeg, cinnamon, clove and ginger spices, pumpkin ciders are less sweet, which I love.

Taste testing aside, sitting around a table full of pumpkin beer and cider was a great way to kick off the fall feeling in my neck of the woods.  It’s still pretty warm in North Carolina, but the leaves are starting to change and fall.  Sometimes I need an excuse to sit outside and simply enjoy the weather and that’s what this taste testing provided me with.  If you’re like me and need an excuse, invite your friends over and have them all bring a pumpkin beer or a seasonal ale.  If they’re lucky like me, they might see a rafter of turkeys crossing the road on the way home from the bottle shop.

*The absolute winner! K and I both loved, loved, loved the Harpoon Pumpkin Cider.

Seasoned View: Vol. 19

Each month we share our Seasoned View.  Snapshots of nature and daily life taken by the Seasoned sisters. Find our archive of past months’ views here.

Hello from our mid-fall stay-cation! I didn’t plan to take the week off, but I’ve been spending every free moment during naptime and evenings work on projects rather than blogging. Maybe it’s the change in weather, as we had a fantastic string of foggy and rainy days lately (a nice break from the 80s and harsh sun that was most of September). It really put me in the mood to stay inside and curl up with a good project.

This month’s photos are all pictures that I took this week while hiking our mountain with Alex and Luc, and I think they provide a picture perfect snapshot of this beautiful fall weather.

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Click here for mountainside.

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Click here for pines.

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Click here for black and white morning.

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Click here for raindrops.

I’m loving the raindrops image. I’m starting to think that it would make a great photo for a bathroom, especially if mounted this way.

Now I’m going to get back to my pumpkin baking, decorating for halloween, and finally finishing this sweater (with a big update post to come!). While I’m doing all of that, I have Ryan Adam’s cover of Taylor Swift’s 1989. It’s so good! When this NPR review mentioned that he sounded like Bruce, I was sold (and Calder laughed at how easy it is to get me to buy an album).

Unless Sarah checks in from the trail, we’ll see you back here on Monday with some fresh posts. Can’t wait!

 

Two Bits

Each Friday we share some tidbits from our week.  We want to break down these internet barriers and invite you into our lives and we’re hoping you’ll do the same.  You are welcome to share a bit of your week or day in the comments, or if they’re better represented by a photo, tag us on instagram @liveseasoned

Katie here :

liveseasoned_fall2015_oct2We saw the eclipse on Sunday! Did you? Many of our friends had a cloudy view in the valley, but fortunately the clouds had cleared from our view after a few minutes into the show. We turned off all of the lights in the house and watched the show from our porch. Since it’s Oct 2, I mentally know that it’s fall, but the warm days spent at the park have been messing with my mind! It’s so hard to even think about Halloween costumes, but in other news, I’ve had no problem thinking up a long list of projects that I want to work on for Christmas. Is it too early to begin “elving“?

I’m not sure if Sarah will be able to check in today or not, but tomorrow’s her last day of yoga teaching training, and then she’s going off on a big backpacking trip for two weeks. I can’t wait until she has the time (and internet connection) to fill us in on her adventures!

Sarah here :

I’m here, I’m here! Once again, it has been a busy and fulfilling week.  I can’t believe my 200 hour yoga teacher training comes to a close tomorrow, but that’s probably just the sleep deprivation talking.  While we do work really hard, we also play hard.  The entire group ventured up to Sarankot, a nearby peak, to meditate during the full moon last week.  I took my Eno hammock along for the ride and everyone loved laying in it and gazing up at the sky.  I also took my tent and two of the other girls decided to have a slumber party with me.  We were all so cozy and warm snuggled together in my tiny tent.  Today I taught a yoga class to my peers.  I focused on self trust and worked on hip openers, twisting and arm balances.  Every single person in my class was able to get into crow and side crow, so I’m taking that as a sign of success.

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Now that my training is coming to a close, it means I have to prepare for the Annapurna Circuit Trek.  If you follow us on instagram, you saw that I bought my permits.  Now I just have to buy a couple pieces of gear and pack my bag.  Hopefully it’s not too heavy.  Have you ever backpacked at high altitude? Any advice?  Looking forward to learning the ups and downs of the Annapurnas and sharing that will you all soon!

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Have a great weekend! xo

 

 

Three Sisters Stew

Pumpkin is our ingredient of the season. After you’re done making this stew, serve a batch of these pumpkin cookies for dessert.

I may be taking some liberties in calling this three sisters stew, but whenever I see any combination of winter squash, corn, and beans, I think of the sisters. That combination of vegetables goes together in this savory stew as well as they grow together in the garden. What I’m trying to say is that this dish is fan-freaking-tastic. It’s delicious, is packed with vegetables, and pairs well with any number of meats. We served it with our favorite fried chicken, which is another recipe we shouldn’t keep to ourselves (look for it soon!).

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The recipe below is based off of this one, but with a few tweaks. For example, I can’t help but start a vegetable soup with diced onions and carrots, so we threw those in with the original recipe’s red pepper. I’m also a big fan of Rapunzel’s vegetable bouillon, so I substituted that in place of the chicken stock. Loving to garnish with avocados where ever we can (even in the form of avocado ice cream!), a few slices goes perfectly with this soup.

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In addition to those full-on changes to the recipe, I made a few basic swaps too. I used a can of fire-roasted tomatoes in place of the plum, and I used dried beans in place of canned. When it comes to beans, I almost never used canned. I’m just a fan of keeping dried beans in my pantry and then using our pressure cooker to soften them up on a moment’s notice. I’ll even make more than I need, using the extra for a dish later in the week or freezing them*. I also like that I can keep them in the cooker for a few extra minutes to create a cracked and really soft bean, making them even easier for Alex to eat.

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The recipe called for a garnish of toasted pumpkin seeds (if it didn’t I already had plans to add some – great minds!). I think we’re toasting pumpkin seeds on a weekly basis around here, primarily for adding to salads. I always toast them on the stovetop in a small cast iron pan. Put the pan over medium-high heat, add the pumpkin seeds and a sprinkle of salt. Toss them regularly and take them off the heat the moment they begin popping. Easy peasy… and like the beans you’ll want to make extra, but in this case the extra’s for snacking before dinner :-).

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If you’re like me, you may get the idea that you want to partially blend this soup when finished. It’s something about a soup with winter squash and beans that makes me want to grab the immersion blender. If you’re like that too, don’t do it. This recipe creates a nice, hearty vegetable soup, and I’m convinced that there’s nothing to gain by blending it. Make a batch and let me know what you think. In line with that thought, you’ll see that you have to add raw squash to the pot, which means you may have to spend some time peeling and chopping a raw pumpkin (unless you pick up a pack of the chopped and peeled butternut squash from Trader Joe’s!). At first I wanted to roast my pumpkin to make removing the flesh easier, but if I did that, then the pumpkin would be mushy and wouldn’t hold its shape well in the stew (a characteristic that’s great if you do plan on making a blended soup).

Three Sisters Stew

Three Sisters Stew

Ingredients

  • olive oil
  • 1/2 large onion, diced
  • 1 large carrot, diced
  • 1/2 large red pepper, diced
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 2 cloves minced garlic
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp ground cloves
  • 2 cups frozen corn kernels
  • 2 cups winter squash (pumpkin, acorn, or butternut) cut into 3/4-inch dice
  • 1 can fire-roasted tomatoes
  • 2 cups vegetable broth
  • 2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
  • toasted pumpkin seeds
  • sliced avocado

Instructions

  1. Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil until hot. Add the onion, carrot, and red pepper. Sauté for about 5 minutes or until tender and the onions are clear.
  2. Add the cumin seeds and sauté for a few seconds until you can smell their aroma. Add the garlic, cinnamon, and cloves, and sauté for a few more seconds.
  3. Add the corn, squash, tomatoes (with their juices), and the broth. Bring the stew to a boil, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the squash is almost tender.
  4. Add the beans, cover, and simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes.
  5. If you would like the stew to have more liquid, you can always add more broth.
  6. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
  7. Serve with a garnish of toasted pumpkin seeds and sliced avocado.
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There you have it! A veggie-packed stew for a cool fall day, and if you have kiddos, you can teach them about the three sisters (not the Schu sisters!) over the dinner table.

*this week my extra beans were used to make a tex-mex black been dish with green chilies and more red pepper, and then those leftovers were used to make huevos rancheros!