Beer Review: Punkuccino by Elysian Brewing Company

It’s the time of year when trees are well into their fall fashion trends; aspens dressed out in their bright lemon yellow, sumac showing dull red, and the undecided gamble oak, trying all the color, painting themselves up in yellows, browns, oranges, and reds. The mountains become the stage for these displays, color patch-working its way across the slopes, running into one another, melding, or standing out. Nature’s last show before winter stripes the color and turns everything to stark stillness.

 

All of this, the color changes, the cooler weather, and Halloween just around the corner makes me think of darker, deeper, more robust brews. So, I went searching for a beer to fit my mood and the season; something warming, roasty, with a splash of harvest and Halloween thrown in.

 

I figured it would have to be a pumpkin beer of some sort…the harvest season, Halloween, and all. But, I wanted dark, roasty, reasonably strong, and something I hadn’t tried before; something to be my second and last pumpkin beer review of the season. So, stipulations in hand, I made my trip to the grocery store, figuring I’d check there first, but sure I’d have to search further afield to find it. Turns out I didn’t have to.

 

The grocery store had just put out Elysian’s Punkuccino and, knowing Elysian’s reputation when it comes to pumpkin beer, I made the executive decision to look no further.

 

Elysian just might be the king of the pumpkin beer. No other brewery (that I’m aware of) has played with pumpkin as an ingredient to the extent they have. They have offered many different pumpkin beers over the years and still carry Punkuccino and three others in their lineup. One of them, the Dark Knife schwarzbier, was newly released this year.

 

I like their stance on using pumpkin too. In an interview on The Growler Guys website, Elysian brewer Josh Waldman put it like this:

 

“There’s a tendency to confound pumpkin spice beer with pumpkin beer. Stretching ourselves to brew any beer imaginable with pumpkin is a reminder that pumpkin is an ingredient, not a style. Also, pumpkin season is harvest season. It’s a great time of year, and a real reminder that what we do as brewers is so heavily reliant on our growers (and processors).”

 

Imagine that, thinking of pumpkin as just another ingredient (exactly how it was seen in colonial America). Pumpkin beer doesn’t have to be this strange pumpkin pie amalgamation so many brewers seem to think it has to be. I like that Elysian recognizes this and if you go to Beer Advocate and look up “Elysian” and “pumpkin” you can see just how many beers, many of them one time offerings now retired, Elysian has given pumpkin a place in.

 

Tasting Notes: Elysian’s Punkuccino

 

Pour and Aroma:

In the glass Punkuccino looks almost black but held to light the shadowy disguise is lifted and it shows itself a dark brown with ruby edges. A dense head climbs to about a finger; darker than off-white, but not quite making it to the realms of mocha-colored. Retention is fair.

 

Aroma is an amazing deep roasty spiced coffee, with hints of caramel. Can easily pick out both the nutmeg and cinnamon, though neither of them overplays their hand. Light edges of ginger too. There are also some nice notes of subtle chocolate. No hop or vegetal notes to speak of. If a beer can smell smooth, this one does.

 

Mouthfeel and Taste:

Body is medium, not quite as big as I’d have expected. Mouthfeel is smooth and creamy.

 

Espresso coffee and chocolate with brown sugar/molasses sweetness at the front. The spices start their warming mid-palate with flavors of clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Has a bit of gram cracker crust backdrop. Hard to find any sign of the pumpkin…maybe a hint of baked squash. Finishes semi-sweet. Coffee, spices, and dark sugar create a warming pleasant afterthought.

 

Finishing Thoughts

This is a good beer – never mind that it’s a pumpkin beer! You really wouldn’t even know it was a pumpkin beer if you were just handed a glass. Smooth across the palate and great warming spices to hold back that cooling nip in the air and get in the spirit of the season. I’m not sure I could have asked for a better find to end my pumpkin drinking for the season.

 

If you’re one of the hundreds out there who fear pumpkin brews, I challenge any of you to try this one and not like it. And it’s that good.

 

Cheers and Happy Autumn!

 

Style: Pumpkin Ale

Glass: Snifter

IBUs: ?

ABV: 6.0%

Hops: Bittered with German Northern Brewer

Malts: Pale, Brown, Biscuit, C-77, Chocolate, Kiln-Coffee

Other Ingredients: Coffee, Cinnamon, Nutmeg

Shelf Life: A year +

Serving Temp: 50 – 55^oF

Pairings: Char-grilled steak, Coffee Cake, ginger cookies

Availability: Fall Seasonal