Granville Island Pumpkin Ale

Brewed by Granville Island (Brewery)
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Kelowna, Canada

On tap at Alibi room. Orange-amber color with little head. Earthy pumpkin aromas with hints of nutmeg and allspice. Flavor is light pumpkin and biscuity malts with remnants of spicy hops. Body is medium and smooth. Laking in complexity but a safe entry into the mostly tame market of British Columbian brews. Although, some local brewmasters seem to be taking more risk in brewing bolder beers and I would hope that GIB would attempt to do the same.

Orange/ amber colour. Great autumn nose of spice. Lights hops, with lots of all spice, nutmeg and cloves. Great pumpkin beer, with long after freshness to it!!!

Pours nice and looks great in the glass, a nice dark amber/copper color. However the aroma doesn’t suggest pumpkin at all, in fact it doesn’t even smell like a spiced beer at all. The taste is disappointing, its hard to detect any pumpkin flavor. This reviewer was disappointed and did not think this beer is up to the usual standard of beers coming from GIB.

22oz bomber from Granville Island bottle shop at brewery. Pours an orangey copper, very clear with thin head. Nose suggests spice, roasted fruit (?). The taste is fairly thin, some suggestion of pumpkin with cinnamon, but there’s minimal hopping to give much dimension. The malt lingers slightly with a mild roasted flavour that ends with only a lingering hint of pumpkin. This is to pumpkin beer as bulk grocery store pumpkin pie is to desserts. Nothing particularly noteworthy here but reasonably well made. Granville Island seem to excel at mediocrity for which I assume there is a market. Having just moved from Toronto they remind me of Amsterdam up until they recently started taking bigger risks and raising their own bar. Hopefully GI can get out of the rut they seem to be in and create something that stands apart. I think they are capable of it but perhaps reigned in by forces who want to keep their beers tame and safe.

This beer wasn’t perfect, but was much better than I was expecting. Not incredibly full-bodied but not disparagingly thin, pretty good. Flavour is great, not vegetal, a little sweet but good balance with the spices and good pumpkin flavour without going overboard. Great malts, and a nice bit of hops to add some bitterness. Overall they do a way better job of balancing the "beer" aspect with the flavoured aspect of it than most flavoured beers do, making for a thoroughly enjoyable, if somewhat high on the novelty value, brew.

Pours a headless brilliant orange with a sweet, sweet pumpkin pie aroma. Very very sweet flavour - after reading CapFlu’s review, I can totally taste the melon in this. More fruity than vegetal, light spice but very, very sweet. Crisp body with plenty of carbonation - I would have liked more creaminess here, though it is curiously refreshing. Did I mention it’s sweet? Scoff if you like, but I’m a sucker for pumpkin beer, and this one is quaffable.

(Draft) Sampled at GCBF 2009 in Victoria on September 9, 2009. Spicy, melony but still just not a fan. 5/2/3/1/7