Pumpkin Ale Plus?

Today I brewed an extract pumpkin ale. This will be shared at a couple of parties that will not be attended by craft beer people.

Pumpkin ales tend to be kind of meh so I am thinking of amping this up by soaking some oak chips in an ounce of Makers Mark whiskey and adding that to the secondary (and perhaps the keg).

Thoughts?

Originally posted by Strykzone
Today I brewed an extract pumpkin ale. This will be shared at a couple of parties that will not be attended by craft beer people.

Pumpkin ales tend to be kind of meh so I am thinking of amping this up by soaking some oak chips in an ounce of Makers Mark whiskey and adding that to the secondary (and perhaps the keg).

Thoughts?

Sounds interesting! Thanks!!

Originally posted by ContemplateBeer

Originally posted by Strykzone
Today I brewed an extract pumpkin ale. This will be shared at a couple of parties that will not be attended by craft beer people.

Pumpkin ales tend to be kind of meh so I am thinking of amping this up by soaking some oak chips in an ounce of Makers Mark whiskey and adding that to the secondary (and perhaps the keg).

Thoughts?

Alltech (Kentucky Ale) Makes a Bourbon Barrel Pumpkin Ale; I’m a outlier in that I liked it quite a bit, so I think it could be worth a shot.

I may be in the minority in this, but I don’t think pumpkin should be mixed with bourbon. Bourbon is too dominatng...will mute the spices and nuances of the pumpkin aspects. But who knows. Maybe it will be great. Maybe do half and half and see what people think?

You could use the bourbon to make a spice tincture. That would also give you full control over the level of spice in the beer.



I’ve done spiced beers with whiskey before that turned out great. Go for it!

Let us know what you ended up doing and how it came out. There must be a huge pumpkin ale following out there since almost every brewery puts one out this time of year.

I’ve had really nice BA pumpkin beers that are brandy barreled or rum barreled, though I like bourbon better usually. Compliments the flavors better methinks :)

Knob Creek whiskey soaked in oak chips is in the secondary. It will be there for a couple more weeks. We will see how it comes out.