They say there’s nothing as American as apple pie, but I think they got it all wrong, you see. Apples, after all, are not native to America but were brought here by European colonists. Pumpkins, however, are another story. They sort of work the other way around, having been native to North America, but brought back to other parts of the world by colonists. Ergo, there’s nothing as American as pumpkin pie.

Or pumpkin beer for that matter. Yes, pumpkin beer is another truly American concoction that history tells us resulted from a dearth of malt amongst the first settlers of the new world. Desperately missing their daily pints, these ingenious colonists sought to extend their malt supply by mixing it with (or in cases replacing it completely with) any fermentable they could get their hands on. And there were so many pumpkins growing out there……

Hence, the origin of modern pumpkin beer. Once malt supplies were bolstered in the new world, the tradition of making beer out of pumpkins sort of fell by the wayside. That was until Bill Owen of Buffalo Bill’s brewpub in Hayward, California revived the style in 1985 with Buffalo Bill’s Pumpkin Ale, a beer you can still buy today. Of course, Bill got the idea to spice his beer like pumpkin pie (unlike the colonists), and wound up with a far better tasting brew in the process.

The rest, of course, is history, and today just about every American brewery has a pumpkin brew, including the big guys. Did you know that Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale is a Coors beer? It is. Some breweries even have a few pumpkin beers in their repertoire, and one of those is the Harpoon Brewery of Boston, Massachusetts. Already offering Harpoon UFO Pumpkin Ale, they upped the ante recently with the addition of Harpoon Imperial Pumpkin, which I’m drinking tonight.

I first heard about Harpoon Imperial Pumpkin last year when I saw a video review by our own Jeff Lyons. We never got any of it then, but it showed up on store shelves this September here in Atlanta, so I naturally snagged a bottle. I wish I had bought more! Because as we’ll see, this is simply one amazing pumpkin brew.

Harpoon says of their Imperial Pumpkin on the label:

Last fall our brewers were improvising a new beer in our 10 barrel kettle; they threw in some fresh pumpkin puree, tossed in a bit of molasses, cinnamon, and nutmeg, a touch of ginger, a dash of cloves, and some dark, toasty, roasty malts. It was excellent.

And from the neck label:

An amalgamation of dark brown sugar, blackstrap molasses, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, clove and of course, fresh pumpkin, this is one big, flavorful spiced stout.

Half imperial stout, half pumpkin ale, with aromas of dried fruit, chocolate, and freshly baked pumpkin pie. Enjoy this black full-bodied stout now or save it for a chilly fall evening.

Harpoon Imperial Pumpkin has an alcohol content of 10.5% by volume. My bottle is stamped “2014” on the neck, and paid $5.99 for a 22-ounce bomber bottle.

Harpoon Imperial Pumpkin pours to a very dark brown to light black color with a very light creamy tan head and a big molasses, clove and ginger nose. Taking a sip, this beer is huge in body, thick and full in mouthfeel and just packed to the brim with flavor: roasty dark chocolate, rich molasses and brown sugar, pungent ginger, stringy pumpkin, clove, cinnamon, and nutmeg. The latter really comes out in the finish, and dries this one perfectly. The big alcohol warmth makes this a true sipping beer as well. Really, though, the huge dark, sweet molasses notes are amazing here, but the spice is more than a match to dry them.

What a wonderful beer, packed with vibrant, robust spices, it’s like a chocolate pumpkin pie in a glass, on steroids. And at $5.99 for the bomber? This is certainly one of the best beer bargains out there, and one of the best pumpkin beers this guru of brew has ever tasted.



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