Review: Great Lake Pumpkin Ale

An old friend suggested for me to try Great Lake Brewery's Pumpkin Ale back in October 2009. I passed on it because.. well, I hate pumpkins. The one kind of beer I didn't care to ever try (aside from lime swill) was Pumpkin beer. I hate pumpkin pie, hate the smell of pumpkins and I'm just picky like that.

Fast forward to Christmas Eve 2010. I am sitting in a damp hotel room in North Dakota, surrounded by an old deceased body smell. I go to the local Walmart Supercenter and they have 12s of Blue Moon fall seasonal pack for $11.99 before tax. It included a Pumpkin ale, so I thought "why not?" So I tried it, and it didn't taste as pumpkiny as I thought.

So, with that, I decided to give this beer a shot. However, Great Lakes' Pumpkin Ale was not available in Brandon, but only in Winnipeg. I went into a trip to Winnipeg and found this beer collecting dust at the Grant Park Liquormart. So, here I am reviewing Great Lakes' Pumpkin Ale, this only took 2.5 years!

Appearance: Pours a very orangey (or pumpkin-like) amber brown colour, hazy. The head is quite delightful as it's a white-beige, about 2 centimetres thick and not going anywere!

Aroma: There IS quite a bit of pumpkin in it, but cinnamon and nutmeg is much more noticeable than the pumpkin. It's sweet, spicy and just from the peppery spicy aroma from the cinnamon, this could be either a very sweet beer or a spicy ale.

Taste: It only took two and a half years to taste this.. The first thing that comes to my palate is a bit of a gingersnap cookie sweetness/spice. Some cinnamon, nutmeg and of course, pumpkin. The pumpkin isn't bothering me at all. In fact, this just reminds me of being in my grandmanan's kitchen back in the 90s as she bakes gingersnap cookies at any random time of the year. I can still taste them now!

It's a sweet tasting ale. the cinnamon, nutmeg and overall gingersnap taste is what's appealing to me the most.

Overall Thoughts: Better than expected. It reminds me much more of ginger snap cookies than anything else. The pumpkin is there, but not enough to scare me off. I don't know what took me so long to try it, either than - I disliking pumpkins, and only finding a bottle this week in Winnipeg. I love ginger snaps so when this fall's batch comes out, I'll be buying some again!

It costs $6.33 for a 650mL bottle, and has ABV of 5.5%. This is a perfect beer to share around a late autumn bonfire, near a fire place, or while snacking on gingerbread/ginger snap cookies with friends and family! I recommend sharing this with others!