Breakside Imperial Pumpkin Cream Stout Release

Breakside Brewery releases their second pumpkin beer on Tuesday November 16, 2010 starting at 5:30PM. Brewmaster Ben Edmunds says that folks who show up at the kickoff of the tasting will have to opportunity to sample a special three-gallon batch fermented inside two pumpkins. In total, only a keg of the beer will pour before it is gone forever.

When asked about the brew, Edmunds said, “I wanted to make a sweet stout, and this fits the bill of dessert beer quite easily. I wanted to make a pumpkin beer unlike the typical amber-based recipe.” Edmunds said the idea for the beer, much like that of a pumpkin saison released earlier this fall, was inspired in part by some of the brews he encountered at Elysian’s Great Pumpkin Fest in Seattle last month. “I’ve come to realize that cinnamon and roasted malt don’t go so well together” said Edmunds who has opted for a dry chocolate presence rather than a roasted and burned profile. “I liked the vegetal fruit character of Beer Valley’s Jackalope with that of an actual pumpkin pie. It’s a rooty earthy character-that of a pumpkin pie dessert.”

The base beer for Breakside’s Imperial Pumpkin Cream Stout, said Edmunds, is a classic sweet stout recipe. “I used very little roasted barley he said. “Lactose was added for creaminess.” The three gallons of beer filling the two hollowed out gourds were then sealed with wax. Those will be a bit different than the kegged-off majority of the batch. “Whatever bacteria is in the pumpkin is a complete mystery.”

Breakside Brewmaster Ben Edmunds’ official description of the beer:

The second of our fall pumpkin beers, this is a sweet and boozy treat. Jet black with a persistent, off-white head. Aroma is a mix of sweetened chocolate, nutmeg, a little bit of nuttiness, and vegetal pumpkin whiff. Initial caramel sweetness gives way to some mid palate spiciness and a clove-driven hint of wintergreen on the back palate. Notable chocolate and coffee-like sweetness. Finish is sweet with a touch of dryness, a very mild hint of roast and a strong dry chocolate flavor. Very full bodied without being syrupy or mouthcoating—this is a beer that demands to be sipped. Our apologies to hopheads—this beer has almost no hop character; any bitterness comes from roasted barley and spice.

In addition to the beer on draught, Ben aged several gallons of finished beer inside two whole pumpkins and then re-sealed the pumpkins with wax. We’re tapping the ‘pumpkin cask’ at 5:30 and are excited to see how this extra twist of aging impacted the beer’s flavor profile!

Malts: Golden Promise, Crystal 60L, Chocolate, Black, Roasted Barley

Hops: Glacier

Yeast: California Ale; Adjuncts: Nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, clove, grilled pumpkin

Specs for Beer Geeks

Original Gravity: 1.085 Final/Terminal Gravity: 1.029 Alcohol by Volume: 7.3% IBU: 25

About Sweet Stouts

Sweet Stout, also called cream stout or milk stout, is originally an English style of stout. Unlike most varieties of stout, sweet stout lacks the heavily roasted and burned flavors associated with roasted barley. The beer is also one of few styles that truly finishes ‘sweet’, because the beer includes an addition of lactose—aka ‘milk sugar’—that is not fermentable by beer yeast. Hop flavor and bitterness are traditionally very low as well. The classic flavor descriptor for the style is ‘sweetened espresso.’

Food Pairings

This a dessert beer, plain and simple. Pair it with vanilla ice cream. If you’re feeling adventurous, you might try it with the buffalo wings, where the sweetness will cut the heat of the buffalo sauce.

Breakside Brewery is located at 820 Northeast Dekum Street in Portland, Oregon. For more information, call (503) 719-6475.