Spiced Beer - Autumn Seasonal Beer

Name

Autumn Seasonal Beer

Category

Spiced Beer

We use the common or culinary definitions of spices, herbs, and vegetables, not botanical or scientific ones. In general, spices are the dried seeds, seed pods, fruit, roots, bark, etc. of plants used for flavoring food. Herbs are leafy plants or parts of plants (leaves, flowers, petals, stalks) used for flavoring food. Vegetables are savory or less sweet edible plant products, used primarily for cooking or sometimes eating raw. Vegetables can include some botanical fruit. This category explicitly includes all culinary spices, herbs, and vegetables, as well as nuts (or anything with ‘nut’ in the name, including coconut), chile peppers, coffee, chocolate, spruce tips, rose hips, hibiscus, fruit peels/zest (but not juice), rhubarb, and the like. It does not include culinary fruit or grains. Flavorful fermentable sugars and syrups (e.g., agave nectar, maple syrup, molasses, sorghum, treacle, honey) or sweeteners (e.g., lactose) can be included only in combination with other allowable ingredients, and should not have a dominant character. Any combination of allowable ingredients may also be entered.
See Category 29 for a definition and examples of fruit. See the Introduction to Specialty-Type Beer section for additional comments, particularly on evaluating the balance of added ingredients with the base beer.

Guidelines

Impression

A malty, spiced beer that often has a moderately rich body and slightly warming finish suggesting a good accompaniment for the cool fall season, and often evocative of harvest or Thanksgiving traditions.

Aroma

Malty, spicy, and balanced. A wide range is possible, as long as it evokes the harvest theme. The declared ingredients and concept set the expectation. Hops are often subtle. Alcohol is often present, but smooth and supportive. The components should be well-integrated, and create a coherent presentation. See Flavor section for spice, malt, sugar, and vegetable character.

Appearance

Medium amber to coppery-brown; lighter versions are more common. Clear, if not opaque. Well-formed, persistent, off-white to tan head. Some versions with squashes will take on an unusual hue for beer, with orange-like hints.

Flavor

Malty, spicy, and balanced. Allow for brewer creativity in meeting the theme objective. Warming or sweet spices common. Rich, toasty malty flavors are common, and may include caramel, toasted bread or pie crust, biscuit, or nut flavors. May include distinctive sugar flavors, like molasses, honey, or brown sugar. Flavor derived from squash-based vegetables are often elusive, often only providing a richer sweetness.

Mouth Feel

Body is usually medium to full, and may be chewy. Moderately low to moderately high carbonation. Age character allowable. Warming alcohol allowable.

Comments

Using the sensory profile of products that suggest the harvest season, like pumpkin pie, apple pie, or candied yams, balanced with a supportive, often malty base beer. The description of the beer is critical for evaluation; judges should think more about the declared concept than trying to detect each individual ingredient. Balance, drinkability, and execution of the theme are the most important deciding factors.

Ingredients

Spices are required, and often include those evocative of the fall, harvest, or Thanksgiving season (e.g., allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, ginger) but any combination is possible and creativity is encouraged. Flavorful adjuncts are common (e.g., molasses, invert sugar, brown sugar, honey, maple syrup). Squash-type or gourd-type vegetables (most frequently pumpkin) are often used.

Entry Instructions

The entrant must specify the type of spices, herbs, or vegetables used; individual ingredients do not need to be specified if a well-known blend of spices is used (e.g., pumpkin pie spice). Entrant must specify a description of the beer, identifying either a Base Style or the ingredients, specs, or target character of the beer. A general description of the special nature of the beer can cover all the required items.

Statistics

OG, FG, IBUs, SRM, and ABV will vary depending on the underlying base beer. ABV is generally above 5%, and most examples are somewhat amber-copper in color.

Commercial Examples

• Dogfish Head Punkin Ale
• Elysian Punkuccino
• Rogue Pumpkin Patch Ale
• Schlafly Pumpkin Ale
• UFO Pumpkin
• Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin

Tags

• specialty-beer
• spice