Pumpkin spice is a popular ingredient, featuring in everything from lattes to candles. Let's take a pilgrimage back to one of the first with this pumpkin spiced ale from Abbeydale.
A seasonal beer that is always popular around these parts from one of Sheffield's biggest breweries, Pilgrim can be found in pretty much any decent pub in Sheffield around this time of year in can and cask.
Part of Abbeydale's small-batch arm the Brewer's Emporium, Pilgrim includes all the ingredients you'd expect to be in a pumpkin spiced product: allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and cloves, along with the pumpkin, to create a beer that's as spicy as it is delicious and warming.
A fresh, spicy aroma that has a little fruitiness to it that, while not obviously pumpkin, brings a lighter scent to the beer to cut through the spice. It pours quite thin and is very light, which is a little odd as you would almost expect it to be a darker ale.
The flavour is very gingery initially, with the spicy warmness of the root bringing a very autumnal vibe to the flavour profile. There's an earthy fruitiness to it that helps to balance the spiced flavours which are very heavily ginger and a little nutmeg, but also a slight maltiness to combine with the rest of the flavours to round it off nicely.
The aftertaste brings back the ginger fire with a little tingliness which works really well with the subtly sweet pumpkin flavour to give it a big finish.
The can follows the trend and style of all Abbeydale's cans, with a horizon of seasonal black and orange lines behind an old-style Church. The kind of Church you would see in American movies about the pilgrims, ones that are made out of wood and a little spooky.
The Abbeydale ruin features a little more prominently on Pilgrim than it does on some of their other labels, but the scroll banner along the bottom of the can with the beer name and brief description is always a nice touch and in this instance adds a real authenticity to the label.
If you're in Sheffield then any beer shop worth its salt will have a load of these in stock at this time of year, but if you're from farger afield and can't find it in a beer shop then you can grab a can online for just £3.57 from Craft n Berry.
