Great Lakes Brewery Pumpkin Ale

Great Lakes Brewery Pumpkin Ale

In our pursuit to bring you the most flavourful and unique beers possible, we are proud to release this tasty autumn ale. Handcrafted with an assortment of specialty malts and hops, we added a generous amount of pumpkin directly into the brew. Combine this with hints of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and allspice, and you’ve got a beer that you won’t soon forget. Rich, satisfying and slightly spicy, our seasonal ale goes perfectly with your favourite dessert or traditional feast. But like fall, Pumpkin Ale comes but once a year!
3.3
162 reviews
Etobicoke, Canada

Community reviews

3.8 I like pumpkin pie and this is pretty much pumpkin pie in a glass. One of the best pumpkin beers I’ve had.
3.7 Bottle to pint glass I love pumpkin beers as a local craft brewery in my brothers town was selling growlers 15 years ago. That beer was one of my gateway beers and it’s something that I’m always chasing this time of year. This smells like pumpkin and I also get clove and nutmeg along with a light caramel. It’s a clear, but slightly hazy, amber with a 1/2 cm long lasting, creamy off white head. Taste is pumpkin, nutmeg, clove, malts, and a nice overarching bitterness. Pretty good, Great Lakes Brewery.
2.7 Bottle from LCBO. Slightly hazy, pale amber. Head’s moderate, off-white, and disappears rather fast. The nose is pretty nice - not dominated by the usual marinated or roasted pumpkin, rather, the pumpkin here is very pure, clear, and is seconded by a nice proper beer aroma. So it’s nice and pumpkiny, but also grainy, with very subtle notes of spices. The flavour is similarily very light in the pumpkin department, with a bandaid-like chemical burning bitter finish. Very active, thin carbonation - a bit too aggressive even. Somewhat light on the body. If someone told it’s from last year, I’d believe them. Oh my. The imprint on lower end of the bottle does say 09/15, so... is this really the BB date? (If so... another massive fuck you @ LCBO.) Edit: I had forgotten I had a tap sample of this at The Beer Experience before the bottle, and guess what, my above rating is almost exactly the same...
3.8 A bit of a fizzy, thin white head on an unexpectedly light and transparent ginger ale-like body. The nose features brown sugar, cloves and nutmeg. A very nice pumpkin ale, with enough pumpkin, cloves and nutmeg to easily earn the name. The malt is bready on one level, but I do taste some seasonal pie crust as well! A hint of citrus hops livens up the taste profile. Light bodied but very flavourful. Nice balances. A great beer at the price!
3.7 Bottle - Sweet pumpkin and spice notes. Clear gold with a decent white head. Pumpkin notes and nice spice. Lots of pumpkin and not just spice. Nice.
3.5 One finger off white head, fades to a thin ring. Light orange, quite clear. Aroma of pumpkin pie spice (nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla), baked pie crust, biscuit, graham cracker. Matching flavours with a faint vanilla character.
4.0 Blonde ambré. Sucré. Caramel. Bien épicé. Pâte à biscuit. Citrouille. Gingembre. Boisé. Muscade. Cannelle. Vanillé. Représente son style à merveille.
3.4 22oz bottle in a tulip. Pours amber with an off-white head. Aroma of pumpkin and spices, some pale and caramel malts, and light dough. Flavor the same. Average texture. Actually a pretty clean pumpkin beer even with the pumpkin and spices presence.
4.4 This beer reminds me of "sugar, spice & everything nice". Pumpkin on the finish. Great Fall beer. Beer drinkers equivalent to the Pumpkin Spice Latte!
3.0 Pour on tap, clear orange pour with thin white head, aroma brought big cinnamon, clove, ginger into some slight vegetal notes, touch of caramel, toffee into a bit of slight bready notes. Taste is a mix of slight orange into big caramel, toffee, lots of spice and cinnamon, slight vegetal and earthy pumpkin note, finishing sweet.
3.3 Bouteille de 650 ml achetée à la LCBO (Cornwall, ONT) au coût de 4,75$. Arôme: Légère odeur de citrouille et de clous de girofle. Apparence: La couleur est orangée légèrement voilée avec une faible densité de bulle. Présence d’un moyen col mousseux et d’une fine dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Goût de canelle et de clous de girofle avec une pointe fruitée. Durée moyenne de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est moyen avec une texture légèrement onctueuse. Moyenne effervescence en bouche. Arrière goût légèrement épicé. (Rating #6131)
3.8 De color anaranjado, nublada, con una capa de espuma blanca jabonosa de medina retención. En nariz agradable aroma especiado: nuez moscada, clavo y canela dice la botella. Cuerpo medio, oleosa y de carbonatación media. En boca dulce, supongo que la calabaza. De las mejores pumpkin ales que he probado.
3.3 Cervesa amb un lleuger aroma dolç, en boca ressalta més el dolç però no es fa empalagós. Cerveza con un ligero aroma dulce, en boca resalta mas el dulce pero no se hace empalagoso.
3.5 Pours a clear orangish amber with a foamy white head. Aroma of pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cereal. The taste is a bit light as its mostly toast and pumpkin with light amounts of spices overall Stull a nice drinking pumpkin beer that could use just a bit more body.
3.5 Pours a partially hazy gold with a small white head that lasts. Aroma is all spice, cloves, pumpkin/vegetable notes, and overall just nicely balanced spice. Flavour is spicy, all spice, cloves, cinnamon, pumpkin pie filling, mildly bitter and a decent balance.
3.3 Tasted from the bottle on the 25/10/2014. Clear orange amber colour with medium white head. Intense spicy and herby aroma with black pepper that dissapears on time. Taste is cinnamon, wheat, pepper and pumpkin. Medium sugar on the beer. Pumpkin on the aftertaste too. Next one please!
3.3 650 ml bottle from canada. Pours golden orange with little head. Fruity aroma with spicy taste.
3.2 650ml bottle from the LCBO. Clear amber body with a medium sized foamy white head. Notes of banana, clove, vanilla, cinnamon, pumpkin and nutmeg are present, nice and complex, maybe some subtle ginger. Oily thin texture, some sweetness with a noticable hop character. Soft cabonation with pumpkin based finish with lingers for a little bit.
3.5 Pours a clear light copper, with a fair amount of carbonation. Moderate head settling down quickly, leaving medium lacing. On the nose it is cloves, nutmeg, a bit of banana esters, and black pepper. Medium mouth feel. Tastes are cinnamon, nutmeg, some wheat beer characteristics, bananas, general spice box, and surprisingly very little true pumpkin taste. Overall it tastes more like a wheat beer meets a peppery saison, than it does a pumpkin ale, but it is certainly an enjoyable beverage.
2.0 clear amber colour. classically styled pumpkin ale with nutmeg and other baking spices. sort of tart and more nutmeg on the palate. I hate this style of beer everytime I have it.
3.1 Very light and tart on the nose, and a pale-amber to the eyes. Crisp on the back and top of the mouth. Has more tart notes than nutmeg or spices. A decent beer.
3.8 Appearance: Pours a clear amber colour with lots of white head that lasts for a while. Aroma: Pumpkin, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon. Flavour: Pumpkin, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, hint of malt. Mouthfeel: Smooth with low carbonation. Overall: A very nice pumpkin ale with lots of pumpkin and spice aromas and flavours. I didn’t detect much malt or hop presence and would have liked some to provide more balance. Still this is a nice beer worth trying.
3.0 650ml bottle from the lcbo Pale copper pour Aroma of slight pumpkin spice Rather thin just ok
2.7 Smells of nutmeg, pumpkin and hops. Tastes of spices, hops, caramel, toffee, and sweet malt. Kind of a pumkiny aftertaste. Medium pale orange with a white head.
3.3 Courtesy of Jaghana Couleur légère ambrée trouble, mousse qui disparait. Nez d’épices, canelle, rondelles citron orange, anis étoilé (ce qu’on mets dans le vin chaud en alsace). Gout bien épicé, des mêmes épices avec arriière gout de canelle, et petite amertume. Corps un peu leger. Mais ce legume donne des aromes peux courants.
3.2 Bottle 65cl from Jan thanks. A clear amber beer with low head. Nose is on juniper and elderberries. Aroma is on caramel, toasted caramel, floral, juniper, light clove, kind of fig touch. Body is a bit low but this is an interesting bouquet.
3.1 Pours bright orange, very clear with a little head, a very small amount sticks around for a while. Pumpkin pie on the nose. Pumpkin, nutmeg, clove, cinnamon very present on both nose and flavor. Clove exceedingly present on taste, maybe a slight noble hop finish. Medium malt body.
2.9 Clear orange of color with an off white head. An aroma with malt, caramel, pumpkin, spice and soap. A flavor with spice, sweets, pumpkin and pepper.
4.1 Review according to BJCP2008 guidelines (style 21A). Bottle 65cl - batch n. ?). AROMA: very pleasant pumpkin aroma combined with spices (clove, nutmeg and cinnamon mainly). no esters or other fermentable by-products noticeable. APPEARANCE: Orange / copper, clear, with moussy of-white average retention head. TASTE: distinctive spice flavours (cinnamon, clove, nutmeg). no hop flavours but with a balanced bitterness that lingers towards the end. finishes with a note of cinammon. PALATE: medium body with a velvety palate. moderate to moderate-low carbonation. no astringency. OVERALL: a great vegetable and spices balanced ale.
3.2 650ml bottle. Clear, orangey deep golden colour with average, frothy, half-way lasting, minimally lacing, blotchy white head. Pumpkin aroma, some spices, cinnamon and nutmeg. Taste is sweet malty, pumpkin note, some spices. some bitter hoppy overtones. Typical pumkin notes, slightly anaemic overall.