Beavertown America F*ck Yeah Pumpkin Ale

Beavertown America F*ck Yeah

London's Beavertown are brewery that are pretty hard to ignore right now. They make some fantastic beers including 8 Ball which is a rye IPA and a delicious smoked porter called Smog Rocket. After trying these, I was instantly intrigued by America F*ck Yeah, their spiced American Pumpkin ale. 

We don't generally do pumpkin ales in this country, they're very much an American thing. Often released as an Autumn seasonal beer, everyone from Dogfish Head to Brooklyn and Stone have had a crack at Pumpkin ales.

I must admit, I've tried a couple of pumpkin ales that I wasn't keen on. The taste can often be confused overwhelmed by spice. It turns out I just needed to find the right one!

America F*ck Yeah is a damn fine beer. The addition of pumpkin to the mash lends it a warm earthy quality and contributes to the beautiful hazy orange colour of the beer. The best thing about this beer is its balance. There's a presence from the hops but there's also the hearty pumpkin flavour alongside a touch of sweets from the malts and just enough spice.

The beer has a beautiful aromatic quality to it, with hints of ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Every element of America F*ck Yeah's flavour profile is perfectly balanced against each other. It's a brilliantly comforting drink for the Autumn or winter and makes a nice change from using a darker beer for the same purpose.

The range of different beers being produced by microbreweries in the UK at the moment is expanding all the time. From Wild Beer Co's Saisons to Thornbridge's Vienna Lager and Camden Town's wheat beers; breweries are making distinctive takes on European and American beer styles. America F*ck Yeah is for me a beer that builds on this spirit of innovation that we have in the UK brewing scene at the moment.

Personally, I'd like to see a lot more breweries having a crack at an American pumpkin ale. It's easy for a brewery to get this style wrong by having the spicy flavours out of balance with the other elements elements of the beer. This is however, something that Beavertown has definitely managed to avoid.

There are still a few bottles of America F*ck Yeah kicking around but it is a limited edition beer, so it may now be hard to find. However, if we show Beavertown how much want them to, then they may just brew it again!