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The Big Pour's Own brew
Every year, Scott Smith of East End Brewing Company, brews up a special beer for the Steel City Big Pour and this year is, of course, no exception.
Here's Scott's Big Pour Five message:
This year's BIG POUR BREW will be a Pumpkin Ale... but not really.
A PUMPKIN BEER?
People have been pestering us to brew a pumpkin beer here for a few years now. Personally, I've never really understood the attraction of a pumpkin beer that doesn't taste like pumpkins. Sure, they have pumpkin pie spices in them that are easy to taste, but no actual pumpkin fruit flavor. Of course, in defense of innovative fellow small brewers out there that have been concocting these beers for years, actual pumpkin flavor is a pretty subtle thing. Whether you add them in the mash tun, in the kettle, find some crazy way to "dry-pumpkin" your pumpkin beer, or just open up some cans, the malt and the hops are still going to overwhelm that delicate flavor...not to mention what the spices will do to it.
So what's a brewer to do? Well... how about we EMBRACE THE LIE of a so-called "pumpkin flavored beer" and just skip the pumpkins entirely? They don't really offer that much. Instead, what if we brew a nice strong ale that we can carefully spice to SUGGEST the flavor of pumpkin pie?
Well, that's exactly what we've done. And let's be clear: No pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns, squash, or gourds of any type were senselessly slaughtered or carved in the production of this beer. And to prove it, we're calling it our NUNKIN ALE (TM). It's also this year's Steel City Big Pour Brew, so look for a special tapping mid way through the session at our favorite local beer festival... or if you weren't lucky enough to land a ticket, at the brewery during Growler Hours starting on that same day, Septembeer 10th.
See you here, or see you there! Cheers - Scott
Last Year's Brew -- "Weisse this beer sour?"
Last year’s version was in the Berliner Weisse style and called “Weisse this beer sour?” This was a low-alcohol beer with an intense, tart flavor. Special brewing techniques made this beer distinctive and refreshing. It was ceremonially tapped at the mid-point of each session.”
2009's Brew -- Rachel Carson's Eye Opener
The idea for this special beer was originally hatched at the Rachel Carson Sustainable Feast (the big street fest they put on every year) over a couple cups of LaPrima's "Rachel Carson Blend" iced coffee and some East End Beer.
It soon became obvious that a coffee infused beer bearing her name would be the perfect fit for the 2009 Big Pour Brew.
So, "RACHEL CARSON'S EYE OPENER" was brewed as a nice BIG Porter, infused with 30 POUNDS of fair trade, organic, locally roasted, carefully cold-brewed Rachel Carson Blend coffee beans. (Get it? "Eye Opener"...Coffee? Enlightenment?)
This coffee is a regular offering from LaPrima, and a portion of the proceeds from every pound sold benefit the Rachel Carson Homestead.