Boulder, CO – Avery Brewing Company, a Boulder-based craft brewery and maker of White Rascal Belgian-Style White Ale, is ready to put on parkas and scarves with the release of its Annual Barrel Series beer, Rumpkin. Clocking in at a mere 16.9% ABV, this classic pumpkin beer aged in rum barrels is sure to warm you up.
“The idea behind Rumpkin was a pumpkin pie soaked in rum,” says Adam Avery, Founder and CEO of Avery Brewing and this year’s batch will deliver. Using pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and ginger to mimic the spices of pumpkin pie, the four months spent aging in rum barrels add an additional level of rich complexity that isn’t typical to classic pumpkin ales, but isn’t without its challenge.
Rum barrels are notorious for leaking massive amounts of beer, which has been a major challenge in the past. After seven years of creating this beer, the Special Projects team at Avery decided that they needed to do something differently so they flew in two professional Coopers from France to restore Avery’s rum barrels, as well as teach the team techniques to reduce waste in the future.
“In past years, the debarreling of Rumpkin has been the thorn in our collective side,” says Andy Parker, Chief Barrel Herder at Avery. “If a barrel leaks more than normal, that means the dreaded oxygen is getting in the barrel and potentially creating off-flavors. If it leaks heavily, you can have an entire barrel empty to the ground in the matter of a month or two. In the past years, 30-40% of the batch has leaked out or gone down the drain, and watching your hard work go to hell is extremely disappointing. This year was easily the best debarreling in the history of Rumpkin. We didn’t find a single barrel mysteriously empty, off-flavors were almost non-existent, and for once we didn’t have to explain to the production staff that we simply wouldn’t be able to fill orders for this beer”.
Rumpkin will hit shelves across the nation starting on August 7th and Avery will celebrate its release on August 14th with a festive, fall-inspired menu that will get guests in the mood for colder weather. Use our brew finder to find it near you: http://www.averybrewing.com/brew-finder.
About Avery Brewing Company:
Avery Brewing Company is a family-owned craft brewery in Boulder, Colorado. Since 1993, Avery has pioneered innovative beers by blending the art and science of brewing with ingenuity, creativity, and boldness. Avery bottles and cans more than 40 beers a year including White Rascal Belgian-Style White Ale, The Maharaja Imperial IPA, and Tweak. Craft your journey at averybrewing.com.