HOW TO PAIR BEER WITH EVERYTHING: Night Owl Pumpkin Ale
Beer: Night Owl Pumpkin Ale
Brewer: Elysian Brewing Company
Style: Pumpkin Ale
ABV: 5.90%
Description: Night Owl pours deep amber red with a slight orange highlight and an off-white head that disappears quickly leaving a fine collar on the beer. The aroma is absolutely amazing and has everything one would want from a pumpkin ale. The scents of clove, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice lead the aroma and are backed up with subtle hints of sweet Munich malt and brown sugar. The taste follows the nose with spices hitting the palate up front, followed quickly by the sweet malt before hints of roasted pumpkin enter. The variety of flavors all blend together and leave hints of sweet pumpkin pie, including crust, before a long, dry finish end the experience.
Night Owl has a medium body with a moderate amount of carbonation that combines as the perfect vessel for delivering all the wonderful spices. While the market is certainly not short on pumpkin beers this time of year, there is a shortage of really good pumpkin beers. However, Elysian’s Night Owl is not only a good pumpkin beer, it is a great one!
Ideal setting: Night Owl is most certainly a beer to enjoy with friends during a fun-filled Halloween party. The 5.9 percent ABV and decadent fall flavors make for the perfect beer to have on hand to celebrate the most wonderful fall holiday. Enjoy this at your favorite craft beer bar or surrounded by friends at a Halloween bash!
Ideal music: The pumpkin spice flavors and aroma quickly make one realize that this is a beer for the fall season. The lighter ABV also makes this a perfect beer to enjoy while socializing with friends. The music should be a bit darker, but still upbeat, making for perfect background music at a Halloween party.
Some great albums to enjoy with this beer are:
- Bauhaus – “In the Flat Field”
- Protokoll – “Protokoll”
- Joy Division – “Unknown Pleasures”
- The Smiths – “The Queen is Dead”
- Interpol – “Antics”
- The Sisters of Mercy – “First and Last and Always”
Ideal movie: Again, this is certainly a beer that truly celebrates the fall season. The fall season is also one that many strongly link to horror films, and Night Owl is, of course, a great beer to enjoy while watching some great horror films. Some highly recommended horror films to watch while drinking Night Owl are:
- “Suspiria“
- “Let Sleeping Corpses Lie“
- “Night of the Living Dead“
- “The House by the Cemetery“
- “Day of the Dead“
- “Pumpkinhead“
Ideal book: Night Owl’s lighter ABV makes this a great beer to imbibe while curling up to a good book. Books with a darker story make for great reading that will accompany the pumpkin spice aroma and flavor. Some great books to read with Night Owl are:
- “Carrie” by Stephen King
- “Something Wicked This Way Comes” by Ray Bradbury
- “Hell House” by Richard Matheson
- “Halloween Nation: Behind the Scenes of America’s Fright Night” by Lesley Bannatyne
- “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
- “The October Country” by Ray Bradbury
The perfect experience: Night Owl is a beer that should be your motto while enjoying it. It is a beer that is best enjoyed during a night together with friends, and Halloween is the perfect excuse for a large and enjoyable get-together. Enjoy Night Owl while you still can and share it with everyone you know!
