I will admit I don’t really get the pumpkin beer thing. I mean, I don’t mind the taste profile but it is the kind of beer where I am happy just having one and moving on. I don’t really like it enough to have a second pint in the same night, and I certainly don’t appreciate it enough to try most or all of the dozen or so versions currently available in the province.

This is not a criticism of the beer per se. As I say pumpkin beer has an interesting flavour profile. It just doesn’t fit into my favourite beer zone.

I will acknowledge I appear to be in the minority on this one, as pumpkin  beer seems to have become one of the most sustained beer trends in recent memory. At one time I thought it was a fad that would fade away after a couple of years, but I was very, very wrong about that. If anything the popularity of pumpkin beer has been growing faster recently. The sheer number of options has become staggering. I counted 20 different breweries with a pumpkin beer this year, and I may have missed some.

So, pumpkin is big. One of the reasons, I suspect, is its limited availability. It truly is a fall beer and no one tries to stretch it into a year-round option (Hog’s Head did initially, but I think they figured out pumpkin beer doesn’t sell after Christmas), meaning there is a narrow window for beer drinkers to have it which may keep interest in it up.

All of this is a funy way to lead into what is a fairly positive review of Alley Kat’s Pumpkin Pie Spiced Ale. My latest Vue Weekly column looks at their interpretation of the style, which you can read here. I could have picked any number of pumpkin beer, but selected Alley Kat in part because they are local, in part because they were the first in the region to do a pumpkin beer (originally in collaboration with Sherbrooke Liquor), and in part because I do find it a nicely balanced interpretation.

I think what I like most about Alley Kat’s version is the malt base. It has a nice biscuit and toffee flavour that gives the beer a bit of a toasted character that balances well with the pie spices. It rounds out the beer a bit and keeps the spices from running amok.

A beer that I am happy to try each September. You are just not likely to see me having a few – which is not the beer’s fault.