Ellicottville Brewing Company - Pumpkinville

Named after a well-known pumpkin farm not far from Ellicottville, Pumpkinville is produced with spices and locally harvested pumpkins, and pours an orangish-amber color with a cap of light beige foam. Now, some pumpkin ales are a bit subtle for our liking; this one is not. Big pumpkin spice aromas are obvious right away – in fact, if we smelled this blindfolded, we’d have pegged this as pie, gingersnap cookies, or some such. It’s quite a complex aroma when you dig into it, presenting notes of pie crust, nutmeg, ginger, graham crackers, brown sugar, and hints of cinnamon and clove. On the palate, those spices and pumpkin are just as bold as in the aroma. Thankfully the core beer is tasty – while there’s sweetness here, it’s not over the top, balanced less by hops than by those bold spices in a way that actually reminded us in some ways of a medieval gruit ale, albeit with considerably different flavor. This is not to say the hops are an afterthought; in fact, the brewers smartly chose Calypso, a realtively new hop variety that brings fruity notes akin to orchard and tropical fruits, adding a bit of a fruitcake vibe to the mix. We’re prefering to drink this excellent pumpkin ale on its own, but for pairing options we’d find it hard to beat a poached spiced pear. Cheers!

Ellicottville Brewing Company was started in 1995 by Peter Kreinheder and Allen & Walter Yahn out of a desire to open a family business. The inspiration struck while on a ski trip to Vail, CO, where craft brewing got an early foothold. There was the realization that Ellicottville, sometimes referred to as the “Aspen of the East,” would be the perfect location for a craft brewery and grill. Their instincts were proven right, and almost 30 years later EBC is a thriving craft brewery with a devoted following in Ellicottville and throughout western New York.

The original brewpub location in Ellicottville was expanded in 2013 and now boasts a German-style beer garden along with a restaurant and brewhouse. Additionally, EBC has three other locations in western New York state: EBC West in Fredonia, near Lake Erie; their Bemus Point location, which opened in 2016 along the shores of Chautauqua Lake; and a location in Little Valley which opened in summer of 2018, featuring an outdoor concert venue, a beer garden for the summertime, and winter activities perfect for snowmobilers riding the Pat McGee Trail.

For more information about the brewery and their various locations, check them out at ellicottvillebrewing.com.