Upgrade Your Bottle Of Pumpkin Beer With A Sugar Rim
Beer brands like to get a headstart on pumpkin spice season, and once you've chosen an autumnal brew to try, you might want an easy way to upgrade a bottle or glass. If you ask us, just add a sugar rim! Coating a chilled glass of pumpkin beer with sugar and spices amplifies its flavors, turning ordinary bottle into a festive treat with minimal effort.
Just like how a salt rim balances the tartness of lime in a margarita, sugar works in a similar way for alcohol. Rimming a glass with sugar rounds out sour and dry notes in a drink, and while it softens the sharpness of lemon-based cocktails (think a lemon drop martini), they can also add an extra layer of sweetness to the dry finish of a pumpkin beer. Plus, it makes the glass look pretty.
To make a pumpkin beer with a sugared rim, mix together half cup of sugar with two teaspoons of cinnamon. Add a dash of nutmeg and blend the ingredients evenly. Coating the rim of the glass lightly with maple syrup first helps the ingredients stick, and adds a touch of woody sweetness. Just wet the rim, turn it upside-down onto the plate of sugar, and twist it gently. Cheers!
Create the perfect sugar rim for every pumpkin beer
Pumpkin beers usually have an earthy, mildly sweet flavor of the squash, and many of them also contain hints of spices, like cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, or allspice. Using different sugars and spices can heighten those subtle essences for an elevated experience. White granulated sugar works best to tamper the robustness of dark, full-bodied pumpkin beers. Try it to balance and soften the bitter, chocolatey taste of Elysian's Dark O' The Moon pumpkin stout or Southern Tier Warlock's Imperial Stout.
The molasses in light brown sugar gives it a caramel, toffee-like flavor (you can even make your own brown sugar in a pinch using the sticky sweetener). This makes it a great choice for bringing out the toffee and vanilla notes of Ship Bottom Brewery's Imperial Pumpkin Ale. It also pairs well with Dogfish Head's Punkin Ale, a full-bodied beer with hints of brown sugar.
Cinnamon and nutmeg come through in Samuel Adams' pumpkin ale, called Jack-O. So, including more spices in your sugar rim enhances the warm nuttiness of those notes. Mix together your choice of nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, or allspice in a sugar rim to also pull out the aromas in a complex beer like Elysian Brewing's Night Owl. Or, DIY your very own pumpkin spice mix.