Peter Peter...Pumpkin Beer Drinker?

The 8th Annual Great Pumpkin Beer Festival made it's way to Georgetown this past weekend.  Boasting over 60 unique pumpkin beers on tap, including beers that never make their way to this coast, three sessions of the fest were guaranteed to be chock-full of beer lovers.  In fact, all presale tickets were sold out.  With 13 beers just from Elysian alone, I was anxious to try beers from some of my other favorite breweries.  A list of new to me pumpkin beers from 10 Barrel, Naked City, and Georgetown Brewing made me anxious to start filling up my Jack o' Lantern tasting glass.  After hours of gourd filled brews, I found my top three pumpkin pleasers.

Pumpkin Pleaser #1:  Elysian's The Great Pumpkin Imperial Pumpkin Ale
Elysian hit it out of the park on this one.  Having many of their own beers at the fest, they provided a varied yet distinctive line up.  This Imperial actually won the silver medal at GABF in 2007.  It has pumpkin all throughout out the brewing process: mash, boil, and fermentation.  What I really enjoyed about this ale was the subtle yet not overpowering pumpkin spices.  There was just enough cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice to accentuate the pumpkin but not feel like I was inhaling a spice rack.

Pumpkin Pleaser #2: Naked City's Boo Radley

Being a fan of Naked City for awhile, I waited in line to try their new to me pumpkin brew.  Boo Radley was brewed with 80 pounds of sugar pumpkins.  Spices were added three separate times throughout the brewing.  This resulted in a well balanced palate of spice and squash.  With a mild ABV weighing in at 6.8%, this pumpkin treat was quite drinkable.  If the line wasn't so long for this one, I probably would have gone back over and over again for more.

Pumpkin Pleaser #3:  Big TIme's Hop Goblin
Unbeknownest to me, Big Time has been making beers with our beloved pumpkin since the 1990s.  That being said, it is no surprise that they have honed in on what works and what tastes fantastic.  The Hop Goblin has  an 8 pound per barrel ratio of meat from organic pumpkins.  While the actual pumpkin gets added to both the mash and the brew kettle, the spices appear to have been sprinkled throughout the process.  If you haven't tried this one, defintely worth a trip out to the U District to have some of this "dessert in a glass."

The Great Pumpkin
(Yes, there was beer in there!)

While the Great Pumpkin Beer Festival has already come and gone, it isn't too late to try some "gourd"eous beers this fall.  Take a trip to your local speciality bottle shop (my favorites being World Beers and Pint Defiance) and grab a few pumpkin brews.  It is only fair that when the Trick or Treaters are making their way to your house this Halloween, you are enjoying your beer treats too.