[Editor’s note: Many apologies for our absence! We’ve been having some difficulties with our Internet providers for the last week and a half, but after way too many calls to customer service they finally fixed it! Posts shall resume their regular schedule]
One fateful night many years ago, I gathered round a table with the guys for a long night of Dungeons and Dragons. It was mid-October, the sky was cloudy, the full moon was peeking through the clouds and I had brought an interesting looking beer to share with my buddies.
It had the statue of the Headless Horseman on the box and was calling itself a Pumpkin Ale. I had never heard of the brewery and had certainly never tried anything calling itself a pumpkin beer, but I figured, “how bad could it be?” I don’t remember much overall except that I finished the beers that one evening, thoroughly enjoying them and managing to stay sober at the same time.
Since that fateful night, every fall has brought out in me a craving for more pumpkin beers. My craving got so strong that a few years ago I made my first one – which came out great for being my second batch of homebrew ever. I now brew a pumpkin beer each year, tweaking it each time in my quest to brew the perfect pumpkin beer.
In honor of my infatuation with pumpkin beer, for the next week this blog will be overtaken by….PUMPKINPALOOZA! Starting tonight, I will post a review of one of seven pumpkin beers readily available at most grocery/liquor stores, going from my least favorite to my favorite. I will also be pairing a couple of them with some excellent food choices: pumpkin spiced chocolate chip waffles, a turkey & cranberry Panini, and pumpkin cheesecake with a twist.
Since the pumpkin beers stay in the stores for a little while, you will see other hits on the pumpkin beer theme throughout the fall, concluding with a little something special (and experimental) in November, which I hope to have ready for Thanksgiving.
So, if you’ve got an idea on which Headless Horseman beer I am referring to above, drop a comment below! Some of you may know it and appreciate it as much as I do. Otherwise, tell me what your favorite pumpkin beer is.
Good Beer Guild 
I LOVE pumpkin beer! You’ve got some great choices there. Drink on, sir. I love Ichabod (likely my favorite and presumably yours) and also Post Road. I tried New Belgium’s Pumpkick yesterday and found it intriguing. Tonight’s was Lakefront (Milwaukee) and it was amazing.
I won’t give it away, but if you tune in through the week, you will see which one I am talking about. However, I will have to take a look for others, such as the Lakefront. As I mentioned, keep following, and others may pop up in the next couple months, as well as some other special surprises.