Grab a brew for your Halloween party

By Kameron Z. Spaulding

With all of those great Halloween parties beginning this weekend, the search is on for the perfect Halloween beers.

There are so many options, from rich black lagers to classic brown ales. Yet the best option for any Halloween party, to me, is to grab one of the many solid pumpkin ales.

The problem with some pumpkin beers is that the needed ingredient, pumpkin, can be very expensive. Because of this most brewers add all kinds of sugar and other additives to give you that fall taste with less cost.

Far too many pumpkin beers come off far too sweet with all the spices and sugar they add.

A fantastic local option is the Great Pumpkin Ale from Cambridge Brewing Company. Perhaps CBC’s most sought after seasonal beer, Great Pumpkin Ale flows from the taps from Sept. 9 through Thanksgiving.

This year they are bottling the brew for the first time in 22 years.

The brew is made with organic sugar pumpkins from CBC’s friends at The Farm School in Athol and Wilson Farms in Lexington. The company also uses organic barley grown in the commonwealth at Lazy Acres Farm, and it’s then small-batch malted by Valley Malt, both of which are in Hadley.

This is just a part of the B.S.A. (brewery-supported agriculture) program that allows CBC uses to work directly with famers to grow heirloom and heritage grain varieties, which are then custom-malted before being crafted into CBC beer.

CBC’s Great Pumpkin Ale is brewed with over 150 pounds of fresh, locally-grown, organic sugar pumpkins in each batch, and it has an appropriately distinct orange hue. The subtle, fresh pumpkin flavor is enhanced by the addition of a touch of traditional autumn spices and guaranteed to please even the most finicky of harvest-time ale fanatics.

Blue Moon announcement

Blue Moon Brewing Co. Brewmaster Keith Villa revealed a bunch of news items on a Google+ Hangout at the Great American Beer Festival.

The Vintage Ale Collection will return next month with new branding but will still be packaged in 750-ml. bottles. Villa made it sound as if both of the following beers will be released in November: Proximity, a wheat ale brewed with “the juice of Sauvignon Blanc grapes,” and Impulse, a wheat ale brewed with “the juice of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.” Villa describes the flavor as “sparkling chardonnay with a hint of beer.”

Posted by Kameron Z. Spaulding on October 25, 2012. Filed under Columns,Food,Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry