2016 Pumpkin Beer Night/Fall Party

Last weekend marked our 5th annual Pumpkin Beer Night and, much as I hate to say it, I think I'm officially pumpkin beered out. Like forever.

We switched up our format this year to freshen things up since the night was feeling a bit stale going into it.

I went with a fall theme versus Halloween theme and instead of passing out rounds of tastings to everyone at the same time and making complex rating sheets, we just put out all the beers for people to try at their own pace and then asked everyone to vote for their favorite at the end of the night.  

Our new approach worked well. The evening was much more leisurely and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. But while the night was supposed to be about the pumpkin beer (Elysian Punkuccino Coffee Pumpkin Ale and Uinta Funk'n Patch Brett Ale tied for first, in case you were wondering), Doug and I both had a lot more fun with the other details of the party. So I'm going to focus on those instead. Sorry, pumpkin beer lovers!

Food

In the past, we've just had crackers and cheese and asked our guests to fill in with other snacks and desserts, but since we were going for a more elegant feel this time around, Doug decided on three appetizers to round out our usual cheese spread.

We love the Green Bean Sandwich from Meat Cheese Bread, so Doug made mini appetizer versions.

Sundried Tomato-Stuffed Mushrooms from Smitten Kitchen fit right in with our cozy fall theme.

These Scallion Meatballs with Soy Ginger Glaze, also from Smitten Kitchen, are one of my favorite things that Doug makes. 

Cocktail

Not all of our guests like beer and I've been slightly obsessed with kegged cocktails since the kegged Tom Collins worked so well at my 30th birthday party, so I used this usually beer-only patty to try out a new recipe.

I didn't get my act together soon enough to actually keg this one, but we served it out of Doug's uKeg growler, which worked well. This festive cocktail was maybe a little too drinkable... as evidenced by the fact that Kel and I didn't get around to trying many pumpkin beers since we were drinking cocktails all night.

Lion's Tail Remix- Batch Cocktail (adapted from Imbibe)
Makes about 24 servings  

• 1 bottle bourbon 
• 12 oz fresh lemon juice
• 8 oz honey syrup
• 5 oz St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
• 30 dashes orange bitters

Decor
I decided my "colors" for the party would be white and metallics. I spray-painted orange mini pumpkins gold and rose gold, added some metallic stickers to spiffy up white mini pumpkins, and used our copper mugs for vases.

The plates, napkins, and tablecloth were all from Target (no surprise there).

 

A quick trip to the St. Johns farmers market for fresh flowers rounded out the decor.

2014 Pumpkin Beer Tasting: Eylsian Dominates Once Again

After successful pumpkin beer tastings last year and the year before, Pumpkin Beer Night has officially become a thing.

This year we upped the ante in all ways possible. We're talking more pumpkin beers and ciders (24 to be exact), more decorations, and probably the most people that have ever been in our baby apartment at once.

As in years previous, everyone ranked the beers individually on a scale of 1 to 5... and just like the last two years, Elysian took the top two spots.

Here's some more detailed info about our group's Top 5 plus the rest of the rankings too:  

#1 Elysian Brewing Punkuccino (Seattle)

Doug and I tried this on our own a few weeks prior to Pumpkin beer night (thanks new Burnside Fred Meyer growler station) and had a pretty strong feeling that this beer was going to do very well at pumpkin beer night.

Elysian says, "Punkuccino packs a short shot of Stumptown coffee toddy in your pint with just a shake of cinnamon and nutmeg," so think of it as the best Pumpkin Spice Latte you've ever had that wants to get you drunk. So good. 




#2 Elysian Brewing Night Owl (Seattle)- Ranked #2 last year

Holding down the #2 spot for the second year a row, Elysian says this ale is "brewed with seven and a half pounds of pumpkin per barrel and spiced in conditioning with ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice." Seems like that's a recipe they should stick to.







 #3 First Edition Brewing Champion Pompion *homebrew* (Portland)

Doug and I agreed that this year's Champion Pompion is much more deserving of its high ranking than last year's Good Lawdy Miss Gordy. For this beer, Doug upped the pumpkin flavor by supplementing pumpkin puree with lots of fresh squash.







#4 Seattle Cider Co. Pumpkin Spice Cider (Seattle)

Seattle Cider Co. ferments their cider with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. It's perfect for your friends that love pumpkin-flavored alcohols but hate beer.









#5 Two Beers Pumpkin Spice (Seattle)- Ranked #3 last  year

This ale is made with cloves, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, and natural pumpkin. The ginger is definitely a nice touch.







 

#6 First Edition Brewing Good Lawdy Miss Gourdy *homebrew* (Portland)- Ranked #4 last year












#7 Elysian Brewing The Great Pumpkin (Seattle, 2014)- Ranked #1 last year

#8 Harpoon UFO Pumpkin (Boston)- ranked #8 last year

 #9 Oakshire Big Black Jack Imperial Chocolate Pumpkin Porter (Eugene)- #17 last year, but #9 in 2013

#10 Elysian Brewing Dark O' The Moon Pumpkin Stout (Seattle)

#11 Laurelwood Pumpkin Ale (Portland)- ranked #12 last year

#12 Ace Cider Hard Pumpkin Cider (Sebastopol, CA)












#13 Burgess Brewing DD Pumpkin Ale *homebrew* (Vancouver, WA)

#14 Propolis Brewing Pepon (Port Townsend, WA)

#15 Midnight Sun Brewing TREAT Imperial Pumpkin Porter (Anchorage)- ranked #18 last year

#16 Pike Brewing Harlot's Harvest (Seattle) 

#17 Elysian Brewing The Great Pumpkin (Seattle, 2013)

Doug saved this beer to see how it would age. The answer was not well. So drink your pumpkin beers now, kids!









#18 Nathan's Brewing Co. Booooo Careful II (Portland)

#19 Anderson Valley Fall Hornin' Pumpkin Ale (Boonville, CA)

#20 Southern Tier Pumking (Lakewood, NY)

#21 Jolly Pumpkin La Parcela (Dexter, MI)

#22 Burnside Brewing The Dapper Skeleton (Portland)

I don't know if this one would normally be so low (Doug and I usually really like Burnside), but it's made with chiles and a spicy beer is kind of a shock when all the other beers you've been trying are on the sweet side.








#23 Uinta Punk'n Harvest Ale (SLC)- ranked last last year

#24 Buffalo Bills Brewery Pumpkin Ale (Hayward, CA)

This one is so bad that is deserves a warning. Do not buy it (unless you like things that taste like puke). 

 Any of your favorite pumpkin beers that we missed?