Thanks to everyone who braved the bizarre October weather and attended the 4th Annual Great Pumpkin Festival!

We poured 42 pumpkin beers (including the Great Pumpkin) over 3 different bars to a packed but well-behaved crowd of characters. Hundreds of amazing costumes (though some were a little wet) showed the effort and excitement of our revelers. Nearly 800 bratwursts were grilled on the patio kitchen, not to mention all the killer grilled beer-brined chicken sandwiches w/pumpkin hot sauce (my personal favorite). Inside the restaurant, Chef Dave kept the beautiful plates coming with Pumpkin Hushpuppies, Buckwheat Pumpkin Ale Spaetzle, Braised Pork Belly, and Fried Pumpkin Pie.

Beers from all over the country were enjoyed, with Seattle’s pumpkin-powerhouse Elysian showcasing three unique beers, Scandinavia representing with Norway’s Nogne-O and their first pumpkin ale, and perennial favorites like locals Martha’s Exchange PumpkinWeizen, Watch City‘s Pie-Eyed, and Wormtown‘s Pumpkin Ale. From farther afield we were super-psyched to have offered Stone‘s collaboration pumpkin beer which nobody could pronounce (their first pumpkin beer ever!), our friends from Iron Hill with Punktoberfest and Ichabod, and Avery‘s Rumpkin which was over-the-top awesome in true Avery fashion.

The limited releases like Sixpoint‘s Autumnation, Jolly Pumpkin‘s La Parcela, and Silver City‘s Punk Rauchen were all hits, with Allagash‘s Ghouleschip (tapped promptly at 8pm) being the last beer tapped before the appearance of the Great Pumpkin.

The spectacle of the Great Pumpkin Processional was truly something to behold! Just before 10pm the lights dimmed and the sounds of party music were replaced by the eerie quiet of Gregorian chanting. A robed apparition appeared at the CBC brewkettle, and conjured forth a supernatural fog which drew the crowd (nearly) silent. Then, just as the bell tolled ten o’clock and the room was filled with an effluvial haze, the Order of the Monks of the Great Pumpkin appeared, in brown robes and pumpkin heads. The leader of the group rang his bell – a spooky call to worship – and he was followed by three more monks who led the Great Pumpkin itself in a procession through the restaurant, out the front door, and across the beer garden which was itself enveloped in fog.

To the whoops of our costumed attendees the Great Pumpkin was ceremoniously tapped by these monks, and beery goodness flowed forth into cups passed out and shared by all of our rapturous and somewhat bewildered guests. This year’s Great Pumpkin tipped the scales at nearly 310 pounds**, and it was a beautiful sight to behold. It took nearly an hour to drain it completely, despite the tap being open on a full pour the entire time.

By the end of the night the vast majority of our guest beers were gone, our guests had departed, and the CBC staff, exhausted after a ridiculously long day, cleaned up and readied CBC for Beerunch service Sunday morning. Of course, we’ll be finding little bits of beer tickets and hay and pumpkin seeds for some time, but we’re mostly back to order.

We have odds and ends of some remaining guest beers, which we’ll be pouring on a special guest tap through the week. Starting with Stone’s La Citrueille Celeste de Citricado (see, I told you it was unpronounceable), followed by a little Smuttynose Pumpkin, and on to beers like Elysian’s Coche de Medianoche (an awesome Mexican-spiced pumpkin ale) and Kurbitinus dunklehefeweizenbock, Dogfish Head Punkin, and others. Stay tuned or just come in for a less-crowded glass or two.

Thanks for attending CBC’s 4th Annual Great Pumpkin Festival! Thanks for supporting great craft beer from all over, local food and local farmers, and local nonprofits as well (we raised $2,180.00 for the Kendall Community Group!).

We want to hear your feedback, comments positively gushing and constructively critical, anything that might help us make next year’s event even bigger and even better. Drop us a line via email (http://cambridgebrewing.com/about/contact/ ) or post words of praise on our Facebook page (we love praise!). We’ll see you all again soooooon!

Thanks and Cheers,
Will, Phil, Chris, Laura, Dave, and the entire Team CBC!

** An appropriately HUGE thank you to our friend Woody Lancaster of Topsfield, MA, who once again outdid himself and grew for us the biggest and most beautiful Great Pumpkin we’d ever seen - and subsequently filled with beer! Thanks, Woody!