It’s been 11 years or so since O’Fallon Brewery introduced its popular Pumpkin Ale. This year, the brewery has expanded on that original idea and put out a quartet of pumpkin-based brews, available in a special variety Pumpkin Pack 12-pack:
Vanilla Pumpkin Beer (5.5% abv). Made with cold-pressed Madagascar bourbon vanilla added to O’Fallon’s pumpkin amber ale. It’s not as sweet as would be expected, and the pumpkin definitely plays well with the vanilla.
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Apple Cinnamon Pumpkin Beer (5.2% abv). This brew combines baking spices with the requisite pumpkin. The final product is reminiscent of harvest pies.
Jack O’ Latte Pumpkin Cream Stout (6.6 % abv). Putting together flavors of coffee and pumpkin results in a creamy milk stout that nicely balances these two strong tastes.
Peach Pumpkin Beer (5.2% abv). Light in body, this fruit-forward beer strikes a happy medium between summer and fall flavors.
The beers have been in development for about a year and a half, according to O’Fallon president and CEO Jim Gorczyca. A multitude of recipes were tried out on guests at O’Fallon’s O’Bar, and the final four were selected from their responses.
The Pumpkin Pack beers debuted in early August, joining old favorites O’Fallon Pumpkin Ale and O’Fallon Imperial Pumpkin Ale. Gorzyca says he expected the new releases to be around until Halloween, but sales have been so strong that supplies might dwindle before that,
This Saturday, all six beers will be available on tap at O’Fallon’s 2nd Annual Pumpkin Fest, held at the Maryland Heights brewery from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. There’s a pie eating contest (care to guess the flavor?), plus face painting and pumpkin bowling for the kids.
But wait…there’s more.
Two new releases can be sampled that day as well. The first is an exclusive collaboration with Schnucks markets called Barrel-Aged Imperial Pumpkin (10% ABV), an ale that was aged in Crown Royal barrels for over a year. The only supply of the draft ale (3 – 1/6 barrels) is being offered at Pumpkin Fest and a limited supply (22 oz. bottles only) will be available beginning this Thursday or Friday only at Schnucks.
That day the brewery will also be introducing Show-Me IPA, a new brew with an, um, fetching label. The 6.5% ABV IPA contains citra and mosaic hops resulting in what an O’Fallon’s Nichi Hamilton calls a “fruity hoppiness.” Six-packs of the ale will be available at retail in mid-October.
Pumpkin Fest info is noted below and advance tickets are available here.
