Pumpkin beer predates the founding of the United States. Brewed with an indigenous fruit unknown to most Europeans until the sixteenth century, it was our first truly national beer. Its beginnings were humble—first brewed during colonial days out of necessity, when malt was scarce and fermentable sugars had to be found wherever possible. The beer became popular among colonists, either straight or mixed in a cocktail known as flip. But nothing lasts forever. Its appeal fell when nineteenth-century hipsters deemed it too rustic and quaint.
The style was resurrected more than a century later—in 1985, during the early days of the craft-beer revolution—by Bill Owens of Buffalo Bill’s Brewery in Hayward, California. Inspired by one of George Washington’s recipes, Owens brewed a pumpkin ale and added an X Factor—spices (the colonial versions were unspiced). A star was born.
Today, it seems every brewery and brewpub makes a pumpkin ale. The style has become one of America’s favorite seasonal beers. Some examples are outstanding: Southern Tier’s Pumking, Weyerbacher’s Imperial Pumpkin, and Cigar City’s Good Gourd spring to my mind immediately.