Beer

Return of the Dark Gourd: Pumpkin Session Porter

It’s fall again, and that means the dreaded pumpkin spice season is upon us. In general, we try to avoid it. Unfortunately, every once in awhile, pumpkin spice takes a brewer or two to the dark side. They start drinking PSL’s and making lactose beers. Those brewers go through a rigorous PSL detox, and are only allowed to drink light lagers until the need for pumpkin spice leaves their bodies.  

Return of the Dark Gourd is about as anti a pumpkin beer, as a pumpkin beer can be. We actually try to get as much pumpkin and squash flavor into the beer as we can. City Slicker Farms provided us with some awesome squash, including lesser known varieties such as Red Kuri, Kogigu, and Moringa. 

We roasted 300 lbs of pumpkin and squash by hand to put into this extremely sessionable nitro beer. One of the brewers tried to get a little crazy and added a dash of cinnamon and allspice, but we caught him before he could go too far. Overall, as far as a pumpkin beer goes, this one leans on the malts as the star of the show.  

Return of the Dark Gourd features a comforting bready graininess, balanced with roasted malt and pumpkin, and it’s silky smooth on nitro. At 3.8% alcohol by volume, this beer is more than enough to get you in the fall mood without all the whipped cream on top. It’s now available on draft while supplies last.

– Travis Camacho, Barrel Program Manager