Great Pumpkin Beer Festival

I came up to Seattle to work this event. Seriously, my boyfriend is such a big fan that we didn’t want to miss it this year.
It was well worth it. I had a great time pouring beer, dancing, and interacting with the other beer connoisseurs. There were some amazing beers to sample and great entertainment from a marching band or people watching.
There are food trucks parked out back for your dining pleasure. I’d suggest bringing snacks, many of the beers have a high ABV and the servers are very generous.
Overall a fantastic event. I’ll definitely be there again in the future.

By far my favorite fall activity! I have definitely jumped on that pumpkin s@&! everywhere train (unashamed).
I remember when we used to go to the Capitol Hill location for the festival. It’s crazy how popular and huge it’s gotten that they have to now hold it in Georgetown! You used to be able to buy tickets the night of the event; Now you have to buy tickets waaayy ahead of time. Especially if you want to attend the Saturday event. You have to buy your ticket right when they come out, the Friday events don’t sell out as quickly.
Elysian does a great job every year at making it super awesome! You always get a cute little souvenir pumpkin glass and a pretty generous amount of drink coupons that come with the ticket purchase. They’ve got corn hole, pumpkin carving, food trucks, tons of different pumpkin beers, ciders and meads to try, great pumpkin décor, costume contests, and of course, the famous great pumpkin tap! The tapping of the giant pumpkin usually occurs around 730 or 8pm. Be sure to stick close by, because once they tap it, there is only so much beer to go around. If you’re even a few minutes late you most likely won’t get to try the beer! (It really isn’t very good, it’s more so for the experience).
If you’ve never been you NEED to go! If you’re obsessed with pumpkin and/​or beer, you won’t be disappointed!

Every single time I have gone to this beer festival (twice now) I have fond memories of hanging out in the crisp fall sun and enjoying the cute little pumpkin glass filled with various delicious pumpkin beer.
If you are a fan of the pumpkin beers, you won’t want to miss out on this. They give you generous pours and upgrading to the larger glass is such a great deal. Do that if you have a chance. It’s not that much more cost wise, but you get so much bang for your buck.
Also, they had a huge, huge, giant carved pumpkin on display, this last time. That alone was pretty rad.

I have always wanted to go to the GPBF and I’ve always missed out because I didn’t buy tickets early enough… We’ll not this year! This year I made it! And bit was it amazing!
We went to the Friday night. Parking was def in short supply but we found a spot not too horribly far away. Amazing selection of pumpkin brews, some great, some good, some not so much. The Elysian /​other brewery designed beers were really cool. The best one? Elysian/​21^st Amendment He Said Pumpkin… Me want more!!!
I’d give it 5 stars except the food truck options were LAME. Seattle has amazing food trucks, but not here!
I hope to make GPBF an annual tradition, you should too!

Though I had not been to the GPBF while it was held at the Cap Hill Brewery, I have been to every one since it moved to their production facility here in Georgetown. This year was definitely their best ever. The selection this year was, by far, the most varied they have ever had. I particularly enjoyed all of the selections that incorporated more of the savory aspects of the orange gourd and included more spicy and savory adjuncts like habenero, chipotle, etc. While I can appreciate the more pumpkin pie flavored versions, they do all tend to run together, this year I was pleased with every one that I sampled. There was also a terrific selection of food trucks for something to soak up all of that beer. Friday session has an awesome brass bend that added wonderfully to the festivities as well.

I admit… right up front… I LOVE Pumpkin beer. I love it, and the 2 or so months a year I get to partake and imbibe on delicious iterations of such are some of my favorite.
That said, I never have made it to Elysian’s Great Pumpkin Festival until this year. The price always seemed high ($ 28 for entrance, 6 tickets, a cute pumpkin glass, etc). And I was always spending my $ on Halloween gear. Well, this year it happened to fall on my sister’s birthday so we all decided to give it a shot. And I am SO HAPPY we did.
This is seriously one of the best beer festivals I have been too. The line into it is run efficiently, the volunteers and staff they have working here are all friendly and excited about the beer, the lines for samples themselves never get ridiculously long, they switch out taps on the regular (so keep going back and look folks!), and the offerings are stellar. Yes, you have your sweet pumpkin pie in a bottle versions, but this year my absolute favorite was a jaw clenchingly tart sour ale, with habenero and jalapeño ale offerings coming up to close seconds. So many options, even those who don’t like beer can choose amongst several lighter ales or even ciders! So good.
Plenty of food truck options to soak of the booze, a live brass band to keep you entertained, oh. and the joyous clusterf**k that is the tapping of the great pumpkin. My only complaint was the beer list they offered didn’t have the #‘s of what table they were at, so you spent of a good amount of time wandering around the grounds trying to figure out where your next beer of choice may be.
So there you go, an amazing themed beer festival that is run super well. Sorry Fremont Oktoberfest, but i’m coming here again next year instead.

What a fun event! Definitely a must to buy your tickets in advance. Beats waiting in that long line that loops around to Oregon… Once in, there are so many different beers to try and some tasty food trucks. My hubs carved a pumpkin… that was pretty cool. And when they tapped the big pumpkin (right terminology?), that was pretty exciting. Fun experience overall.

I’ve been to this festival in the past, but its been a few years. This year was great and so much more impressive than what I barely recall from the past one. I believe this is the 8^th year and I am already thinking about making my plans to attend the 9^th one. And of course they still do tap the actual pumpkin and even at all of the sessions. Price was reasonable ($ 25 in advance, all sessions sold out). 3 sessions to chose from on two seperate dates. Plenty of parking. A large outdoor event with some indoor area should the rain come down suddenly. A few good food options, even some vegan options (yeah Mighty O). And of course more pumpkin beer than I could ever imagine. I can’t even begin to guess how many pumpkin beers were available and probably only managed to sample about a third of them. Luckily my boyfriend and I rarely agree on which beers we like so we each take a sip off the others and agree that ours is better. I was a big fan of the la parcela as I like a more sour beer. Sadly most of the names esape me, I had some good smokey ones as well, and enjoyed the cranberry pumpkin combination. Elysian had so many varieties to chose from and of course many other breweries had their selections available too. The only dissapointing thing was the long line around the corner and up the hill to get in, but that quickly dispersed and next year I’ll just get there earlier. Theme beerfests are one of my most favorite things and this one certainly stands out.

If you like Pumpkin and if you like beer and if you really like them together the Great Pumpkin Beer Festival hosted by Elysian Brewing is the place to be. Over 60 beers on tap with three sessions available on Friday night and two on Saturday and at $ 25 a ticket that’s a deal. The $ 25 dollars gets you a small tasting glass and 6 tasting tickets and for an extra $ 2 a piece for more tickets. This year they had Where Ya At Matt, Skillet, Snout & Co, Might O donuts and Bluebird ice cream there as well.
This is one of my favorite events of the year. The breweries and their brew masters really experiment with the beers they bring. My favorites this year were the Russian River Pumpkin Sour Ale, Georgetown’s Pumpkin Ale, Bainbridge Island Brewing’s Whiskey Jack and two from Elysian, the Coche de Medianoche, Mexican spiced pumpkin ale and the Mulligatawny Moon Curry Pumpkin Ale. Amazing Indian curry spices in a beer, all I needed was basmati rice and some naan bread! Great event thrown by great people, Elysian you rock!