This Simple Trick Takes Pumpkin Beer to the Next Level

Brewers have been experimenting with pumpkin since colonial times, but the pumpkin beers we know today didn’t appear until the early 1980s. As the story goes, California-based photographer and brewer Bill Owens adapted a recipe attributed to George Washington, and added pumpkin pie spice to the second batch after finding the first lacked distinct flavor.

Since then, brewers nationwide have released their own pumpkin beers each fall, usually flavored with spices that mimic pumpkin pie flavor rather than actual pumpkin. While these beers still have their fans, many drinkers dismiss them as cloyingly sweet, over-spiced novelty beers.

But in New England, bartenders have leaned into that gimmickry — and turned it into a strength. The trick is simple: Rim a glass with cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar before pouring the beer.

The garnish has no sole inventor. However, the co-founder of Maine’s Shipyard Brewing Co., Fred Forsley, told Boston.com in 2017 that the practice began eight or nine years prior “by intrepid Massachusetts bartenders.” Ever since, it’s become fairly standard for servers to rim glasses of Shipyard’s seasonal Pumpkinhead Ale in the Boston area.

Due to its popularity, Shipyard has embraced the garnish and even used it as a marketing tool, selling circular trays filled with the rimmer mix. In 2017, brewery president Bruce Forsley claimed that roughly 90 percent of Shipyard’s on-premise accounts had the garnish on offer at the time. The brewery now leans into the style and garnish in cheeky social media posts when Pumpkinhead season arrives.

The cinnamon-sugar rim has spread far beyond Pumpkinhead Ale. At Sam Adams’ Boston Tap Room, staff finish pours of the brewery’s Jack-O Pumpkin Ale with caramel and cinnamon sugar. Talea Beer Co. in Williamsburg rims its Basically Pumpkin Fall Ale the same way. The garnish has made its way to bars in Upstate New York and breweries as far south as New Jersey.

Not everyone is on board, though. Some purists argue that it “ruin[s] really good pumpkin ale,” and there is some merit to questioning why garnish a beer with cinnamon, sugar, and nutmeg when those ingredients are already in the brew? But the same could be said of Blue Moon, which is brewed with orange peels and often garnished with an orange wedge, a flourish that has only helped cement its success.

So this fall, decide for yourself: Sugar-coat a glass of pumpkin beer and taste the difference.

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