This is one that I hadn’t anticipated when I originally started collecting the beers that would form this year’s Spooky Finger Puppet Ghost Month. But, Halloween is a season that’s full of surprises.

So, when Michelle and I found ourselves in Aldi at the tail-end of September and I saw a sixer of State of Brewing’s Pumpkin Ale for $8, I couldn’t help myself.

The Spooky Finger Puppet Ghost Month train keeps a-rolling with our second pumpkin beer of the season: Off Color's Pumpkin Beer for Cafés.

You remember when I discussed the brewery's Waddle last month? I mentioned how it was a limited drop that didn't reach Ohio and how, luckily, my folks were able to grab some for me when it hit shelves in Michigan? Well, wouldn't you know the exact same thing happened with this pumpkin ale? Since it hit the market right around the time Waddle did, my parents were able to snag some of this for me, too. This one's for you, Mom and Dad.

It's finally that mystical time of year, when the fabric of the veil begins to wane and the nights grow all the cooler, darker, and longer. I've spent the better part of today at my favorite Oktoberfest celebration but I'm always ready to revel in the murkier parts of the the Halloween season.

As such, we have the blog's first pumpkin ale of the season: North High's Farm Hand. How is it? Let's find out.

This is it: The official end of the blog's Oktoberfest season. It's become something of a tradition in recent years to see September off with an actual German Oktoberfest. 

To that end, we have Hacker-Pschorr's Oktoberfest Märzen today. This is one of the few beers you can get at the true Oktoberfest celebration (the one in Munich). Only six breweries--all Munich-based--are allowed to serve at the festival. Let's get the cap off my bottle and see what all the German-inspired fuss is about.