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I have a new favourite YouTube video. It has nothing to do with cats, which is a departure for me. A woman does things to a pumpkin with a paring knife. She hollows it out from the top in the usual jack-o'-lantern way, then carves a single, small hole about the size of a dime in the side (roughly halfway between the widest "equator" point and the bottom). Into this hole, she inserts a plastic spigot, then pours several bottles of Samuel Adams Pumpkin Ale into the pumpkin. Presto: nature's perfect beer keg.

It may not be the sort of arts-and-crafts project suitable for your little Spider-Man or Cinderella at Halloween. But it's a fun trick for embellishing the adult treat I prefer at this time of year – rich, malty autumnal beer. In recent years, there's been speedy growth on Canadian shelves in two categories: pumpkin ales and so-called Oktoberfest-style lagers. They're both worth exploring, whether or not you can convince your brood that mommy and daddy's keg party is more important than carving a jack-o'-lantern for the porch.

You can easily guess what pumpkin ales might taste like. But if you guessed pumpkin, you'd be slightly off the mark in most cases. The dominant flavour tends to be not of the squash specifically but of pumpkin pie, the vehicle for most pumpkin-flesh consumption in North America. That means not only a rich, suggestive sweetness from the addition of actual pumpkin into the vat (these beers tend to be fairly dry, technically) but also a strong contribution from such baking spices as nutmeg, cinnamon, clove and allspice.

Examples vary widely, with some decidedly un-pie-like – in keeping with the original pumpkin ales of 18th-century North America – and others so reliant on the spice rack that they skip pumpkin as an ingredient altogether. I generally prefer my brews heavy on rich pumpkin flavour and light on spicing. Either way, these beers tend to be full and smooth, with moderate to low bitterness. They excel with cheeses.

A similarly broad spectrum can be found among Oktoberfest-style brews. What they have in common is a symbolic nod to Munich's mammoth annual beer festival, from which they take their name. And for the most part they are based, paradoxically, on a marzenbier – literally "March beer" – a reddish-brown, malt-forward and subtly hopped style usually weighing in at 5- to 6-per-cent alcohol.

March? Traditionally, much of the beer guzzled in copious, celebratory quantities in October came from kegs left over from spring. Before proper refrigeration, beer made in the summer tended to spoil because of all the active microbes in the air. To slake summer thirsts, German brewers would boost production in March, the last of the cold months, and stockpile casks for the warm season ahead. This marzenbier usually was crafted at higher alcohol so that it would keep better. By October, some of its aromatic hoppy bitterness would have faded, leaving a luscious, substantial, malt-forward brew that demanded to be consumed so that the barrels could be emptied and once again receive freshly made beer as the fall brewing season ramped up.

Celebrate Oktober – tap that pumpkin.

Brooklyn Brewery Post Road Pumpkin Ale (U.S.A.)

SCORE: 93 PRICE: $2.50/355 ml

From an excellent New York brewery, this clear, deep-amber beer is impressively complex and balanced. Flavours of peaches, apple, nutmeg and other spices take a ride on a pumpkin carriage. It's restrained and elegant for a flavoured brew. Available in Ontario. $15.45 for a six-pack in B.C.

Tree Brewing Jumpin Jack India Pumpkin Ale (British Columbia)

SCORE: 92 PRICE: $5.45/650 ml in B.C.

Tree Brewing has wisely balanced pumpkin with strongly bitter hops. Based on hyper-bitter India pale ale, this dark, cloudy-amber brew suggests peach, pine and citrus rind as well as subtle pumpkin essence and baking spices, as though Thanksgiving pie were cooling on a window ledge in an orchard near a spruce forest. It measures 6.5-per-cent alcohol. $5.35 in Ontario, $5.44 in Manitoba.

Shepherd Neame Spooks Ale (England)

SCORE: 92 PRICE: $3.35/500 ml

The name might frighten a person into believing this may be little more than a novelty. Bury the thought. The colour is beautiful, ruby-brown and clear, and the texture seductively silky. Malt-forward yet not overly sweet, it shows moderate carbonation and roasted, biscuit-like overtones and caramel as well as a strong, citrus-hop bitterness. At just 4.7-per-cent alcohol, it's not scary at all. Available in Ontario.

Grand River Brewing Highballer Pumpkin Ale (Ontario)

SCORE: 91 PRICE: $3.95/500 ml

Grand River's owner, Bob Hanenberg, grows pumpkins for this brew in his garden. I hope he gets a handsome tax writeoff because pumpkins, in my experience, take up a heck of a lot of precious garden space. Hazy orangeamber, the Cambridge, Ont. brew is the colour of a jack-o'-lantern. Spices come through in the aroma but are more subtle on the palate. It's smooth and creamy, with discernible pumpkin flavour along with cinnamon and nutmeg. Everything's integrated, supported by 5.2-per-cent alcohol. Available in Ontario. $5.04 in Newfoundland.

St-Ambroise Citrouille (Quebec)

SCORE: 90 PRICE: $9.95/four-pack

There's a good balance here of pumpkin flavour with aromatic cinnamon and clove. The profile is refreshingly dry for a pumpkin brew. It's flavourful yet clean, with 5-per-cent alcohol. Available in B.C. and Ontario.

Creemore Springs Oktoberfest Lager (Ontario)

SCORE: 89 PRICE: $5.95/625 ml

There's not much foamy head retention, which is likely to count as a drawback with beer enthusiasts, for whom appearance tends to count for much. I like the dry, grain, fall-foliage character in this 5.4-per-cent brew, subtle though it may be. Creemore seems to do that especially well. And it's creamy, with a moderately hoppy backbone to support notes of apricot and apple. Available in Ontario.

Rickard's Lederhosen (Canada)

SCORE: 87 PRICE: $9.50/four-pack

This is a Molson brand and thus this new seasonal brew has some convincing to do where craft-beer aficionados are concerned. It's a good effort with a nice marketing slogan: "Grab fall by the stein." A dark-amber lager registering an impressive 6.5-per-cent alcohol, it's rich, slightly sweet and velvety, with pronounced caramel maltiness, dried date and a hint of butterscotch supported by moderate bitterness. Well done. Available in Ontario.

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