Avery Brewing Continues its Pumpkin Harvest with Rumpkin Rum Barrel-Aged Beer Release 9/28

Boulder, CO –

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This is the fourth year Avery has brewed Rumpkin, a 16.73% ABV pumpkin ale aged for four months in fresh rum barrels. While the first three batches were extremely well-received, the availability was far too limited, so Founder and CEO Adam Avery tripled its production.

“The demand for our barrel-aged beers has been much bigger than what we could produce, so we’ve put a huge emphasis on increasing the barrelage of these projects. We need to keep pushing the envelope.”

Last year Avery made 600 cases of Rumpkin and this year they made 1600, plus 2000 cases of Pump[KY]n. “The pumpkin harvest at the brewery was huge this year!” joked Avery.

Avery’s Chief Barrel Herder Andy Parker says this beer isn’t easy to make. “You have to take the time to make sure the barrels properly mature, and it’s hard to get yeast to do what they need to do in 16 percent alcohol.”

Avery used 2300 pounds of pumpkin to make this brew—7.5 pounds per barrel—and added 38 pounds of cinnamon, 32 pounds of nutmeg, 25 pounds of allspice, and 4 pounds of ginger. “The idea behind Rumpkin was a pumpkin pie soaked in rum,” says Avery. “And I think we definitely nailed it.”

The name Rumpkin was easy to come up with. “Just like with the name Pump[KY]n, we changed one letter and we’re able to describe exactly what’s in the beer.”