Last Saturday night, I attended the Cambridge Brewing Company Great Pumpkin Festival. It was a festival that offered a large selection of pumpkin beers alongside the typical Halloween festivities of the weekend. CBC is a brewpub, much like Watch City Brewing Co. in Waltham. It offers beer that is produced on-site paired with food from the kitchen. This article will be focusing on the festival as a whole instead of on any specific beers, as I had around 10 samples of beer. I will just highlight a few of the best. Stay tuned for a full review in the coming weeks.Upon arriving, the wait to get in to the festival stretched down the block. We were given a tasting glass and the ability to buy drink tickets, each ticket equaling four ounces. This was done to manage the number of orders being taken by keeping money and tab issues at the ticket counter and away from the bar. The system was nice, as it allowed one to have the freedom to try a little taste of everything or to have a full pint of a few beers, depending on his or her preference.

I should start by defining pumpkin beers. These beverages are often made with a mixture of pumpkin and autumn spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, among others. I typically find these drinks to be very unbalanced and gimmicky, being too much like other malt beverages than real beer. But given the varieties at this festival-30 different beers, eight made by Cambridge itself-I got excited to give pumpkin beers another shot.

I started with Spinal Pumpkin, an 11.5 percent alcohol barley wine that had been aged for 2 years. This beer was delicious; you couldn't taste the alcohol, and there was a nice blend of spice and pumpkin with a sweet, malty backbone. This was a great start to the evening.

Next I moved onto the O.P.P., a sour pumpkin porter also from 2008. This beer began with a subtle mix of chocolate and sweet pumpkin tastes which quickly switched over to a sour punch that lingered on the tongue. This beer was aged for 2 years with bacteria that gives the beer its pungent finish. I will talk more about sour beers next week, when I attend Beeradvocate's Belgian Beer Fest.

I then sat down for dinner. Pumpkin Fest boasted numerous pumpkin dishes, each paired with locally produced food. As I waited for my dinner, I enjoyed Cambridge Black Magic, a pumpkin stout with chilis and chocolate. I have never had a chili beer before, and this one gave me a good impression. The drink tasted like a chocolate stout that finished with a bit of a kick. The spice was perfectly balanced by the pumpkin flavor that kept it from getting overbearing.

As I enjoyed the beer, my dinner was served. I had a pumpkin ale and honey-glazed Long Island duck breast, curried parsnip puree, roasted bosc pear and sautéed swiss chard. The dish was well-seasoned and cooked to perfection. All the flavors blended perfectly together, and the duck was amazing. At $19, the dish was a bit on the pricey side, but it was well worth splurging because it kept me full for the rest of the night. Next was Dogfish Head Punkin. This beer was a traditional pumpkin ale and gave off an overpowering pumpkin flavor. While not terrible, among all the beers I had tried, this was the weakest. It embodied everything I don't like about the pumpkin-beer style.

After this came the Alchemist Uncle Daddy. This beer was a Saison, a lighter Belgian style known for its yeast flavors, and it blended a subtle pumpkin flavor with the typical peppery citrus yeast notes. This was a wonderfully executed beer; it was tasty and enjoyable.

Over the course of the night, CBC tapped several very rare kegs of beer. The most-notable and best beer at the festival, was Allagash Ghoulship, which was tapped near the end of the night. This was a sour, unseasoned pumpkin ale that was aged for 2 years in an oak barrel. The mix of pumpkin texture and sour and wine-flavored oak made this one tasty brew. Everything blended perfectly, and it certainly goes in my short list of best beers I've ever had.

The night concluded with the tapping of the great pumpkin. CBC filled a pumpkin with its Great Pumpkin Ale and served it right from the pumpkin. It was a near-religious procession that carried on outside the bar, with bar workers donning monk garb and hauling the pumpkin out to the serving area. While the drink itself was nothing particularly life-changing, it was probably one of the coolest ways I've ever been served a beer.

Overall, CBC Pumpkin Fest was a wonderful experience that made for a memorable Halloween night. No matter if you are an aficionado or just starting out with beer, there was something for everyone, and I highly recommend this festival when it happens next year.