Great Pumpkin

About the Great Pumpkin

The Great Pumpkin is a seasonal riff on a beer flip, combining pumpkin ale, apple brandy, and Timber Creek Florida Black Rye Whiskey with a whole egg and maple syrup, dry-shaken and then shaken with ice before straining into a chilled fizz glass. The result is rich and custardy, closer to a boozy dessert than a standard cocktail, with warm spice and roasted pumpkin notes running through the whole drink. To build it, first swirl the pumpkin ale gently to knock down some of its carbonation, since a fully fizzy beer doesn’t shake well with egg.

Combine the beer, apple brandy, Black Rye Whiskey, grated nutmeg, whole egg, and maple syrup in a shaker, dry-shake without ice to emulsify the egg, then add ice and shake again hard before straining into a chilled fizz glass. The double shake is essential here, exactly as it is in any egg cocktail, to get a stable, silky foam rather than a loose, watery texture. This recipe splits its spirit base evenly between Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy and Timber Creek Florida Black Rye Whiskey, roughly one ounce each, so the apple brandy is not a minor accent but a co-equal partner to the Timber Creek pour.

The rye’s spice and grain character, built through the distillery’s PureBlend process, still comes through clearly against the apple brandy’s fruitier profile and the pumpkin ale’s malt sweetness, giving the drink a whiskey-forward backbone even though the apple brandy carries real weight of its own. Serve the Great Pumpkin as a fall dessert cocktail alongside pumpkin pie, roasted squash, candied pecans, spiced cake, or roasted turkey; it’s built for a holiday table more than a bar cart. Because it combines beer, two spirits, and a whole egg, treat it as a rich, occasional drink rather than a session pour, and always drink responsibly.

The Great Pumpkin is a seasonal riff on a beer flip, combining pumpkin ale, apple brandy, and Timber Creek Florida Black Rye Whiskey with a whole egg and maple syrup, dry-shaken and then shaken with ice before straining into a chilled fizz glass. The result is rich and custardy, closer to a boozy dessert than a standard cocktail, with warm spice and roasted pumpkin notes running through the whole drink. To build it, first swirl the pumpkin ale gently to knock down some of its carbonation, since a fully fizzy beer doesn’t shake well with egg.

Combine the beer, apple brandy, Black Rye Whiskey, grated nutmeg, whole egg, and maple syrup in a shaker, dry-shake without ice to emulsify the egg, then add ice and shake again hard before straining into a chilled fizz glass. The double shake is essential here, exactly as it is in any egg cocktail, to get a stable, silky foam rather than a loose, watery texture. This recipe splits its spirit base evenly between Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy and Timber Creek Florida Black Rye Whiskey, roughly one ounce each, so the apple brandy is not a minor accent but a co-equal partner to the Timber Creek pour.

The rye’s spice and grain character, built through the distillery’s PureBlend process, still comes through clearly against the apple brandy’s fruitier profile and the pumpkin ale’s malt sweetness, giving the drink a whiskey-forward backbone even though the apple brandy carries real weight of its own. Serve the Great Pumpkin as a fall dessert cocktail alongside pumpkin pie, roasted squash, candied pecans, spiced cake, or roasted turkey; it’s built for a holiday table more than a bar cart. Because it combines beer, two spirits, and a whole egg, treat it as a rich, occasional drink rather than a session pour, and always drink responsibly.