SEATTLE — Nearly 3,000 beer lovers gathered Saturday, Oct. 3, for Elysian Brewing’s 22nd annual Great Pumpkin Beer Festival, an evening of pumpkin beers, costumes, live entertainment, food trucks and the ceremonial tapping of the brewery’s signature Great Pumpkin.
The festival ran from 4 to 10 p.m. at Elysian’s Capitol Hill brewery at 1221 E. Pike St., with the event footprint expanding onto Pike Street and 13th Avenue. Elysian billed the festival as a celebration of more than 60 pumpkin, seasonal, fresh-hop and specialty beers and ciders from breweries and cideries across the region and beyond.
The 2026 festival marked the second consecutive year Elysian brought its longtime celebration back to the Capitol Hill location, the site of the brewery’s original pub. Last year’s festival drew roughly 5,000 people over two days.
This year’s festivities began when the gates opened at 4 p.m. Music and entertainment continued throughout the evening, with DJ Supreme LaRock providing music and Jeff Richards serving as emcee. Performers from Flame Buoyant also took the stage.
The evening’s schedule included the costume contest at 6 p.m., followed by the Great Pumpkin Pie Eating Contest at 7 p.m. The names of the winners were not available.
At 8 p.m., Elysian Brewing co-founder David Buhler carried out one of the festival’s signature traditions: tapping the Great Pumpkin.
The several-hundred-pound pumpkin is prepared by being scooped, scorched, filled with pumpkin beer, sealed and conditioned before being tapped during the festival. Elysian describes the ritual as a centerpiece of the annual celebration.
The festival also offered attendees something beyond beer: aura readings.
Elysian partnered with Auragami for the experience after Elysian Brewing Experience Manager Noah Prokopowicz met the Auragami team while visiting Los Angeles earlier this year. Prokopowicz immediately thought the experience would be a natural fit for the Great Pumpkin Beer Festival, according to Elysian.
The festival’s food offerings included Monster Dogs, Dumpling Czar and Isidro’s taco truck, giving attendees options to pair with the event’s extensive beer and cider selection.
The 2026 beer list featured 51 unique beers and ciders from Elysian and guest breweries and cideries, including several pumpkin-focused offerings as well as IPAs, stouts, lagers, sours and ciders.
Among Elysian’s offerings were the brewery’s signature Great Pumpkin, Night Owl Pumpkin Ale and Punkuccino Coffee Pumpkin Ale, as well as the higher-alcohol Rye Barrel-Aged Pumpkin Old Fashioned and The Gourdfather.
The festival also featured offerings from breweries including Mother Earth Brewing Company, Old Stove Brewing Co., Hopworks Brewery, Urban Family Brewing, Ghostfish Brewing Company, Postdoc Brewing Company, Lucky Envelope Brewing, Dru Bru, Fort George Brewery, Métier Brewing Company and 3 Floyds Brewing, among others.
Elysian’s Great Pumpkin Beer Festival has become one of the brewery’s signature annual celebrations. The festival’s history stretches back more than two decades, with the 2026 event marking its 22nd anniversary. Elysian said the original festival featured fewer than 10 beers; the modern event now showcases dozens of seasonal and specialty offerings.
With the Great Pumpkin tapped and another October night in the books, the festival once again served as Elysian’s unofficial kickoff to the fall pumpkin-beer season in Seattle.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
