Lunar Harvest
Ghostfish Brewing Co.

DATE: September 7, 2025... OCCASION: finishing the "last weekend with Will" watching The Return of the King, at his behest... GLASSWARE: nonick... an orange amber body with stable, slow-moving bubbles building a sudsy froth, swiftly settling into an off-white ring... nice color, average activity, fleeting head... nutmeg, allspice and ginger meld with brown sugar and vanilla to offer an alluring, seasonal aroma... light to medium-bodied, approximating a cider, though it possesses more effervescence than that... its ABV undetectable, it leaves little at the finish... its flavor, on the other hand, is worth embracing: the vanilla and allspice evoke a Thanksgiving treat--not quite pie, it has a dessert-like sweetness through caramel and candy... this doesn't punch like Departed Soles' Ghosts of Pumpkins Past (which I also picked up Friday), but its flavor profile is more diverse and playful... another gluten-free victory: this may not have the low-end malt payoff of other glutenous offerings, but what it delivers is a low-ABV, flavorful fall experience...

 

 

 

Pours a clear orangey amber with virtually no foam. Spicy smell like Christmas. Pretty flat on the tongue, though you don't notice because the taste is so shocking. Astoundingly sweet, between the syrup and the lactose. Intense yeasty taste as in a Tripel, amplified by so much clove that it goes right up your nose into your brain. I will say the millet-buckwheat taste is not as bad here as I remember. Too bad it is so spiced up and sugared as to render it undrinkable.

There are beers made from traditional ingredients that have the gluten reduced by an enzyme to 20 parts per million, according to Duckfoot Brewing. If that's too much, I'd recommend a bowl of kasha with a shot of Polish vodka.

 

In terms of gluten free beer, this could be the best I've ever had the privilege of drinking. If you're forced into drinking gluten free like I am, and sadly disappointed in the options you've come across, don't be hesitant to try this one. It's a solid seasonal option and this is my favorite season for beer. Cheers to Ghostfish for putting this together and giving me some semblance of real beer.

 

Pint can of 2020 Lunar Harvest Pumpkin Ale from Ghostfish gluten free brewery. Rejected by a gluten-free-beer-drinking friend. Served in a pint can. Beer is clear and surprisingly pale for a pumpkin ale. Soda bubbles and little head formation. Traditional pumpkin pie spice aroma, not too bad. Flavor doesn't bother me too much, but there's a generic bitterness which doesn't sit right with me, and distracts from either pale ale hoppiness or spice flavor. There's no vegetal/gourd pumpkin flavor to speak of, and the malt flavor is all off, as I guess you're stuck with in a gluten free beer.

This is the best, and only, gluten free pumpkin ale I've ever had. And I've had plenty of worse pumpkin beers. But among gluten free beers I can understand why even this one would be turned down.

A: The beer is clear yellowish orange in color and has a moderate amount of visible carbonation. It poured with a short white head that quickly settled down, leaving a narrow collar around the edge of the glass.
S: Moderately strong aromas of pumpkin pie spices are present in the nose.
T: The taste follows the smell, but has stronger flavors of pumpkin pie spices - ginger and nutmeg really seem to stand out in particular.
M: It feels light- to medium-bodied on the palate and has a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This beer seemed a bit lighter compared to others in the style and was all about the pumpkin pie spices - I didn't really get much in the way of pumpkins or malts.

Serving type: can

Beautiful amber-orange body; incredible amount of small bubble carbonation rising; head is thin, white, yet lasting. Excellent aroma bringing together all the classic pumpkin and spice notes one would expect. The flavor delivers a strong roasted pumpkin taste interspersed with balanced caramel; sweet and deftly spiced with seasonal goodness; some esters in the background; late developing bitterness, but more like charred sugar. Medium-heavy body; oily and chewy with residual sugars; heavy sweetness overall.

The smell and taste get props for not being so heavy-handed with the fall spices that some beers have a tendency to do. The looks suffer only with a lackluster head, but otherwise, this is one mighty fine pumpkin ale.