Here at Tröegs, we started working with local ingredients back in 2002. And now – almost a quarter of a century later – we’re using more than we ever imagined possible!

Each year, we brew with a few tons of Pennsylvania grain. Our holiday favorite Mad Elf is sweetened with 25,000 pounds of local honey. We even source a cornucopia of seasonal ingredients for our Snack Bar from farms and producers right in our own backyard.

And once fall sets in and pumpkin beer season arrives, we brew Master of Pumpkins with 3,000 pounds of longneck pumpkins grown and harvested right here in Pennsylvania.

It takes a long time to plant, raise, pick, slice, clean and roast all those crooked beauties, but if you ask us, Master of Pumpkins is worth the wait.

“To us, a pumpkin beer should use real pumpkins,” says our brewmaster and co-founding brother John Trogner. “Fortunately for us, Pennsylvania has the perfect climate for growing them. We love using ingredients we can find right in our own backyard, and we think our fans appreciate this beer’s connection to local agriculture.”

Pumpkin planting in Pennsylvania happens early in the year… when Mother Nature says it’s OK, of course. For Master of Pumpkins, we use longneck pumpkins, a hearty heirloom variety that tastes similar to butternut squash. Fun fact: each pumpkin can weigh up to 20 pounds!

Then, around late August or early September, we get a delivery of ripe pumpkins, and our brewing team swings into action, de-stemming and roasting every last one of them right in our kitchen.

Finally, we purée every last gourd and the whole lot goes right in our mash tun at the start of the brewing process. It’s a labor of love and brewery-wide effort to bring this beer to life!

Once all of the pumpkins have been processed, it’s time to bring in some time-honored flavors of the fall season. Our spice mix lends notes of nutmeg, cinnamon and clove with a hint of vanilla, and a Belgian yeast strain amplifies the dried spice notes. And it’s all layered atop a backbone of caramel malt.

Master of Pumpkins is now available on draft and in 16-oz. cans everywhere our beer is sold… including our brewery. You can also use our Brew Finder to track some down near you!