Oktoberfest is drawing to a close, but that doesn’t mean an end to beer festival season. Halloween is the biggest keg weekend of the year, and the pumpkin ales are already arriving.

Half Moon Bay ale: Half Moon Bay, which bills itself as the world’s pumpkin capital, is getting ready for its annual Art & Pumpkin Festival Oct. 15-16, a two-day celebration that will feature, among other squash delights, a special beer created by Half Moon Bay Brewing. Brewer James Costa calls his Pumpkin Harvest Ale a “twist on our one-of-a-kind amber ale.” It’s made with more than 600 pounds of locally-grown, roasted and spiced Sugar Pie pumpkins, which are added to the brew kettle during both the mash and the boil. The result, Costa believes, will be “a subtle pumpkin pie flavor balanced by a biscuity maltiness.” Several other pumpkin beers will be available, as well as other pumpkin-infused food and drinks. Find more details at pumpkinfest.miramarevents.com.

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Back to (beer) school! Five ways to get a beer education (Un)Real beer: A new, non-pumpkin collaboration beer is about to land and it’s a beer with a great back story — about a royal road trip. Shaun O’Sullivan, 21st Amendment’s brewmaster, was driving home from San Diego recently, when he stopped to pick up Mitch Steele, Stone Brewing’s former brewmaster (Steele has a new brewery project in the works now, by the way). The pair continued north, stopping in Paso Robles to pick up Firestone Walker’s brewmaster Matt Brynildson.

By the time they saw the San Francisco skyline, they had figured out what kind of collaborative beer they would make — and it’s unreal. Or rather, it’s El Camino (Un)Real, named for the King’s Highway that links California’s 21 missions from San Diego to Sonoma. The beer is a dark, strong ale (9.5 percent alcohol by volume) that’s not quite a stout and not really an IPA or a Black IPA either.

In addition to the malt and hops, the beer was brewed with dried mission figs, pink peppercorns, fennel and chia seeds, ingredients indigenous to their royal route between San Diego and the Bay Area. These give the beer a complex melange of herbal, fruit and spicy character. That’s the “unreal” part that defies easy description. But it sounds like a perfect Halloween treat of a beer. El Camino (Un)Real hits store shelves Oct. 10. Don’t be tricked out of trying it.

Boo brew: And finally, San Jose is hosting a two-day Broofest: A Nightmare on Alma Street Oct. 28-29. Organizers are describing it as a chance to “get freaky” at Municipal Stadium this Halloween. There will be more than 80 different beers, plus food, a costume contest, photo booth, apple bobbing and, of course, pumpkin beer.