Fall is a fantastic season if you enjoy change, beautiful scenery, and crisp outdoor happenings.

Fall is a terrible season if you happen to be a gourd…

Somewhere around mid-Autumn, the Great Pumpkin Slaughter begins. And perhaps ground zero for the decimation of innocent pumpkins is the Cambridge Brewing Company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The brewers blow through dozens upon dozens of 10-barrel batches of the pub’s Great Pumpkin ale. And to make each batch, the brewers have to hand-cut 150 pounds of pumpkins. This is a near-thankless task that the dedicated brewers (Will Meyers, Megan Parisi, and Kevin O’Leary) hope will one day be automated…or that there will be an international pumpkin plague that wipes out the gourd, leaving only happy hoppy beers in its wake.

Tomorrow is the second annual Great Pumpkin Festival at CBC (from 4 pm – 1 am) and here are the details…

This event will feature 6 CBC Pumpkin brews alongside 14 Pumpkin beers from breweries like Elysian, Iron Hill, the Alchemist, Dogfish Head, Southern Tier, Allagash, Jolly Pumpkin, and more!

Executive Chef David Drew has also whipped up an amazing pumpkin inspired menu.

And of course The Great Pumpkin Festival would not be complete without the sacrificial tapping of the 150 pound giant pumpkin filled with “cask� pumpkin beer by robed monks and offered to the masses.

$10 gets you in and your very own “Great Pumpkin Festival 2009” limited edition glass. Then, it’s in to the festival to buy tickets to sample the brews honoring the great gourd.

And don’t forget your costume…it is Halloween after all.

‘Tis the season to celebrate the slaughter of your favorite gourd…

(image courtesy of Will Meyers’ wonderfully creepy imagination)