The Great Pumpkin Beer Festival is coming back to Capitol Hill. Elysian Brewing’s annual celebration returns Saturday, October 3, with more than 60 pumpkin and fall harvest beers lined up at its newly renovated brewpub.

This year’s GPBF is getting a little tighter, too. The 22nd annual festival will take place over one day, from 4 to 10 p.m., rather than the weekend format of recent years. Expect breweries from around the country, plenty of pumpkin beer and, yes, the giant pumpkin.

We’ve been going to GPBF for years, from its days at Seattle Center to its return to Capitol Hill last year. The costumes change, the beers change, but we’re still here for that giant pumpkin keg.

We’ve tasted our way through plenty of those beers over the years, and I recently sampled Elysian’s Night Owl, Punkuccino and Great Pumpkin. It’s hard to pick a favorite out of the bunch. Night Owl leans into the classic pumpkin spice. Great Pumpkin is the bigger, bolder sibling at 8.4%. Punkuccino is the black sheep of the bunch, with cold brew coffee, cinnamon and nutmeg. If you like a little coffee and attitude with your beer, that one’s worth a try.

The giant pumpkin keg has become an iconic feature of the fest, and it’s back again this year. A several-hundred-pound pumpkin will be carved, scorched, filled with beer and tapped as night falls. If you’ve been there for the tapping, you know there’s something almost ritualistic about it. It’s Midsommar in the fall.

There’s plenty more happening beyond the beer, including live DJs, food trucks, a costume contest and the pumpkin pie-eating showdown. Elysian is also promising a few surprises, which we’ll have to wait until October to see.

Want to start pumpkin season early? Elysian’s Pumpkin Variety Pack is back on shelves, with Night Owl, Punkuccino and Great Pumpkin.

Tickets are on sale now. GPBF has sold out in the past, so if you want to be there, don’t wait until October to decide.

We’ll see you on Capitol Hill.