If you want someone to reassure you of your social prowess, look no further, because I can all but guarantee that your Halloween was more exciting than mine. I spent most of it writing an essay about marriages between old men and young women — that’s not to say that the gender binary isn’t scary, but it’s difficult to turn the Patriarchy into a viable costume.

But that’s no need for a dash of bitters on my part. Now that Halloween is over, the pressure to create drinks with eyeball garnishes is off, but the delightful autumn ingredients are still there just in time for Thanksgiving. Pumpkin ale, in particular, is something I tried for the first time a few weeks ago; it’s a gentle, spicy ale with a distinct pumpkin flavor, and even people who don’t generally like beer can enjoy it. What’s more, the ale is great in something I’ve been wanting to make for a while: beer liqueur.

Beer liqueur, which I found on bartender Jamie Boudreau’s blog some time ago, is fairly simple. I used Kennebunkport Pumpkin Ale, but there’s a wide range of possibilities, from light ales to something like a Saranac Black Forest.

Beer Liqueur

1. Pour a 12-ounce bottle of beer into a bowl or glass and stir.

2. Refrigerate overnight; this will release the remaining carbon dioxide. You’ll have a flat beer after that, but that’s really the point.

3. Heat the beer to boiling over high heat, while slowly adding 14 ounces of granulated sugar and stirring continuously. Do this in a large pot; I found myself scraping sugary beer off the stove when mine boiled over.

4. When a large amount of foam has appeared in the pot, turn off the heat and let the mixture cool, skimming off any remaining foam.

5. Add 10 ounces of vodka; this will thin the liqueur and act as a preservative. Bottle and refrigerate.

The pumpkin ale liqueur, like the ale itself, is sweet and retains the original flavor; however, it also has thick, malty undertones and a gorgeous orange color. The problem, of course, is what to do with it. In many respects, it’s the perfect answer to the pumpkin liqueur problem. Spicy, not too sweet, attractive, and versatile: It’s everything that ordinary pumpkin schnapps aren’t. Since the liqueur seemed to call for a dark liquor base, I paired it with Evan Williams Black Label bourbon and added a little green Chartreuse for some earthy notes. The resulting cocktail tasted similar to the Manhattan (bourbon or rye, Angostura bitters and sweet vermouth), so, for now, I’m calling it the Minuit, after the man who bought Manhattan Island for $24 in trade goods. If that sounds like a bargain, it really was for both sides: The tribe he paid, by all accounts, had no rights to the island.

Minuit Cocktail

2 oz Evan Williams Black Label bourbon

1 oz pumpkin ale liqueur

1/4 oz Green Chartreuse

Stir on ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a bourbon or maraschino cherry.

If I had the resources, I would try this cocktail with a less-sweet bourbon (maybe Wild Turkey or Knob Creek), or a rye like Rittenhouse. For now, though, it’s a sweet, muted cocktail that bears a striking visual resemblance to Cornell’s apple cider, another drink that you don’t have any excuse to avoid right now.