16 Mile tells the story of Halloween with Soul Cake Ale

All it took was a program about Halloween on the History Channel, and 16 Mile Brewery was off and running on its latest brew for the Heraldry Series – Soul Cake Ale.

The beer tells the origin story of Halloween in a unique beer-centric way. Claus Hagelman, the brewery's director of sales and marketing, said they wanted to release a new beer during the festival season, but didn't want to be pigeonholed into a pumpkin- or Oktoberfest-style brew. The story of soul cakes fit in perfectly, he said.

At the beginning of the Middle Ages, he said, people who had lost a loved one in the last year would bake a soul cake – a small round cookie-like cake with a cross on top. Then between All Hallows Eve and All Saints Day, children and the poor would come and beg for soul cakes.

“By eating it, supposedly, they would help free souls from purgatory,” Hagelman said. “The whole concept behind going to door to door asking for treats stems from this old English tradition.”

And English history is exactly what 16 Mile is looking for in its Heraldry Series. In fact, nearly all of 16 Mile's beers are English based, and they have an ongoing relationship with English brewery Copper Dragon, who has brewed their own version of 16 Mile's Amber Sun Ale.

For Soul Cake Ale, Hagelman said, they made a maltier version of the amber and then imperialized it to 9 percent ABV. They then added nutmeg, all-spice and fireball whiskey.

The beer will be released for Halloween weekend and should be available on draft at many area restaurants statewide, on the Eastern Shore and in Annapolis. It will also be on tap at 16 Mile's tavern in Georgetown. Soul Cake will be available through November.

This is the fourth beer in the brewery's Heraldry Series. It joins Battle of Waterloo (strong ale), Made in the Shade (black IPA) and 1872 (imperial porter). The brewery also has a Collaboration Series and an Off the Grid Series. In the Collaboration, they work with a chef, another brewery or someone else to create a beer and a portion of the proceeds go to charity. Off the Grid allows 16 Mile to move away from its heavy influenced English styles, creating brews like tropical pale ale with grapefruits and mangos or a watermelon blonde ale.

For more information about 16 Mile and its various beers, go to www.16milebrewery.com.