Now that fall is here, it’s time to put away those light lagers and golden ales of summer. Cooler weather calls for heartier beer. While many people reach for Märzens (or Oktoberfest beers), brown ales, red ales, amber ales, porters or stouts, there are many others that will satisfy your thirst at least as well or perhaps even better than those typical fall beers.
A quick word on pumpkin beers: If you love the myriad pumpkin drinks that inevitably show up each fall, you’ll be happy to know that you’ll have no trouble getting your fill this October. And if that’s your passion, I won’t try to stop you. But here are a few more interesting suggestions.
Maple beers
Brewing with maple syrup is nothing new, but it’s not as common an addition as many other ingredients. It adds a unique sweetness and texture to the beer that’s perfect for fall, whether or not you’re having pancakes too.
Check out Oakland’s Original Pattern Brewing Co., which makes Banshee, a maple brown ale that is brewed with Vermont maple syrup. Also, Founder Brewing Co.‘s famous Kentucky Breakfast Stout has a cousin called Canadian Breakfast Stout that adds maple syrup to the imperial chocolate coffee stout. Sierra Nevada also makes one called Trip in the Woods Maple Scotch, but it’s only available on draft.
Fresh hop ales
Fall is also harvest time, when many crops are picked — including hops. in the 1990s, Sierra Nevada pioneered the concept of wet hop beers, now more commonly called fresh hops, when they made Harvest Ale for the first time in 1996. These are beers brewed with fresh, unkilned hops taken from the field directly to the brew kettle, with no drying or heating in between. The goal is to get them brewing as soon as possible after they’ve been picked.
This process creates beer with hop aromas that are off the charts. Many brewers make these in small batches, and only a few bottle or can them, so your best bet is to keep an eye out for these beers at your local bar. If you see one, act quickly, because they don’t last long. The freshness imparted by the wet hops starts to dissipate quickly, and they’re generally best for only a few short weeks.
Dubbels
Dubbels began in the Belgian Trappist breweries, where they were created in part to get the monks through the Lenten fasts each year. Most of the year, the monks drank table beer, low-alcohol, everyday beer that was essentially a “single.” The Trappist Westmalle monastery introduced the first Dubbel in 1922, and many others make dubbels now, too. The name refers simply to the doubling of ingredients used.
These brews tend to be around 6 to 8% alcohol by volume, offering an extra oomph that takes the chill off a fall day. They’re usually a deep copper color with a sweet malt taste profile, a full body and complex flavors of dark fruit, with a dry finish.
Tripels
If double is good, triple must be better, right? I suspect that was the thinking in 1934, when Westmalle first introduced its 9% ABV Tripel. Unlike the dark dubbel, tripels are bright golden in color with a complex nose of fruit and spices. They also have a sweet and spicy flavor, and are surprisingly easy drinking given their strength. And they tend to finish clean, crisp and dry.
Westmalle Tripel is the gold standard, but there are many other good ones, both from Belgium and made by American brewers, such as Chimay Tripel (White), Allagash Tripel, Laughing Monk’s Third Circle and Sante Adairius Rustic Ales’ Meh…, a tripel made with Prairie Artisan Ales.
In general, what you want in a fall beer is something with a fuller body and slightly stronger flavors and/or alcohol, which helps, as the saying goes, to warm the cockles of one’s heart.
Other beers to look for include nut brown ales (ales brewed with some type of nut) or mushroom beers. Both are rarer these days, but are perfect for this time of year.
Another style that’s largely died out on our shores is the British Strong Bitter (sometimes referred to as an ESB), but East Brother Beer Co.’s fall seasonal is called English-Style Pub Ale and is a heady example of this style. At 7.5% ABV, it will warm you nicely on a cool, fall evening by the fire.
Contact Jay R. Brooks at BrooksOnBeer@gmail.com.
