It's that time of year when we start seeing pumpkin beers or "harvest" brews lining the shelves. It's also Oktoberfest time in Germany, which prompts Americans to throw beer tastings and put down their summer mojitos in favor of stouts and ales.
We love beer year round, but we're looking forward to some of the spicy seasonal brews that are sold in September, October, and November. What about you? Let us know what fall beers you're looking forward to...
We love Blue Moon beers, so we're on the lookout for their Pumpkin Ale, above.
In addition to pumpkin, a lot of fall beers have sweet, Thanksgiving-ish flavors like cinnamon or clove in them. We recently saw a recipe for a pumpkin beer ice cream float with crumbled gingersnaps on top—and we're big fans of beer ice cream floats around here.
So, give us some new beers to taste. Which fall beers are your favorites?
Related: Summer Beer: Ayinger Bräu-Weisse
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i love seasonal autumn beers! by far my favorite is dogfish head's 'punkin ale'. where i am (about an hour north of philly) most distributors get a few cases in and if you don't buy them when you see them by the time halloween rolls around they will be completely sold out!
I'm not much of a beer drinker, but I always get pumpkin ale (Buffalo Bill's is the one most widely available here) because I like pumpkins.
Wow, Harvest Moon beer would have been so much better this past sunday than the piece of Durian mooncake I tried. :(
I don't really like any beer, but that pumpkin ale is kind of tempting...
But fall is the perfect time for hard cider. Back on the east coast I was loyal to Woodchuck. I haven't been able to find any in Seattle, though, so now I'm all about the delicious pear cider they have at Lowell's in Pike Place Market. =)
shipyard pumpkinhead is delicious!
best served in a pint glass, preferably at a bar
I don't like pumpkin beer, but the pumpkin beer float with ginersnaps does sound quite good.
Great autumn beer = Belgian Ale. Chimay, Duvel etc. mmmmm
shipyard pumpkin, yum, tastes like ginerbread cookies
I tried Harvest Moon for the first time about a month ago, I didn't really like it, but I will give it another try.
What I'm really liking right now is the Hofbrau and Warsteiner Oktoberfest beers. To me its all about the German beers.
I like shipyard pumpkin head and cisco pumpledrumkin for pumpkin ales.
I love Spaten Optimator in the fall.
I tried the harvest moon and found it to be too lite. I like heartier fall beers.
cambridge brewing company's pumpkin ale!
Guinness!
Guinness is year round. :)
Sam Adams has good fall selections. Octoberfest is good. Their variety pack for fall and winter are always excellent for my tastebuds.
I drink Belgians year 'round, but fall is the perfect time to embrace the reds and more spicy varieties! Hoegaarden and Blue Moon White are standard citrusy, floral summertime beers so it's all about Chimay and Delirium Tremens right now!
Definitely seconding the Sam Adams! If only I wasn't hugely pregnant this fall...I miss beer.
I second EricL. All about the German beers... Warsteiner (anytime) Oktoberfest, Paulaner Oktoberfest Marzen Amber, Ayinger Oktoberfest and the list goes on!
Prost!
If you're a DC/NoVA/MD person, please give Old Dominion Octoberfest a try. Spicy, hoppy, complex flavors. Yum! (and gotta love the stage on the bottle caps). It's probably the best Ocktoberfest that I've had in 2008.
mmm, cambridge brewing company's pumpkin ale - so good! (maybe one of the only reasons I miss living in boston)
dogfish heads punkin ale
and also tons of belgians :o)
Brooklyn Brewery's Oktoberfest beer is one of my favorites, and one I've been drinking quite a bit of lately. Really nice malty, not too heavy beer; great for a crisp autumn evening.
I third Paulaner.
It's a little early for pumpkin beers for me... I'm loving the oktoberfest beers, especially sam adams. A local brewpub here in the Cleveland area will have 25 taps of largely oktoberfest brews starting this? or next? weekend... can't remember. Guess it couldn't hurt to go find out...
shipyard pumpkinhead---oh my.
Sixpoint Craft Ales BROWNSTONE!
the best fall ale is weyerbacher imperial pumpkin ale. seriously, it makes dogfish head's punkin ale seem like water. the weyerbacher is so spicy and it smells like pumpkin pie! did mention it's 8% alcohol? <3 it. nice site x -melissa
http://www.nateandmelissa.net
Wachusett Octoberfest, i had one on draft Friday night and it tasted like heaven.
Anything labeled ESB is a good choice -- it was the British home-turf alternative to IPAs (at least that definition makes sense to me), but are a little heavier, rounder, and a lot less hoppy.
When winter rolls around -- bring on the STOUTS though.