Best 6 Beer Styles To Drink This Fall
What Are The Best Beer Styles To Drink This Fall?
The leaves are changing colors and as such, so are the beers we see on shelves and on tap. Pumpkin beers, Oktoberfests, ciders and stouts are among some of the most popular beers for fall every year and 2022 is no different.
This article covers the best styles to drink (with specific examples!) as temperatures drop and nights elongate. These beer styles feature a variety of flavors from malty sweetness to pumpkin spice.
Without further adieu, here are the best beer styles to drink this fall:
Stouts
Oktoberfests
Pumpkin beers
Brown Ales
Schwarzbiers
Ciders
1. Stouts
Stouts are one of the best beer styles for fall without a doubt. Their dark profiles are keen to please on a long fall evening. Stouts contain dark and roasty flavors and aromas with a subtle sweetness. They have notes of chocolate, coffee and caramel from the unmalted barley used to brew them. The sweetness in some stout styles, like the common American stout, is cut by hop additions.
As the temperatures drop during the fall, rich and flavorful stouts become a go-to on long nights beside a bonfire and good friends.
If you’re looking to try a few stouts this fall, excellent choices include:
Buck Snort Stout (North Country Brewing Company, 7%)
Warlock (Southern Tier Brewing Company, 8.6%)
Obsidian Stout (Deschutes Brewery, 6.4%)
2. Oktoberfests
Oktoberfests are the poster boy beer style for the fall season. Originating from the annual German festival, this style packs a punch of malty sweetness with little-to-no bitterness. They have a glistening golden or straw hue.
Some Oktoberfests, like Ayinger Oktoberfest, are highly carbonated. These beers are a staple for the fall season and are usually rolled out around the same time as pumpkin beers, making these two styles some of the most sought after during the fall season.
Some of the best Oktoberfest style beers to try this year include:
Ayinger Oktoberfest (Ayinger Brewery, 5.8%)
Samuel Adams Oktoberfest (Samuel Adams Brewing Company, 5.3%)
Great Lakes Oktoberfest (Great Lakes Brewing Company, 6.5%)
Weihenstephaner Festbier (Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan, 5.8%)
3. Pumpkin
It wouldn’t be fall season without pumpkins. And you know what that means – pumpkin beers! These beers come in a vast array of styles, but a common one is pumpkin ales.
Pumpkin ales are full-bodied with an assortment of flavors including pumpkin spice, pumpkin pie, brown sugar and cinnamon. They have a brown-orange to amber hue and have a prominent pumpkin or spiced aroma. Some of the best beers to warm up in the chilly weather are pumpkin beers.
There are plenty of pumpkin beers to choose from, but some of the best are:
Pumking (Southern Tier Brewing Company, 8.6%)
Pumpkin Head Ale (Shipyard Brewing Company, 4.5%)
Pumpkin Patch Ale (Rogue Ales, 6.1%)
Spooky Tooth (Fat Head’s Brewery, 9%)
4. Brown Ales
Brown ales are another darker beer for the cold fall days and nights. These sweet and malty beers are a refreshing style choice for the season. Brown ales contain notes of caramel and light chocolate with medium to high hop bitterness.
This style is a balance between sweet and bitter – a perfect harmony during this time of year. Some breweries, like Dogfish Head, make pumpkin brown ales to make the style even more appealing for fall.
The brown ale is a versatile style – some of the best fall ones to try this year are:
Dogfish Head Pumpkin Ale (Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, 7%)
Maduro (Cigar City Brewing, 5.5%)
Nut Brown Ales (AleSmith Brewing Company, 5%)
5. Schwarzbiers
Schwarzbiers are often referred to as black lagers and are reminiscent of the Dunkel style. These beers, however, are drier and offer a more roasted flavor. The schwarzbier is a great fall pick for those that aren’t into the pumpkin or Oktoberfest styles – you still get the feeling of drinking a darker and heavier beer to accentuate the chilly weather, but they’re smooth, crisp and go down incredibly easily.
Some of the best schwarzbiers or black lagers to dig into this year include:
Dark (The Alchemist, 5.5%)
Bones Shirt (Suarez Family Brewery, 4.9%)
Schwartz Bier Black Lager (Devils Backbone Brewing Company, 5.1%)
6. Ciders
Ciders are a pleasant alternative to beer for the fall. There’s nothing quite like drinking one on the porch or out by the fire on a fall evening. Ciders range widely in flavors because of the many different fruits you can use to make them. Fall ciders are often brewed with apples, pumpkin and sometimes even caramel. They can be sweet or dry, or somewhere in the middle. They also range widely in alcohol percentage.
Some of the best ciders to drink this fall would have to be:
Grant’s Flying Pumpkin (Arsenal Cider House, 8.5%)
Pumpkin Jack (McKenzie’s Hard Cider, 5%)
Spiced Cider (Austin Eastciders, 5%)
Woodchuck Pumpkin (Woodchuck Cidery, 5.5%)