It is often said that for a beer lover, this is a great time to be alive, because of the variety of excellent brews available. It can also be said that of any beer-drinking season, autumn offers perhaps the greatest appeal. After the lighter, thirst-quenching quaffs of summer, fall offers beers with welcome richness and complexity.
There are three basic styles of autumn beer.
Oktoberfest beers, also known as Marzen, are classic malt lagers with an average 5 percent alcohol by volume. Pumpkin beers can be ales or lagers, and they come in all styles, flavors and strengths.
Harvest ales usually feature local or seasonal ingredients. Louisiana brewery Abita, for example, produces Pecan Harvest Ale, a beer made with Louisiana pecans. Harvest ales are usually stronger in alcohol “to help warm the pipes,” according to the Brewers Association, which promotes American craft beer.
Jim Amato, owner of Urban Cellars in Charles Center and Roland Park Wines and Liquors, said he has already sold out of his pumpkin beers, which are made in limited quantity. Customers began asking for Brooklyn Brewery’s Post Road Pumpkin Ale in July, he added.
Seasonal ales are popular, Amato said, because beer drinkers are always looking for something new, especially at the beginning of a season.
“I’d say that some of the beer aficionados, like me, do welcome the return of more flavorful beers after what is often the summer doldrums of lighter beers brewed for the summer heat and humidity,” said Alexander D. Mitchell IV, a contributor to Mid-Atlantic Brewing News and author of the blog “Beer in Baltimore.”
Winter Storm is the best-selling seasonal beer for Baltimore’s Clipper City Brewing Co., said its managing partner, Hugh Sisson. Winner of a Gold Medal in the Brewers Association’s 2008 World Cup, Winter Storm is “a very rich-on-the-palate, aromatic ale,” said Sisson, with “resiny hop characteristics and a lingering bitterness.”
Clipper City also produces BaltoMarzHon, an Oktoberfest-style lager produced year-round.
While Sisson acknowledges the popularity of seasonal beers, he knows his bread and butter are in the beers he produces year-round.
“In craft beer, I think if you are producing really awesome seasonals, it’s clearly a way to lift the qualitative perception of your brewery in the minds of the beer geeks,” said Sisson. “But they are not the entire market.”
Both The Wine Source (the-wine-source.com) and Clipper City Brewing Co. (ccbeer.com ) are planning events this month celebrating autumn beers.
