Fall To Winter

Leaves of deep crimson, bright orange, plum, and gold cling to increasing bare tree limbs or scatter on the ground below. It’s a wonderful sight as it signals early to mid November, or Christmas for many beer aficionados. While there are still pumpkins, Marzen, and harvest beers lining the shelves, the winter seasonals, once-a-year beers that signal the holidays to come, are starting to arrive. This “between fall and winter seasonal” time is what I like to call The Most Wonderful Time of the Beer!
With the spastic weather happening right now, it’s great that the fall offerings are hanging on at our local shops. For those slightly warmer days, a bit of sun and a breeze across the brow, there’s still nothing like the clean, malty finish of an Oktoberfest. This style just screams “summer is well and over, commence to dropping leaves!”
Like me, you may be rapidly tiring of pumpkin ales. Certainly this year, no one could fault you. They arrived too early, there were just too many, and the punks weren’t able to stand out from all the other ‘pumpkin spiced’ foods and drinks on the market. However, buy a 6-pack or two, maybe a few of your favorite bombers and stash them until Thanksgiving; pumpkin ales serve as a great pairing for the big meal.
If you’re hop inclined, numerous harvest ales are at their peak right now. Harvest Ale from Founders Brewing Co. is one of the best and the flavors of juicy wet hops won’t get any fresher than this beautiful beer.
However, it’s the appearance of the cold weather beers, which signals the arrival of the holidaze. Winter seasonals come in several different styles and types, but they are just so fitting for the celebration season and different approaches to winter beer make for a fast-paced few months of tasting and buying brews that do not stay around very long, much like the holidays themselves.
The beers go by many different names, yet the most dominant style is actually winter warmer, however some call them holiday beers, others Christmas special brews, and some denote them holiday spiced selections. Whatever their title, brewers from all over have offered winter specialties for the gathering of family and friends over the holidays. The beers created for the cold winter months were made with strong flavors and higher alcohol levels, hence the name winter warmer.
To make the beers stand out from other dark, strong ales, and in keeping with the spices and flavors reminiscent of the holidays, many winter warmers will have flavors such as gingerbread, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, molasses, or even the essence of spruce, pine, or fruit trees in the profile. These spiced beers can be an amazing addition to the typical holiday fare.
The first to arrive were the average examples. New Belgium’s early winter beer, this year it is Accumulation white IPA and those from the other decent but boring breweries seem to ship out two seasonal releases for every season these days. Pass.
But it was the trio of Sierra Nevada’s Celebration Ale, Avery’s Old Jubilation, and Great Divide’s Hibernation Ale that had me wishing for a night in the 40s, a fire pit, and my wool cap.
Soon the Belgian winter seasonals will appear, those Belgian Strong Dark Ales made with rich, sweet malts, fruit and spices, dark and boozy and delicious. These beers are what the holidays are all about. Enjoy the brews … Cheers.
Gene’s Haufbrau has at more than 200 beers in bottles or on tap. Gene’s is located at 817 Savannah Hwy. 225-GENE. E-mail the Beer Snob at publisher@westof.net.