Believe it or not, autumn is coming.  Football is back on the tube, the kids are heading back to school, and–here comes the best part–the fall beers are starting to make their appearance, like the natives returning to their beach towns after the summer tourists have finally fled.  It’s a mighty fine time of year!

This time I decided to go on an adventure of sorts, with the goal of mixing it up a bit between the seasonals I know and love and as many new contenders as I could find.  Given my appreciation of all things malt and hops, and seeing how it’s still early on, that’s a tad more difficult a task than you might imagine.  Luckily, however, my local beer retailers have been more than up to the task, and I’ve had the pleasure of finding a few things that I haven’t found before.  So let’s pop open a cold one, shall we?

Magic Hat Hex

For some reason, I’ve always been wary of Magic Hat brews.  Perhaps it’s because I took one look at their summer ale, saw that it was made with beet juice, and recoiled as if someone had just presented me with Bud Light Chelada as a gag gift.  After trying their Number 9 at my local Bonefih Grill, though, I took a leap of faith on this one and gave it a try.  It didn’t disappoint.  In fact, as American Octoberfests go, this one ranks among the tastier I’ve had.  The crisp mouthfeel offsets the notes of caramel quite nicely, leaving you with a damn clean finish–quite a feat for a malty beer.  You could easily have two or three of these in a session and not regret it.  With a nice label evocative of the witching season, it even makes a nice decoration for your Halloween party.  Definitely recommended.

Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin

Sure, the name of the brewery is a mouthful–but so is this beer, an annual favorite of mine for a while now.  Apparently the brewmasters heeded the complaints about running out of stock early last year, and ramped up production of this extraordinary ale.  It was actually the first of the pumpkin beers to hit my Total Wine, and boy was I happy to see it there on the shelf–in early August no less!  I even sent a few four-packs to a buddy of mine in Colorado, spreading the joy a little after a long, hot summer.

Imperial Pumpkin lives up to its name.  At 8% abv, it has a kick (as most Weyerbacher brews do)–so you’ll definitely want to go easy on this one, in spite of it going down remarkably easy.  Cinnamon and cloves give this beer its big taste, balanced out by the slight sweetness of the pumpkin.  It’s quite subtle, really, and an all-around great beer.  I’d put this one up against any of the winter warmers in terms of complexity.  Let’s just hope it stays around long enough for the weather to get colder!  Highly recommended.

Harpoon UFO Pumpkin

First year I’ve seen this one.  I’ve had Harpoon’s Unfiltered Offering (hence the UFO) before, so this one seemed like a nice safe bet.  I expected something just okay, kind of like Post Road’s pumpkin ale, but was pleasantly surprised by how much flavor gets packed into those twelve fluid ounces.  Of all the beers of this kind I’ve tried, this one by far tastes the most like a liquid pumpkin pie.  The fruit definitely takes front and center here, resulting in a beer that’s almost hefeweizen in its taste and texture–which I guess is to be expected, since that’s the style of Harpoon’s flagship beer.  Light on the alcohol and highly drinkable, you can quaff a few of these sitting on the front porch while contemplating the change of seasons.  Hardly spectacular, but quite pleasant nonetheless.  Recommended.

To be continued…