Pumpkin Beer Sucks. Drink These Fall Beer Styles Instead

Porters, Brown Ales, Stouts and more.

Published October 27, 2020

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Updated August 25, 2022

While summer is the time to stick to light and refreshing beers, fall presents opportunities of its own. And no, that doesn’t just mean falling into the trap of pumpkin beers. It’s time to dial down the hops and drink something a little different. Here are 10 beer styles perfect for fall weather, and a few standout examples of each.

Oktoberfest

One to Try: Sierra Nevada Brewing Oktoberfest

While Oktoberfest itself is winding down, there isn’t a better beer to signal the changing of seasons. Oktoberfests are malty, medium-bodied and copper in color, presenting a perfect match for the fall. Usually, Sierra Nevada partners with a German brewery to produce a collaborative Oktoberfest. But this year that wasn’t possible because of COVID limitations. So, Sierra Nevada took all the knowledge it learned over the years and made a wonderful Festbier.

Clocking in at 6 percent ABV, it’s sweet, complex and full of the perfect amount of Oktoberfest spices. Despite it being an individual offering from Sierra Nevada, this is still a special fall beer and you should get your hands on it if you still can.

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Three More:
Hacker-Pschorr Original Oktoberfest
Jack’s Abby Copper Legend Octoberfest
Spaten Oktoberfest Ur-Märzen

Brown Ale

One to Try: Bell’s Brewery Best Brown Ale

Brown Ales are among the most under-appreciated styles out there. They provide a great balance between heavy dark beers and crisp, hoppy brews — especially the American versions.

Bell’s Best Brown Ale is a great example of that; combining caramel, cocoa and malty notes with generous use of American hops to present a light and comforting beer. At only 5.8 percent ABV, it’s one you can drink a few of in the fall and still have a good time.

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Three More:
Brooklyn Brewery Brown Ale
Newcastle Brown Ale
Smuttynose Old Brown Dog

Pilsner

One to Try: Allagash Brewing Truepenny

Pilsners and football just go together. The most popular beers in America are pilsners because everyone can understand them, they’re refreshing, they’re light and they have a much more palatable hop character than IPAs. They don’t tend to take many risks, which makes Allagash Brewing’s Truepenny Pilsner all the more brilliant.

It’s a Belgian-style Pilsner fermented in two ways: one part of the batch with pilsner yeast and the other with its house Brettanomyces yeast. They then blended those two batches back together to create the first-ever Allagash Pilsner. It hits crisp like a traditional lager off the bat but the backend offers more complexity than you’d expect from the style.

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Three More:
Firestone Walker Brewing Company Pivo
Three’s Brewing Vliet
Oxbow Brewing Lupplo

Porter

One to Try: Anchor Brewing Anchor Porter

If you’re more of a light beer drinker and want to dip your toe into the waters of darker beer this season, reach for a Porter. Typically lighter than Stouts, Porters have a thinner mouthfeel and lower malt bitterness thanks to the lack of roasted barley. Notes of chocolate, coffee and a little sweetness make porters the easy-drinking cousin of stouts.

Anchor Steam’s Anchor Porter is as classic as it gets. The first American version ever brewed (in 1972), it offers more fruity notes like dark berries and unroasted coffee. The 5.6 percent ABV brew produces a deep black color and a thick head for a definitive example of American Porter.

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Three More:
Maui Coconut Porter
Deschutes Black Butte Porter
Maine Beer Co. King Titus Porter

Stout

One to Try: Allagash North Sky Stout
Stouts usually conjure up images of dark, heavy beers best drank next to a fire on a cold winter’s evening. But not all stouts have to be 13 percent bombs that smack you in the teeth like Imperial Stouts, Barrel-Aged Stouts or Pastry Stouts. Even Guinness Draught, the most popular stout in the world, isn’t like that.

But instead of reaching for old reliable, reach for Allagash’s new North Sky Stout. Sticking to Allagash’s Belgian-inspired brewing, it balances a fruity sweetness (and a tiny hint of Belgian spice) with roasty malt. It’s an easy entry for those looking to try darker beers in the colder months.

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Three More:
Guinness Draught
North Coast Brewing Old Rasputin
New Holland Brewing Dragon’s Milk

Flanders Red Ale

One to Try: Brouwerij Rodenbach Classic

Few beers can offer an entry point into sours and mixed fermentation better than a Flanders Red Ale. The most near-wine beer out there, oak barrel aging and fermentation by way of Lactobacillus and Brettanomyces end up giving this old world style ruby to deep red colors along with a fruity tartness not disimilar to red wine.

When going for this sour ale, a tried-and-true variant like Brouwerij Rodenbach Classic is the way to go. It sets the bar for Flemish Red Ales, having been brewed since the late 1800s. It consists of 75 percent young beer and 25 percent beer that has been matured in oak foeders for two years. Fresh, softly acidic and sweet, at 5.2 percent ABV it’s as good as it gets.

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Three More:
New Belgium La Folie
The Lost Abbey Red Poppy
Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales La Roja

Saison

One to Try: Brasserie Dupont Saison Dupont

Ah, saisons. Where a Flemish red ale might be a bit more sour, a Saison can be more citrusy, spicy and carry a earthy, hoppy bitterness. This wildly fermented style relies on Lactobacillus (or Brettanomyces) yeast strains but come out with a much more pale, amber color.

Brasserie Dupont Saison Dupont is the Saison all other saisons are compared against. It brings a little more sweetness than others, but remains as complex an any. It clocks in at 6.5 percent ABV and thanks to refermentation that happens in the bottle.

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Three More:
Oxbow Brewing Company Farmhouse Pale Ale
Boulevard Brewing Tank 7
Hill Farmstead Brewery Arthur

ESB (Extra Special Bitter)

great lakes brewing co moondog esb gear patrol

One to Try: Great Lakes Brewing Co. Moondog Ale

ESB once had a promising presence in America, but for hop-related reasons (we’re looking at you New England-style IPAs) has fallen out of graces along with its American cousin Amber Ales. But the English-style beer is essentially an ode to fall: malty, mellow and easy drinking. They tend to not be very bitter compared to hop-forward IPAs, and they share a lot in common with fuller amber ales that can be enjoyed on cooler evenings.

Moondog Ale from Great Lakes Brewing Co. is a three-time gold medal winner at the World Beer Championships and is one of the best American versions of ESB. A little hoppier than the standard ESB, it brings along those floral hop scents to pair well with crisp, sweet malts and comes through at 5.5 percent ABV.

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