October is finally here. With the month comes lower temperatures in the desert in which we live. What October also brings is the start of the holiday beer season. This is the best time to be a consumer of craft beer.
Although winter doesn’t start until late December, the season for winter beer has arrived.
A lot of these cold-weather beers make you wish you’re sipping them in front of a fireplace — and they also make you wish you had a fireplace.
Here are some great beer options you should get your hands on as soon as possible.
Hangar 24’s Oktoberfest Fall Lager
4.0 out of 5
As someone who’s never been a huge fan of lagers, this beer is surprisingly tasty. This amber lager is 5.7 percent alcohol by volume and is bottled with the taste of fall.
Oktoberfest beers have a specific flavor to them. Although they are traditionally heavier, darker beers, these more modern versions are much lighter in color and have great complexity on the palette.
Hangar 24 is a brewery out of the Redlands that has been gaining popularity in the Central Valley with its brews like Chocolate Porter and Orange Wheat. It also boasts an awesome rotating seasonal brew called ‘Local Fields,’ which has had amazing blood-orange IPAs and will soon transition into its fall pumpkin porter, ‘Gourdgeous.’
Dogfish Head’s Punkin Ale
4.0 out of 5
A bit on the heavier side, Punkin Ale is 7 percent ABV and has a distinct pumpkin flavor. A brown ale, Punkin is strong in taste and will leave you wanting more.
For a brown ale, this beer feels much heavier than others with the name like Newcastle Brown Ale and Lost Coast’s Downtown Brown. This is probably the result of the pumpkin, brown sugar and spices it’s brewed with.
Pumpkins are exclusive to the holiday season, and this beer is just as exclusive. This beer will come and go, so if you can get your hands on this four pack in stores, jump on it. Beer enthusiasts are like wolves and will pounce on this beer if they find it.
Firestone’s Velvet Merlin
4.5 out of 5
It’s time. The people’s favorite oatmeal stout is back. Firestone’s fall/winter seasonal stout is back on the shelves, and it’s sure to delight.
It’s very dark and very sweet. Right now, it’s available in six packs but, eventually, you’ll see this hit taps around town. If you see it, that’s a beer you should definitely order.
Once you get a taste, you’ll be looking for it year-round. However, as this is a seasonal brew from Firestone, it will get harder and harder to find after the new year begins. Once you see Firestone’s Easy Jack on the shelves, you’ll know it’s gone.
At a smooth 5.5 percent ABV, you can’t have just one. This chocolatey delight isn’t a dessert beer, but its sweetness isn’t unnoticeable.
Firestone is a mega-popular brewery in California, with its flagship beer “805”— the area code for the Paso-Robles-based brewery.
The only big issue with these types of seasonal beers is that they are seemingly here today and gone tomorrow — they are as rare as egg nog.