Fall, with its cooler, sometimes rainy weather(depending on where you live) is a great time to catch up on all of that TV you missed while you were out enjoying the sunshine all summer. And while you’re covered in blankets, catching up on what Netflix, Amazon, and other streaming services have to offer, why not do it with a fall beer in your hand? What’s better than finally finishing Stranger Things with a malty, sweet Marzen-style beer or a smoky Rauchbier by your side?
Today, we’re highlighting some of the most underrated, underappreciated, and downright undervalued fall beers. And nobody knows more about fall beers than the brewers who make them. So we asked some well-known craft beer experts and brewers to tell us their picks for the most underrated beers for fall. Keep reading to see all of their picks.
Anchor Porter
Fal Allen, head brewer at Anderson Valley Brewing Co. in Booneville, California
ABV: 5.6%
Average Price: $10.99 for a six-pack
Why This Beer?
Anchor Porter is surprisingly underrated. Porters are usually a bit lighter than your typical Stouts. They are a bit thinner, with a lighter mouthfeel. They are balanced beers that are more malt-forward and don’t have the hop bite of an IPA. There are often notes of chocolate, dark bread, and coffee with a little sweetness making porters easy drinking and still satisfying.
First brewed in 1972, Anchor Steam’s Anchor Porter is a classic; deep, dark, and roasty with a thick, creamy dark head. There are notes of roasted coffee, dark chocolate, and berries. At 5.5% ABV, it is still a sessionable beer with plenty of flavor.
Obertrumer Märzen
James Bruner, director of production at The Bruery in Placentia, California
ABV: 4.8%
Average Price: Limited Availability
Why This Beer?
Trumer, an Austrian brewery with an outpost in Berkeley, California, is known for making one beer, a Pilsner, but every so often they will add a Märzen to their lineup. Their version of the Oktoberfest staple leans more towards the light and crisp festbier than the typical malty melanoidin heavy Märzen you will find in the United States, but Obertrumer Märzen is just as clean and crushable as its Pilsner cousin.
When I was attending UC Davis, you could find this on tap throughout the bay area fairly consistently in the fall, but I will admit it has been increasingly difficult down here in SoCal. Maybe the fact that it has minimal ratings makes it underrated, but I think it deserves way more attention if you can find it.
Redhook ESB
Nick Nock, founding head brewer at SweetWater Brewing Company in Atlanta
ABV: 5.2%
Average Price: $10 for a six-pack
Why This Beer?
ESB. We did make one – Motor Boat. But people aren’t drinking styles like this much anymore. I blame TikTok. Luckily, there are still a few out there. A great example is the very underrated Redhook ESB with its notes of caramel, bready malts, and sweet fruit esters.
Black Husky Elderberry Gose
Garth E. Beyer, certified Cicerone® and owner and founder of Garth’s Brew Bar in Madison, Wisconsin
ABV: 4.2%
Average Price: Limited Availability
Why This Beer?
Underrated fall beers for me tend to be beers that use seasonally harvested ingredients like Black Husky Brewing’s Elderberry Gose, which uses elderberries that got picked in mid-September. This beer, like spring, brings with it a unique cold crispness and feelings of transition.
Live Oak Smoaktoberfest
Zach Fowle, advanced Cicerone and head of marketing at Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co. in Phoenix, Arizona
ABV: 5.8%
Average Price: Limited Availability
Why This Beer?
Smoked beers will always be underrated because they are mostly excellent and no one seems to realize that but me. One of the very best is Smoaktoberfest, a beechwood-smoked version of Live Oak Brewing Co.’s brilliant fall seasonal, Oaktoberfest. It exhibits the toasty malt and crushability of a festbier but is elevated to superstardom by well-integrated smokiness. It’s like if you baked a loaf of bread over a campfire.
Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen
Dan Schmelzer, head brewer at Lagunitas Brewing Company in Petaluma, California
ABV: 5.1%
Average Price: $4.99 for a 500ml bottle
Why This Beer?
Without a doubt, it’s Schlenkerla’s Marzen Rauchbier. The worldwide industry standard of smoked beers produced in Bamberg, Germany the way it has been for centuries. Malt that’s smoked over beech wood fires creates a brew that pairs perfectly with friends around a warming campfire, with anything off the tailgate grill before the big game, or with a cigar as you ponder the beauty of the changing of the seasons. Don’t knock it before you try it.
Idle Hands Brocktoberfest
Matthew Steinberg, head brewer and co-founder of Exhibit ‘A’ Brewing in Framingham, Massachusetts
ABV: 5.5%
Average Price: $12.99 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
Why This Beer?
I would have to say that Idle Hands Brocktoberfest is that beer. Not sure how it’s rated, but I don’t ever look at ratings. This fall classic has everything a proper Marzen should have like notes of caramel, bready malts, and light hops. More people should know about this American take on the Marzen-style fall seasonal.
Rodenbach Grand Cru
Morgan O’Sullivan, co-owner of FlyteCo Tower in Denver
ABV: 6%
Average Price: $14.99 for a four-pack of 16-ounce bottles
Why This Beer?
Rodenbach Grand Cru, I love me some Flemish red. It’s a really pleasant blend of fruit flavors mixed with a nice sourness. Aged in oak foeders, this tart, fruity, oaky fall beer is the reason so many sour beers are on the market now. It’s highly underrated.
Genesee Oktoberfest
Chris Spinelli, co-founder and brewer at Roc Brewing Co in Rochester, New York
ABV: 5.5%
Average Price: $12.50 for a twelve-pack
Why This Beer?
Genesee Brewing’s Oktoberfest is a hard-to-beat fall beer. It’s always great to visit the brew house on a fall day to have that tasty Marzen-style beer while looking at the falls. Even if you’re nowhere near Western New York, this rich, malty, well-balanced Marzen-style beer is a highly underrated fall beer that should find a place in your refrigerator as soon as possible.
Valley River Nottely Cru
Adam Cranford, lead brewer at Left Hand Brewing in Longmont, Colorado
ABV: 9.5%
Average Price: Limited Availability
Why This Beer?
Nottely Cru from Valley River Brewery and Eatery in Murphy, North Carolina is a very underrated fall beer. You probably wouldn’t necessarily associate a sangria-inspired Belgian-style wheat ale with fall, but this beer can pull double duty. It’s made with locally sourced Chambourcin grapes, spiced to emulate a sangria flavor profile, and fermented to a whopping 9% abv, allowing this beer to quench your thirst and cool you off on the roasty days of late summer/early fall in the Appalachians, but heavy enough to keep you warm when those temperatures start falling.
