Since it’s the beginning of October, the time is right to start thinking about what we’re going to drink this month. October is when we really start to see what fall has to offer. Shorter days and colder weather mean bolder, darker, warming beers begin to look more appealing.
September is great, with its mix of warmer and cooler weather, but now it’s a good time to finish off your stash of IPAs, pale ales, and other lighter beers while you mix in a few darker beers on the chillier days.
Below, you’ll find ten beers to track down this October. Some are annual, eagerly awaited classics and others are new, exciting, seasonal releases. Pilsners, Oktoberfest-style beers, dark lagers, stouts, and even pumpkin beers. Keep scrolling to see all the beers you need to stock up on this month.
Anderson Valley The Pilsner
ABV: 5.2%
Average Price: Limited Availability
Why This Beer?
Anderson Valley is well-known for its iconic Gose-style beers, barrel-aged offerings, seasonals, and rotating IPAs. But, until now, they didn’t have a specific, crisp, easy-drinking, year-round pilsner. Brewed with Pilsner malts and Magnum and Mittelfruh #10416 hops, this is the every day drink you’ve been waiting for this fall.
Tasting Notes:
Classic pilsner aromas of cereal grains, sweet corn, ripe apple, and floral noble hops are prevalent on the nose. It’s very welcoming. This continues with the palate of sweet grains, ripe corn, slight citrus, bready malts, and a crisp, floral, mellow hop finish. It’s dry, crisp, and highly refreshing.
Bottom Line:
If you’re one of the drinkers who has joined the traditional pilsner bandwagon, this is a beer for you. It’s a no-frills thirst-quencher for the last days of warm weather.
Dogfish Head Wake Up Worldwide Stout
ABV: 16-18%
Average Price: $7.99 for a 12-ounce bottle
Why This Beer?
This “breakfast-themed imperial stout” is brewed with regeneratively grown grains as well as locally-sourced, cold-pressed Finca Terrerito coffee, plant-based milk, and even maple syrup. Sweet, potent, caffeinated — perfect for fall.
Tasting Notes:
Complex aromas of freshly brewed coffee, maple candy, and bitter chocolate are notable on the nose. Sipping it only adds to this indulgent experience. Notes of espresso beans, maple syrup, and chocolate end in a warming, boozy finish.
Bottom Line:
This is a caffeinated, decadent, high-alcohol beer. It’s the perfect sweet, boozy warmer for a cold fall night (or… morning).
Ommegang All Hollows Treat
ABV: 7.6%
Average Price: $5.99 for a 16-ounce can
Why This Beer?
You might not be ready for it yet, but the start of October means Halloween is only a few weeks away. Get started on the sweets early with Ommegang All Hollows Treat — a rich, sweet, bold imperial chocolate peanut butter stout.
Tasting Notes:
A nose of peanut butter cups, dark chocolate, and vanilla beans greets you before your first sip. There’s more of this on the palate. This chocolate, peanut butter, toffee, and vanilla-filled beer literally tastes like you took a peanut butter cup and somehow magically made it into a beer.
Bottom Line:
A beer that tastes like a peanut butter cup? What could be better on a chilly fall night? Pair it with a spooky movie and you have the makings of a perfect evening.
Firestone Walker Parabolita
ABV: 9.2%
Average Price: Limited Availability
Why This Beer?
If you’re a fan of barrel-aged stouts, you’ve probably enjoyed Firestone Walker’s Parabola over the years. Well, now the popular stout is available in 16-ounce cans, albeit with a slight twist. It’s called Parabolita Salted Caramel and its made by aging Parabola for one year in ex-bourbons casks before blending it with their popular Velvet Merlin milk stout before infusing it with vanilla beans, cocoa nibs, and sea salt.
Tasting Notes:
Aromas of salted caramel, cacao nibs, and toasted vanilla beans greet your nose before your first sip. This indulgent aroma carries over to the palate. Dark chocolate, vanilla beans, and pleasurable salted caramel highlight the flavor profile. It’s bold, sweet, slightly salty, and highly memorable.
Bottom Line:
Fall is a time to indulge. Firestone Walker’s Parabolita with its mix of salt, sweetness, and rich chocolate flavors is the dessert beer you need to pair with heavy, autumnal meals.
New Holland Dragon’s Milk
ABV: 11%
Average Price: $16.99 for a four-pack
Why This Beer?
New Holland’s iconic Dragon’s Milk is one of the most popular barrel-aged stouts. While available all year long, this warming, high ABV sipper is matured for at least three months in former bourbon barrels. The result is a coffee, chocolate, and slightly boozy winner of a beer.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is loaded with classic barrel-aged aromas like chocolate, coffee, oaky wood, and sweet bourbon. Sipping it reveals dried fruits, freshly brewed espresso, cacao nibs, sweet bourbon, and even more charred, bold oaky wood. It’s complex, sweet, bold, and very warming.
Bottom Line:
If you’re a fan of barrel-aged stouts, you have a lot to choose from. We believe you should give New Holland Dragon’s Milk a chance. It’s one of the most complex, underrated barrel-aged stouts on the market.
Wallenpaupack For The Love Of Lager German-Style Dark Lager
ABV: 4.5%
Average Price: Limited Availability
Why This Beer?
If you’re a fan of bold, well-made lagers, we implore you to explore Wallenpaupack’s “For The Love Of Lager” series of beers. The newest iteration in this award-winning series is its German Style Dark Lager. This 4.5% ABV, seasonal beer was brewed with Munich and Carafa malts as well as German Magnum, Saphir, and Spalter Select hops.
Tasting Notes:
Bready malts, toffee, vanilla, and floral Noble hops are noticeable on the nose. It’s definitely a welcoming nose for a rich, malty fall beer. The palate is rich, robust, and loaded with notes of bread-like, roasty malts, caramel, fresh-brewed coffee, and just a hint of hops at the back end.
Bottom Line:
This is a rich, robust lager you’ll want to crack open to warm you on an unseasonably cool fall night. It’s the malty, roasty lager fall deserves.
Narragansett Fest
ABV: 5.5%
Average Price: $9.99 for a six-pack of 16-ounce cans
Why This Beer?
There’s still time to enjoy a well-made Oktoberfest-style beer this month. One of our favorite annual releases is Narragansett’s Fest. This Bavarian-style beer was first brewed by the Rhode Island-based brewery on the 60s and 70s before being brought back a decade ago. Brewed with Weyermann’s malts and Tettnang hops, it’s a malty, roasty beer well-suited for fall weather.
Tasting Notes:
Nutty sweetness, malty, cereal grains, and toffee are highlighted aromas on the nose. The palate contains more nutty sweetness, bready malts, caramel candy, and some slight floral hops at the very end. Overall, a rich, easy-drinking take on the classic Märzen style.
Bottom Line:
Narragansett is most well-known for its popular lager. But, when fall arrives, we believe you should step up to this Märzen-style beer instead. You won’t be disappointed.
Sierra Nevada Celebration
ABV: 6.8%
Average Price: $11.50 for a six-pack
Why This Beer?
If you were to take a poll of brewers, drinkers, and bartenders on their most eagerly awaited fall beers, many would mention Sierra Nevada Celebration. This beloved holiday IPA, brewed with Cascade and Centennial hops, is only available from October through December.
Tasting Notes:
This beer starts with a nose of candied orange peels, caramel malts, and resinous, dank, slightly floral hops. It’s extremely welcoming and begs to be sipped. The palate is filled with bready malts, caramel, citrus peels, and more resinous, dank, slightly bitter hops.
Bottom Line:
There’s a reason why Sierra Nevada is such a highly beloved beer. Overall, it’s the bold, balanced, slightly malty IPA you’ll want to drink all fall.
Cigar City Good Gourd
ABV: 8.8%
Average Price: $11.50 for a four-pack
Why This Beer?
We don’t spend a lot of the fall drinking pumpkin ales. This is because there are a lot of less-than-great versions of this beer on the market. Cigar City (like all of its high-quality beers) isn’t one of them. This 8.8% ABV imperial pumpkin ale is loaded with flavors like ripe pumpkin, vanilla, and wintry spices.
Tasting Notes:
This beer smells exactly like a pumpkin pie comically cooling on a cliché windowsill. There are heavy notes of cinnamon, vanilla, and ripe pumpkin. The palate follows suit with some yeasty, roasted pumpkin, cinnamon, vanilla, and clove flavors.
Bottom Line:
Who needs a slice of pumpkin pie when you have a beer like Good Gourd? We prefer to enjoy our extra calories in beer form anyway.
Upslope Spruce Tip IPA
ABV: 7.5%
Average Price: $11.50 for a six-pack
Why This Beer?
When fall rolls around, we’re the kind of drinkers who just aren’t ready to put down our IPAs just yet. Luckily, the folks at Upslope have a seasonal IPA that ticks all of our piney, slightly bitter boxes while also adding the additional flavor of resinous, dank spruce tips into the equation.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is dominated by bold aromas of pine needles and citrus peels. The palate only adds to this. Spruce tips, pine needles, resin, orange peels, grapefruit, and just a hint of bready, caramel malts. The finish is bitter, crisp, and makes you crave another.
Bottom Line:
One of the most underrated fall and winter flavors is pine. And this is likely because if it’s overdone, it can taste like a car air freshener. This IPA from Upslope does it correctly with just the right amount of spruce tip flavor to temper the IPA bitterness.
