Autumn is fast approaching. That means cooler weather, falling leaves, apple picking, and pumpkin spice everything. It also means the time is right to stock up on harvest ales.
While the harvest ale isn’t a specific style, it’s a term plenty of American craft brewers use to showcase their autumnal beers. In short, a “harvest” ale is a beer created with fall in mind. These run the gamut from beers like the classic Oktoberfest lagers to wet-hopped IPAs. Expect some piney-ness and the first seasonal spices creeping in, but there are no hard and fast parameters.
To prepare for the fall, we’ve made a list of eight of our favorite harvest ales to drink right now. Check them all out below and get ready to pull those hoodies out of the closet.
Deschutes Brewery Chasin’ Freshies
ABV: 7.4%
Average Price: $11 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Germany is synonymous with fall beers, so it should come as no surprise that the folks at Deschutes collaborated with Germany’s Bitburger to create this fresh-hopped IPA brewed with German Callista and Siegelhopfen hops and wet-hopped with American Triumph and Cashmere hops.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is all ripe, juicy citrus with prevalent notes of tangerine, lime zest, and lemon. There is also a nice, floral hit of hops to round it all out. The palate swirls with more citrus with orange and grapefruit taking center stage along with ripe berries, sweet caramel, and just a hint of bitter hop presence at the end.
Bottom Line:
This is a fresh, unique take on the harvest ale. It’s a great end-of-summer beer that bridges the gap between Germany and the US nicely.
Southern Tier Harvest Autumn IPA
ABV: 6.7%
Average Price: $13 for a six-pack
The Beer:
With a name like Harvest Autumn IPA, you definitely know what you’re getting into with this beer. Available only from August through October, it’s brewed with cracked barley and a smattering of American hops. The result is a complex IPA with more body than its summery cousins.
Tasting Notes:
This beer’s aroma is a little different from the IPAs you’ve been drinking all summer. Since it’s meant to be enjoyed during the fall, there’s a pronounced caramel malt scent as well as resinous pine, and fresh hay. The flavor is all IPA though, with notes of ripe grapefruit, citrus zest, dank pine needles, and a fresh, slightly bitter hop flavor.
Bottom Line:
While this beer has a nice malty backbone, it has enough hop freshness and flavor to make you believe that summer isn’t over just yet.
Troegs Hop Knife
ABV: 6.2%
Average Price: $13 for a six-pack
The Beer:
It’s called Hop Knife to pay tribute to the centuries-old technique of using a knife to hand-harvest hops. This fall seasonal beer is brewed with Crystal, Pilsner, and Vienna malts as well as Cascade, Chinook, and El Dorado hops. It’s dry-hopped with Centennial, Citra, and Columbus hops to give it a complex flavor well-suited for early fall drinking.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find aromas of tropical fruits, pine resin, light citrus, and slightly floral hops. The palate is loaded with ripe berries, tangy grapefruit, lime peels, warming caramel malts, and a nice dry bitterness to finish everything off strong.
Bottom Line:
This is a complicated beer. It’s crisp and refreshing like an IPA but has a nice malty backbone like a Vienna lager or Oktoberfest beer.
Peak Autumn IPA
ABV: 4.8%
Average Price: $13 for a six-pack
The Beer:
This 4.8% IPA was designed to be sessionable and light on a late summer or early fall day. But even though it’s low in ABVs, it isn’t low in flavor. This mashup of a session IPA and New England-style IPA is hazy, juicy, and loaded with ripe fruit notes — if you like fruit, you’ll dig it.
Tasting Notes:
Complex aromas of mango, ripe orange, peach, pine needles, and a heavy floral backbone are notable on the nose. The palate is filled with tropical fruits, ripe berries, crisp floral hints, and a slight, pleasing hop bitterness as you take your last sip.
Bottom Line:
If you’re looking for a highly sessionable fall IPA, this is it. It’s light enough in the alcohol department to be crushable, yet filled with myriad fresh flavors great for fall drinking.
Indeed Fresh Hop
ABV: 4.9%
Average Price: $12 for a four-pack
The Beer:
This limited-release pale ale gets its flavor from Mosaic hops that are shipped from Yakima, Washington at the height of freshness and paired with Pale malt, Maris Otter barley, Torrified Wheat, and Dextrin malt to create a totally multi-dimensional pale ale flavor experience.
Tasting Notes:
A lot is going on with this beer’s nose. There are memorable notes of ripe raspberries, tropical fruits, freshly baked bread, and dank pine. The taste is highlighted by hints of blueberry, bright citrus, sweet malts, and pine needles. It all ends with a nice, slightly dry, bitter finish.
Bottom Line:
This is a beer for mosaic hop fans. It’s fresh, well-rounded, and perfect for fall weather. Try to find, buy, and drink it fresh — that definitely makes a difference.
Founders Harvest Ale
ABV: 7.6%
Average Price: $14 for a four-pack
The Beer:
One of the most well-known harvest ales on the market, Founders’ version is a 7.6% wet-hopped ale. To make this beer, the folks at Founders literally brew with hops that were picked at Michigan hop farms that morning. This result is one of the freshest, most flavorful beers you can drink this fall.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is filled with aromas of pilsner malts, fresh, floral hops, wet grass, and slight citrus. Sipping it brings forth flavors of caramel-like malts, fresh hay, resin, and slightly floral and citrusy hops. The finish is crisp with more citrus and slight hop bitterness.
Bottom Line:
Even with the moniker of “Harvest Ale”, this beer isn’t heavy. It’s filled with citrus and pine and has just enough of a malt backbone to justify its fall seasonal release.
Surly Wet
ABV: 6.1%
Average Price: $16 for a 4-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
The name is a reference to the fact that the hops used in this beer are at the peak of freshness and never dried. It’s brewed with a massive amount of Washington State-grown Mosaic hops. This results in a fresh, crisp, very floral IPA well-suited for the remaining summer days.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find aromas of dank, resinous pine, wet grass, light citrus rind, and gentle, floral hops. The palate is much more citrus-centric with flavors like grapefruit and tangerine as well as more pine needles, light malts, and a finish that’s both dry and lightly bitter.
Bottom Line:
This is a supremely fresh tasting beer. Mosaic hops give it a nice floral, citrus, fresh flavor you’ll go back to again and again.
Fremont Cowiche Canyon
ABV: 6.2%
Average Price: $14 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Cowiche Canyon Fresh Hop Ale is released annually in September. It’s brewed with Simcoe, Mosaic, Citra, and Ekuanot hops, all grown in the Cowiche Canyon of the Yakima Valley in Washington State (hence the name). The result is a floral, citrus, refreshing beer for the last summer days and the first weeks of fall.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, this one opens up scents of ripe mango, juicy peach, tangerine, grapefruit, fresh berries, and a nice piney, resinous backbone you’d expect from such a hop-filled beer. The palate is centered around light caramel malts and more citrus, tropical fruits, and a nice, slightly bitter finish that draws everything together perfectly.
Bottom Line:
This is a beer for fans of fruity IPAs. Citrus, tropical fruits, berries, and even melon — this pick has them all.
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