Like the leaves on the trees outside, beer aisles have turned orange over the last few weeks with every Tom, Dick and Harry’s take on pumpkin beer. I’ve got nothing against pumpkin beer and enjoy it to excess like everyone else, but the ubiquity of the variety seems to overshadow any number of excellent autumnal beer makes and models.
A quick look through the aisles of many of Boulder’s beer sellers will yield some interesting fall varieties. So in an attempt to branch out from the seasonal norm, I picked up three excellent beers this past weekend: the Autumn Maple Belgian brown ale from The Bruery; São Francisco Brazilian dubbel from Belô; and the maerzen rauchbier from Schlenkerla.
The Autumn Maple from Orange County’s The Bruery is a Belgian-style brown ale brewed with yams, molasses, maple syrup and spices. At 10 percent ABV, it packs a punch but remains drinkable, due in no small part to the deep, warm flavor imparted by the brew’s add-ins. The molasses is front and center so you better like it, but the maple syrup is sweet and arborous. The yams are hard to pick out, but they’re probably there more for background duty than anything else. Best of all is the Autumn Maple comes in what amounts to a small wine bottle, and the recommendation is to drink it in a flute or wine glass so you feel fancy downing this syrup beer. The Bruery also recommends aging the bottle in a cellar for a year or two, which, having no patience for that I did not do, but I bet it would bring out the spices, mellow the bite and create a warm fall beverage to look forward to next season.
Named for the neighborhood in Brazil in which it’s brewed, the São Francisco from Belô is a Brazilian dubbel ale (that’s a thing?) brewed with raisins. It’s corked and bottled, so it’s ever-so-bubbly, kind of like eating a Krackel bar or one of those puffed Aero chocolate bars they have in Canada. In fact, the São Francisco has many of the same characteristics of those candy bars: rich chocolate flavor, light effervescence, deep fruit sweetness. It’s a little smoother than the Autumn Maple, and a little darker.
For some reason, the maerzen rauchbier from German producer Schlenkerla seems like it needs an excuse to drink it. It is consistently rated one of the top beers in the world, and at less than $5 a pint, it’s a bargain. What makes it so special is that it’s a perfectly executed smokebeer — an old Bavarian style where the barley in the beer is smoked over beechwood logs, brewed in copper kettles and aged in Bavarian cellars, which just sound like better cellars than any other. What you get is pure liquid smoke. It is an incredible beer, and perfect for autumn. Aside from its abundant smokiness, it has underlying smoothness and a figgy subtle sweetness. Incidently, you can cook this beer with some cheese and make a phenomenal cheese dip.
These three were knockout flannel-weather brews, but there are plenty more seasonal drinks to try that are available locally. So even as the leaves start to go you’ll have plenty of opportunities to drink well this fall.
