Some parts of the country have already seen snowfall and the days are getting shorter, but that also means that there’s more time at night to enjoy new beers. And thankfully, craft breweries are already sending out new treats for the season ahead, from late-season fresh hops ales to hearty stouts to fruited sours.
New Releases
Lagunitas Born Yesterday | Release Date: October 27
Born Yesterday is a fresh hops version of Lagunitas’s New Dogtown Pale Ale, and it’s 24-hour delivery period had hopheads and beer geeks buzzing. Find it in six-packs for a limited time (emphasis on limited).
Prairie Christmas Bomb! | Release Date: mid-November
Oklahoma’s Prairie Artisan Ales does stout right and their Bomb!, an imperial stout aged on espresso beans, chocolate, vanilla beans, and ancho chile peppers, is getting in the holiday spirit with the addition of Christmas spices. A winter warmer, indeed.
Allagash Farm to Face | Release Date: November 3
Farm to Face may be one of the best beer names out there, and it sounds like it tastes equally as good. Brewed as a pale ale, it’s fermented in stainless steel with Allagash’s house yeast, then inoculated with Lactobacillus and Pediococcus and three pounds per gallon of peaches from Applecrest Farm Orchards in New Hampshire. Bottles are on sale at the brewery and available for limited distribution.
New Belgium & Wicked Weed Tributary | Release Date: November 15
This Asheville collaboration brewed at the Wicked Weed Brewpub is an imperial Brett saison that “pays homage to North Carolina, Colorado, and clean water.” It features malt from Colorado Malting and Riverbend Malt in Asheville; it’s fermented with New Belgium’s house Brett strain and Wicked Weed’s mixed strain of saison yeast and Brett; and it’s also brewed with sugar beets, Mosaic hops, and a new, experimental hops.
Terrapin Moo-HooChiato | Release Date: Early November
Part of their Special Reserve Series, Terrapin’s Moo-HooChiato is their seasonal Moo-Hoo Chocolate Milk Stout brewed with coffee roasted by local coffee company, Jittery Joes, and cocoa nibs from Olive & Sinclair. It’s released in 22-ounce bottles and on draft for a limited time. It clocks in at 6.9 percent ABV.
Bonus Round: Returning Favorites
Founders Backwoods Bastard | Release Date: November
Michigan’s Founders Brewing Co. is one of those breweries that seem to do it all well, from their beloved Session IPA, All Day, to the decadent Breakfast Stout. The Backwoods Bastard, a 10.2-percent ABV Scotch Ale, is another favorite in the lineup. A smoky sweet treat, it does well paired with nights around a wood stove or a backyard bonfire.
Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale | Release Date: October/November
Is there any other beer that elicits such universal giddiness when it starts appearing in six-packs and twelve-packs on shelves across the country? Sierra Nevada’s fresh hops ale (as they describe it, brewed with the freshest dried hops available from that year’s harvest) is one of America’s early IPAs. Its citrusy and piney, but not biting, bitterness makes it one of the most drinkable IPAs.