The Best Autumn Ales of 2013

Fish Tale Organic IPA

Availability: Year-round
ABV: 6.7%

Quite possibly the seasonal elixir of the gods, Fish Tale's organically bold but beautiful Indian pale ale is a gleaming reflection of everything that is right with drinking beer until letters and numbers look identical. Made in the western edge of Republic of Cascadia in upper North America, Fish Tale brews with only the finest certified organic barley and hops, a tribute to organic living and healthy debauchery.

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale

Availability: September through Thanksgiving
ABV: 7.0%

It wouldn't be fall without a little pumpkin in your brew. And I wouldn't be a genuinely good beer advocate if I didn't throw a Dogfish Head brew in the mix. The brewery's Punkin Ale is about to celebrate its 20th anniversary since conception, the same year it won first prize for best fall beer recipe.

A quality blend of pumpkin spice and brown sugar makes this the type of beer you'd hand out to all the trick or treaters, if it weren't for age restrictions and the fact that it's so damn tasty. Usually on the shelves by Labor Day weekend, it's a beer you better stock up on because by Thanksgiving, you'll be too late.

Odell Isolation Ale

Availability: October to December
ABV: 6.0%

Sold through the end of the year, Odell's classic brew taste is moderately known amongst the beer chugging community. Isolation Ale is the fall choice offering that crisp caramel winter ale taste with English autumn hops. There's no fooling going on with sweetness or spice; this beer is traditional in all its fall-going-into-winter goodness. The only thing making this beer better is the big-ass steak that should come paired with it.

Angry Orchard Cinnful Apple

Availability: September through November
ABV: 5.0%

For a sweet, spicy side of fall, try a cinnamon hard cider from Angry Orchard, a crisp apple taste fused with hints of cocoa and cinnamon spice. There's nothing "cinnful" about enjoying a five-percent beer, especially when it's made to taste like crisp apple pie. Add a little ice cream and you might as well call out of work until this phase passes, or at least until they run out. Angry Orchard pulls together its best tart apples with a spicy twist that gets the taste buds up and moving, and the best part is - unlike most delicious things - it's gluten free. So...yeah, drink up.

Stone R & R Coconut IPA

Availability: Until it's gone (brewed once)
ABV: 7.7%

Brewed by home-brewers at heart, this fan favorite was chosen by beer lovers as the most worthwhile brew to create. Essentially a pina colada in IPA form, Stone R & R worked towards the coconut IPA keeping its focus on freshness and tropical hops while holding a strong coconut finish. They succeeded in doing so all while maintaining the great IPA balance. Is it possible the beer was secretly brewed by the beer gods and left on their doorstep? Sure. Just enjoy it and don't ask any questions, tropical IPA lovers.

Brooklyn Oktoberfest

Availability: August through October
ABV: 5.5%

The (Brooklyn Brewery) is already an upper eastsider's wet beer dream, but now they're rolling out their Oktoberfest just in time for the leaves to turn and the former Boston Celtic stars to take over their basketball courts. The Oktoberfest is everything you could want in a fall beer, staying true to the original recipe that dates back more than 200 years, including quality German hops and malt and a light yet bitter hoppy goodness. It's the type of beer that makes you put down the six-pack and grab a twelve so you can sit on your porch and forget it's actually a workday.

Victory Moonglow Weizenbock

Availability: September through October
ABV: 8.7%

For a little more hair on your chest, Victory has whipped up a brew with homemade written all over it. Although the orange-brown Moonglow goes down smoothly with mama's stew, it's also full of fresh harvest time fruit and whole flower German hops. A traditionally dark Bavarian amber weizenbock with a little kick of clove and apple tart, like a warm apple pie fresh out of mama's kitchen, Moonglow sets the table for an unforgettable fall (cookout). Well, maybe we jumped the gun on unforgettable, since it's got a little extra party in it at 8.7%.

BigLeaf Maple Autumn Red

Availability: August through October
ABV: 6.0%

Anchor Steam is at it again, picking up steam with yet another undeniable beer flavor, its fresh maple autumn red brew. Inspired by the great California tree, the BigLeaf Maple and all its parts - the leaf, its fall colors and the savory syrup that comes from it - all help bring this beer to fruition. Just the slightest touch of its maple sugar complements the barley and balances the hops perfectly to give its taster a mouthful of happiness, like first crack at a well-syruped waffle on a fall morning.