26 New England beers worth trying this fall

Starbucks isn’t the only place with pumpkin-spiced everything during the fall season. New England brewers have rolled out their fall offerings as well. While pumpkin is by far the most popular flavor, there are plenty of cranberry-infused, Scottish-inspired, and wheat-based brews out there too. Take a look at some local libations for this season.

R.hode I.sland P.umpkin

Made by:
Newport Storm Brewery

Location: Newport, R.I.

Alcohol by volume: 7 percent

This brand new fall brew from Newport Storm is a variation of their Old Cyclone Claudia recipe from 2007. “We use three pounds of pumpkins per keg, chocolate malt and a blend of local spices, including cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and clove,’’ said Taylor Butzbach, Newport Storm public relations manager. The pumpkin beer is available until Dec. 31 by draft only.

Oktoberfest Marzen Lager

Made by:
Newport Storm Brewery

Location: Newport, R.I.

Alcohol by volume: 5.5 percent

This authentic Munich malt has been a Newport Storm fall staple for several years. Its rich amber color, light sweetness and malty body are available through Thanksgiving in bottles only.

Autumn Wheat

Made by:
Mayflower Brewing

Location: Plymouth

Alcohol by volume: 4.8 percent

Mayflower’s Autumn Wheat is dark and malty with a classic German flavor.

“We decided to go with wheat instead of doing another pumpkin beer,’’ said founder and president Drew Brosseau. Instead, the brew has a more bready and fruity taste. It’s available in six packs through the fall.

Thanksgiving Ale

Made by:
Mayflower Brewing

Location: Plymouth

Alcohol by volume: 6.7 percent

Mayflower’s president and founder Drew Brosseau said that as far as he knows, this is the only Thanksgiving beer in the world. It’s a combination of English old and American strong ales and uses barley and malt that’s been toasted on oak. The ale rests for eight to 10 weeks before it’s packaged in 22-ounce bottles instead of the usual two weeks, Brosseau said, making for a complex and nutty character.

Thanksgiving Ale is scheduled to arrive on shelves at the end of October and last through early November.

Attic and Eaves

Made by:
Slumbrew

Location: Somerville

Alcohol by volume: 7.5 percent

Slumbrew’s Attic and Eaves is making its second year appearance this fall when it hits shelves the first week in November. The beer is a toasted brown ale made from toasted buckwheat giving it a sweetness and nutty flavor. It will be available in 22-ounce bottles and on draft.

Pumpkin Lager and OktoBrau

Made by:
Blue Hills Brewery

Location: Canton

Alcohol by volume: 5.8 percent for both

The OktoBrau is Blue Hills’s version of Oktoberfest with a tasty, malty flavor and amber color. It will be available until the end of October. The Pumpkin Lager has been revamped for the Halloween season said head brewer Jim O’Neil with a spookier label and strong pumpkin spice flavors. “You will get the taste of biting into a piece of pumpkin pie,’’ O’Neil said. The lager will be available until the end of November in bottles and kegs.

Smuttynose Scotch Ale

Made by:
Smuttynose Brewing

Location: Portsmouth, N.H.

Alcohol by volume: 8.2 percent

Smuttynose’s Scotch Ale, released in early October, is a reddish brown ale made with beachwood smooked malts. The original batch was made in April and then aged in red wine oak barrels. That batch was then mixed with a fresh batch to create the batch being sold now in 22-ounce bottles.

Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale

Made by:
Smuttynose Brewing

Location: Portsmouth, N.H.

Alcohol by volume: 6.3 percent

Smuttynose is celebrating 10 years of producing its Pumpkin Ale. The company has brewed 100 1,500-gallon batches. The six-packs and 12-packs of 12-ounce bottles and draft will only last through Halloween. “This amber ale has a moderate bitterness and is finished with a hops blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove,’’ said JT Thompson, Smuttynose Brewing’s minister of propaganda.

Berkshire Brewing Co. Scotch Ale

Made by:
Berkshire Brewing .

Location: South Deerfield

Alcohol by volume: 7 percent

Berkshire Brewing Co. released its fall beer, Scotch Ale, in 22-ounce bottles and on draft. It will be available until it runs out which is expected to be mid-October. It is a traditional Scottish beer made with a peated malt giving it a smoky flavor. “It has a rich, warming effect, which is great for fall,’’ said Jason Hunter, general manager and director of sales.

Great Pumpkin Ale

Made by:
Cambridge Brewing .

Location: Cambridge

Alcohol by volume: 4.4 percent

Cambridge Brewing Co. has been making this pumpkin beer for 24 years with the original recipe from founder Phil Bannatyne. It uses 150 pounds of raw, shredded, Massachusetts-grown sugar pumpkins for every 300 gallons brewed. And because the pumpkin is not roasted before going into the beer, the taste is a “fresh and sqaushy’’ one, said Will Meyers, CBC’s brewmaster. It is also spiced subtly with cinnamon and allspice. It will be available through Thanksgiving on draft and in 22-ounce bottles in Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, and Southern Maine.

Red God

Made by:
Cambridge Brewing

Location: Cambridge

Alcohol by volume: 9 percent

Red God is a red imperial ale that will be released on Nov. 18, just in time for Thanksgiving. “It has a deep red color with caramel and malt flavors,’’ said Cambridge Brewing Company’s Brewmaster, Will Meyers. It includes five different American hop variatals making for a bitter finish. It will be available in 22-ounce bottles and on draft.

Séance

Made by:
Magic Hat Brewing

Location: South Burlington, Vt.

Alcohol by volume: 4.4 percent

Séance is Magic Hat’s seasonal fall brew this year. It is a dark and earthy brew made with saison yeast which balances with a smoked and roasted flavor from the dark malts. It is available in six packs, 12 packs, in the fall variety pack, and on draft through the end of October.

Night of the Living Dead

Made by:
Magic Hat Brewing

Location: South Burlington, Vt.

Alcohol by volume: DeVEILed, 5.2 percent

Magic Hat releases seaonal variety packs, and this year’s fall pack includes four fall beers: #9, Séance, HI.P.A. and DeVEILed. DeVEILed is what Lead Brewer Chris Rockwood called “a not-so traditional amber.’’ It has smooth malts and hops that leave piney notes on the end. DeVEILed is available exclusively in the variety pack through the end of October.

Pumpkin Stouts

Made by:
Cape Ann Brewing

Location: Gloucester

Alcohol by volume:7 and 10 percent

Cape Ann’s Pumpkin Stout, sold in six pack and on draft, uses real pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice to create a classic fall brew. The more robust and intense Imperial Pumpkin Stout uses the same flavors and is sold in 22-ounce bottles.

Owner Jeremy Goldberg said that the stouts will be on draft until Thanksgiving, but the bottled versions are going fast.

Smashed Pumpkin

Made by:
Shipyard Brewing Company

Location: Portland, Maine

Alcohol by volume:9 percent

Smashed Pumpkin is part of Shipyard’s Signature Series. It’s made from malted barley and has more sugar than other pumpkin beers.

Founder Bruce Forsley said that Smashed Pumpkin has a more sophisticated palate and recommended enjoying it chilled to 45 degrees in a snifter.

The beer has been available since mid August in 22-ounce bottles and on draft, and Forsley expects it to stick around until Thanksgiving. “I think Americans just have a fascination with the pumpkin flavor profile,’’ he said of the beer’s rather early release.

Pumpkinhead

Made by:
Shipyard Brewing Company

Location: Portland, Maine

Alcohol by volume: 4.7 percent

Shipyard’s Pumpkinhead, which founder Bruce Forsley said is by far the brewery’s most popular variety, uses a proprietary blend of nutmeg and cinnamon to create a sweet wheat beer that finishes dry. “People seem to be able to finish quite a few of them,’’ Forsley said. Bostonians especially seem to love it, he said: it’s Shipyard’s biggest seller in the greater Boston market.

Most bars that serve Pumpkinhead on draft, he said, like to add a cinnamon and sugar rim to the glasses for a pumpkin pie-like experience. You can recreate that at home by purchasing the brew in 12-ounce bottles as well.

“It’s also getting popular to use this beer as a mixer of sorts,’’ Forsley said. “You can add whipped cream vodka or spice rum or Southern Comfort to give it a little bit of lift.’’

Octoberfest

Made by:
Harpoon Brewery

Location: Boston

Alcohol by volume:5.3 percent

This variation on a classic fall beer is brewed with Tettnang hops for a full-bodied, smooth, and slightly bitter beer, according to head brewer Sean Cornelius. It’s available in six- or 12-packs, cases, in cans, or on draft through November.

Grateful Harvest Cranberry Ale

Made by:
Harpoon Brewery

Location: Boston

Alcohol by volume:5.9 percent

Harpoon’s cranberry-infused Grateful Harvest has more than just that tart berry flavor to make it unique. One dollar from the sale of each six pack of this medium-bodied, malty ale is donated to local food banks through the Harpoon Helps program as well.

“The cranberries we use are from local bogs owned by AD Makepeace, not far from where the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock,’’ head brewer Sean Cornelius said in an e-mail. How’s that for Thanksgiving-themed?

Craft Cider

Made by:
Harpoon Brewery

Location: Boston

Alcohol by volume:4.8 percent

Harpoon has pulled off quite the magic trick this Halloween: its Craft Cider is made with nothing but local apples and its house yeast. This crisp, tart brew is available in six packs, caases, and draft year round, but what better time to drink your apple a day than the fall?

Craft Cider is naturally gluten free.

Hope Street Amber

Made by:
The People’s Pint

Location: Greenfield

Alcohol by volume:5.1 percent

Hope Street Amber is an English ESB style beer with a toasted caramel grain flavor. It’s made with spicy hops but has a bit of sweetness in it as well. “Good for apple picking, I always say,’’ said Woodley Wardell, Sales and Distribution Manager.

Hope Street Amber is currently available in 22-ounce bottles.

Scotch Ale

Made by:
The People’s Pint

Location: Greenfield

Alcohol by volume: 7 percent

People’s Pint’s Scotch Ale gets its robust, smoky flavor from darker malt that’s smoked right outside the brewery. It’s a dark ale that balances this smokiness with fruity and toffee flavors for a warm fall taste. Scotch Ale will be available in bottles by mid-October.

Slippery Slope

Made by:
The People’s Pint

Location: Greenfield

Alcohol by volume:9 percent

“People go crazy for this,’’ Woodley Wardell, sales and distribution manager, said. “It’s the lightest, most refreshing 9 percent alcohol beverage people have ever had.’’

With a recipe that sounds worthy of a fruit salad, that’s no real surprise. Slippery Slope is made with malted grain, local apple cider, honey, chunks of ginger, and bitter orange peels.

It’s available in bottles and is scheduled for a November release.

OctoberFest

Made by:
Boston Beer

Location: Boston

Alcohol by volume:5.3 percent

Even though brewery manager Jennifer Glanville calls this a traditional American-style beer, she’s been told by German farmers that OctoberFest is very reminiscent of traditional German beer. That’s because the star of the show is a five-variety blend of malted barley, while the delicate flavor of noble hops takes a back seat.

“It has really sweet toffee, caramel, and cereal notes,’’ she said. “It’s big and malty, the complete opposite of a Boston Lager or IPA. I think people like that this time of year.’’

Glanville, who loves cooking with beer, said that this beer is incredibly easy to incorporate into recipes and especially likes to use it in slow-cooked pulled pork.

Harvest Pumpkin Ale

Made by:
Boston Beer

Location: Boston

Alcohol by volume: 5.7 percent

Harvest Pumpkin Ale was a well-kept secret inside the Sam Adams until two years ago, head brewer Jennifer Glanville said, when the brewery decided to sell it in six packs and the Harvest Collection variety pack.

“I had been tasting some of the other pumpkin beers on the market and thought the others didn’t really utilize a lot of pumpkin,’’ Glanville said. She carried 350 pounds of pumpkins to a catering company across the street from the brewery to be roasted and pureed for her first batch of the medium-bodied ale. Now, each barrell uses 17 pounds for a distinct flavor.

The pumpkins’ sweetness is balanced out with four types of malts, included a smoked malt for extra roasted flavor. “We also use English hops that have a more earthy note, like a geranium,’’ Glanville said.

Fat Jack

Made by:
Boston Beer

Location: Boston

Alcohol by volume:8.5 percent

Like the Harvest Pumpkin Ale, Fat Jack is made with traditional pumpkin pie spices. It requires 28 pounds of pumpkin per barrel, head brewer Jennifer Glanville said, but the flavor is toned down a bit because of the high alcohol content. “It’s almost like an earthy sweetness,’’ Glanville said. “The higher alcohol content also adds a nice warming character.’’

Fat Jack is available now in 22-ounce bottles.

Octoberfest

Made by:
Thomas Hooker Brewing

Location: Bloomfield, Conn.

Alcohol by volume: 5.7 percent

This full-bodied brew uses a special blend of German malts to create a smooth brew, according to Thomas Hooker Brewing’s website. The slow fermentation and cold maturation process harken back to traditional brewing methods. The Marzenbier is available until the end of October.