Autumnal Ales

Random Thursday back from vacation and its only like 50 degrees here finally... finally seems like fall!  Finally time for some autumn ales (I'm not behind or lazy... I was just waiting for the appropriate weather)  Most people  are used to the usual Pumpkins and Oktoberfest, but just like the aptly-named Summer ales, there are the autumnal brethren!

 
and as a nice bridge between the typical Pumkins and the fall styles, I present to you Sixpoint - Autumnation!  Canned beer!  BIG canned beer!  A highly-hopped, pumpkin-infused, spiced fall beer..  6.7% ABV and 68 IBUs..more than a lot of the IPAs out there.  A distinctly hoppy and orange citrus nose with just a few hints of the aforementioned spices.  Not much malts or even pumpkin in the aroma.. quite a bit different from the crowd.  The taste was definitely more of the same, huge wet hop (citra, Sixpoint explains) taste with the slightest hint of some nutmeg, ginger and maybe clove.  A faint malt backbone tries to hold up against the hops with some light caramel tastes, but can't bear the IBUs.  Only towards the finish does a creamy taste kick in with hints of pureed pumpkin.  A great dry, hoppy finish had me reaching for another sip.  Being incredibly adverse to canned beer, despite my apparent excitement before, I had to keep some in the can to see if there were any differences.  Lo and behold... there were!  Canned had a slight metallic tone to it ( and no.. I poured into my mouth, not drank with lips directly against the can! ) and the hops were slightly muted.  Malts weren't more present as I would have assumed with less hops.  An awesome take on spiced fall ales/pumpkin beers and a mind-swayer in terms of canned beer!

But the lesson here is.. canned beer can hang with the big bottles boys in terms of shelf life and quality, but is still best drank from a glass!

Breckinridge Brewery - 'After Rakin' Autumn Ale..  6.7% ABV and 21 IBUs.  Billed as an Oktoberfest, this comes across far more as a spiced brown ale to me.  A great mahogany brown pour and foamy head hide a wonderful malty aroma..nutty, hints of bitter chocolate and rich caramel alongside the distinctly fall smell of dried leaves.  Yummy!  The taste followed through with the smell, adding in some elements of a lighter porter.  Nice coffee and chocolate tastes support the bigger, dark bread (think dark wheat..pumpernickel, etc) and nutty malts.  Slight hints of maybe nutmeg come through alongside an almost Rauchbier-like smokiness that finishes in the faintest of grassy hops/bitter coffee.  They named this baby spot-on!  Although it sure would go down damn well WHILE rakin' too!

Finally.. Peak Organic - The Maple Collaboration.  A bigger take on their 'previous Maple Oat Ale' at 6.7% ABV and 28 IBUs  (..really... 6.7 AGAIN.. how'd that happen?!)  They collaborated with a local organic oat farm and maple syrup producer.  Huge, but quickly passing head.. a noticeable, rich sweetness to the nose.  Slightly maple syrup .. a bit more in the way of Milky Way Dark caramels or molasses.. with  a notable hop aroma.  The taste was a bit watery when considering the smell..the malts seemed faded and mute.  Still hints of caramel, nuts, toasty malts with pale hops throughout.  A bit too carbonated for such a dark and supposedly rich beer.  Not sure what it was, but this whole thing just seemed watery for a beer in general, especially considering this was made with oats and real maple syrup.  A nice idea, but it didn't quite seem to pan out in the bottle...