I love smoked lagers and porters, too, Jim–was lucky enough to have the Alaskan Smoked at the brewery once–but probably not for awhile yet. Not to say I won’t have a stout or porter in warm weather now and again, but I tend to wait until it’s pretty chilly out before I really turn to the dark side.

Although, I also had a tasty black IPA (Hoppy Feet) the other night, Ilya, from a fairly new Massachusetts brewery called Clown Shoes. Hoppy indeed, but with a nice lacing of roastiness.

Great post with some great choices! I would be careful with anything from Rahr and Son’s even still as they still seem to be recovering from the winter storm we had earlier in the year. Sounds strange I know, but after their tanks got badly damaged all there beers have been off since. I’m here in Dallas so I can get anything from them easily. I would also add in Hop In The Dark which is a black IPA from Deschutes…something about it makes it feel very wintery to me.

@Ryan – Agreed! No contest there from me! Especially on the DogFishHead and the Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale.

@Rob – I don’t know how you deal with those type of seasons, I hate that. I live here in North Texas so we still have seasons…but nothing like further north. Even so, when we hit fall and winter the choice for beer seems to change along with it.

@Tom – Yup! It seems that every year more and more pumpkin ales come out. Then again, there are more and more craft breweries that open up every year. Now that’s a good thing!

Ilya

Checked out your blog, Rob. Amazed that you can do a beer review a day. I can’t keep up on a once a week basis!

I just tried a beer a few weeks ago: Autumn Maple by The Bruery. I’m pretty sure if you drink that beer, it will be your new go-to fall beer! Delicious maple syrup and spiciness and warmth!

Talk to you later. You can find the full review of that beer on my blog if you’re interested.