When summer’s scorching temperatures give way to cooler and crisper days, many beer drinkers turn their attention to a new slate of brews available in the fall.
There’s no shortage of Longmont-made beers that fit this description. While some are darker beers often found on brewery tap lists, others are specifically brewed for the season. Typically, those are designated by the brewery as an Oktoberfest beer, a Festbier or a Marzen.
A third type of fall beers use autumn-themed ingredients. While we didn’t find a Longmont-brewed pumpkin beer this year (non-Longmont versions are easy to find) we did find one brewed with a late-summer, early fall favorite ingredient: peaches.
Whatever your choice is, it’s generally going to taste fresher because it's brewed and packaged locally. You also might be able to enjoy more crafted, nuanced and not overly-sugared tastes in your glass — or your stein if you’re hoisting one.
Here’s a rundown of some fall beers are on tap at local breweries:
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Marzen — A dark brown, richer beer with a clean aroma and mild, malty flavor
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Luminous Monk Belgian Strong — A fuller-bodied beer made with Belgian yeast and featuring flavors of apples and lilacs.
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Boomer Brown — An American brown ale influenced by the combination of English hops and yeast along with oats, honey and chocolate malt.
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Flagstaff Amber — An ESB-style (extra special bitter) beer that combines a range of malts and uses Cascade hops
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Short Boxed Doppelbock — This higher alcohol, rich and malty beer is a double version of a single German beer. The style was first brewed by the Paulaner monks in Munich to be consumed as “liquid bread” during Lent.
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Friendly Mutton Chop Marzen — Grossen Bart’s version is full-bodied, amber-hued and extremely malty.
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Oktoberfest — This version of a Marzen beer starts with malty flavors and finishes with hops.
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Black is Beautiful Dunkel — Brewed as part of a nationwide effort to raise awareness of the issues that people of color face, this rich and malty beer finishes with hints of chocolate.
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Broken Earth (Sticke Alt) — A slightly stronger German lager with caramel tones. It is sweeter than others on this list, with brown sugar notes.
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Winkelweizen (Bavarian Hefeweizen) — A lighter, but still malty beer with flavors of banana and clove. It pours a deep orange and while it’s often enjoyed in summer, it also drinks well in fall.
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Lean Into the Chaos — Known for its spontaneously fermented, low carbonation, bag-in-box beer, Primitive Beer made this one with barrel-aged and blended Colorado peaches. The taste is specific to Longmont. This recipe tastes like peaches in a glass, but the result wouldn't be the same if it were brewed somewhere else.
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We Can Do Deez Things — This fresh hop Festbier was brewed as a collaboration with craft beer luminary Chris Black of Falling Rock Taphouse in Denver. It’s a golden, Bavarian Festbier brewed with German malts and Colorado-grown hops that were added hours after harvest.
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Wibtoberfest — This balanced Marzen lager has layers of caramel malt flavor but still drinks crisply.
Keep in mind that as you head out to try any of these beers, COVID-19 precautions remain in place. Masks are required and expect table-service only. Seating also will be limited, though some places will allow calling ahead for reservations. It’s worth asking and it helps breweries manage their customer flow so they can serve as many patrons as possible.
