Autumn is nearly here!
When I stopped into Waywood Beverage, the staff had just finished stacking the newly-delivered cases of Southern Tier Imperial Pumking Ale. Jeff Williamson tapped the cases and said, “this is the best, the one that tastes most like pumpkin pie.” He expects the Southern Tier cases won’t last long. Each case holds 12 22-ounce bottles and sells for almost $78 a case.
The front wall of Waywood Beverage is stacked with fall offerings. While the pumpkin beers have become popular in the past few years, there’s other fall options not to be overlooked. “There are three styles of beer in the fall: harvest ales, pumpkin ales and Oktoberfest beers,” Jeff explained.
In pumpkin ales, they already have in stock Shipyard’s Pumpkin Head, Wolaver’s Pumpkin Ale, Brooklyn’s Post Road Pumpkin Ale, Fegley Brewworks’ Devious Imperial Pumpkin, and Weyerbacher’s Imperial Pumpkin. More brands are due in any day, including the most popular pumpkin ale, Dogfish’s Punkin.
“There’s two categories of pumpkin beers,” Jeff told me. “There’s the ones with high alcohol, made with real pumpkin. For the real pumpkin pie flavor to come out, you have to go with the imperials—like Weyerbacher or Williamsburg’s Pumpkin Ale. Then you have five of six percent amber ales with pumpkin spices—some have pumpkin but they more or less use the spices.”
For those that don’t drink pumpkin ales, there’s still plenty of fall brews to choose from. Jeff is fond of the harvest ales that come out this time of year. “The harvest ales are almost all wet-hopped IPAs, they are brewed with wet hops as opposed to dry hops.”
Jeff recommends Sierra Nevada Harvest Wet Hop Ale, which is a big seller. Founders’ Harvest Ale is another solid choice. Jeff’s personal favorite of these ales is not wet-hopped, but it’s the Southern Tier Harvest Ale.
For Oktoberfest beers, Jeff recommends the German brands Spaten and Hofbrau. Local brewers and their seasonals—such as Sly Fox’s Oktoberfest (in cans) and Victory’s Festbier—are popular. Stoudt’s Oktoberfest and Magic Hat’s Hex Oktoberfest are two other East Coast favorites.
Finally, with the trend in cans, I ask Jeff what’s the beer for fall tailgating. Without hesitation, he told me, “I’d pick up 21st Amendment Black IPA in cans and call it a day.”
Find Waywood Beverage at 624 Miller’s Hill in Historic Kennett Square, or online at waywoodbeverage.com.
