Style Details

Name
Autumn Sea­so­nal Beer
Cate­go­ry
Spi­ced Beer
BJCP Style Code
30 B
Appearance
Gene­ral­ly medi­um amber to cop­pery-brown (ligh­ter ver­si­ons are more com­mon). Usual­ly clear, alt­hough dar­ker ver­si­ons may be vir­tual­ly opaque. Some chill haze is accep­ta­ble. Gene­ral­ly has a well-for­med head that is often off-white to tan. Some ver­si­ons with squas­hes will take on an unu­su­al hue for beer, with oran­ge-like hints.
Aro­ma
A wide ran­ge of aro­ma­tics is pos­si­ble, alt­hough many examp­les are remi­nis­cent of pump­kin pie, can­died yams, or simi­lar har­ve­st or (US) Thanks­gi­ving the­med dis­hes. Any com­bi­na­ti­on of aro­ma­tics that sug­gests the fall sea­son is wel­co­me. The base beer style often has a mal­ty pro­fi­le that sup­ports the balan­ced pre­sen­ta­ti­on of the aro­ma­tics from spi­ces and pos­si­bly other spe­cial ingre­di­ents. Addi­tio­nal fer­men­ta­bles (e.g., brown sugar, honey, molas­ses, map­le syrup, etc.) may lend their own uni­que aro­ma­tics. Hop aro­ma­tics are often absent, sub­dued, or slight­ly spi­cy. Alco­hol aro­ma­tics may be found in some examp­les, but this cha­rac­ter should be res­trai­ned. The over­all aro­ma should be balan­ced and har­mo­nious, and is often fair­ly com­plex and inviting.
Fla­vour
Many inter­pre­ta­ti­ons are pos­si­ble; allow for bre­wer crea­ti­vi­ty as long as the resul­ting pro­duct is balan­ced and pro­vi­des some spi­ce (and optio­nal­ly, sugar and vege­ta­ble) pre­sen­ta­ti­on. Spi­ces asso­cia­ted with the fall sea­son are typi­cal (as men­tio­ned in the Aro­ma sec­tion). The spi­ces and optio­nal fer­men­ta­bles should be sup­port­i­ve and blend well with the base beer style. Rich, mal­ty and/or sweet malt-based fla­vors are com­mon, and may include cara­mel, toasty, bis­cui­ty, or nut­ty fla­vors (toas­ted bread crust or coo­ked pie crust fla­vors are wel­co­me). May include distinc­ti­ve fla­vors from spe­ci­fic fer­men­ta­bles (molas­ses, honey, brown sugar, etc.), alt­hough the­se ele­ments are not requi­red. Fla­vor deri­ved from squash-based vege­ta­bles are often elu­si­ve. The wide ran­ge of spe­cial ingre­di­ents should be sup­port­i­ve and balan­ced, not so pro­mi­nent as to overs­ha­dow the base beer. Bit­ter­ness and hop fla­vor are gene­ral­ly res­trai­ned so as to not inter­fe­re with the spi­ces and spe­cial ingre­di­ents. Gene­ral­ly finis­hes rather full and satis­fy­ing, and often has some alco­hol fla­vor. Roas­ted malt cha­rac­te­ristics are typi­cal­ly absent.
Mouth­feel
A wide ran­ge of inter­pre­ta­ti­ons is pos­si­ble. Body is gene­ral­ly medi­um to full, and a cer­tain mal­ty and/or vege­ta­ble-based che­wi­ness is often pre­sent. Modera­te­ly low to modera­te­ly high car­bo­na­ti­on is typi­cal. Many examp­les will show some well-aged, warm­ing alco­hol con­tent, but wit­hout being over­ly hot. The beers do not have to be over­ly strong to show some warm­ing effects.
Over­all Impression
An amber to cop­per, spi­ced beer that often has a modera­te­ly rich body and slight­ly warm­ing finish sug­gest­ing a good accom­p­animent for the cool fall sea­son, and often evo­ca­ti­ve of Thanks­gi­ving traditions.
Typi­cal Ingredients
Spi­ces are requi­red, and often include tho­se evo­ca­ti­ve of the fall or Thanks­gi­ving sea­son (e.g., all­spi­ce, nut­meg, cin­na­mon, cloves, gin­ger) but any com­bi­na­ti­on is pos­si­ble and crea­ti­vi­ty is encou­ra­ged. Fla­vorful adjuncts are often used (e.g., molas­ses, invert sugar, brown sugar, honey, map­le syrup, etc.). Squash-type or gourd-type vege­ta­bles (most fre­quent­ly pump­kin) are often used.
Comm­ents
Over­all balan­ce is the key to pre­sen­ting a well-made Autumn Sea­so­nal beer. The spe­cial ingre­di­ents should com­ple­ment the base beer and not over­whelm it. The bre­wer should reco­gni­ze that some com­bi­na­ti­ons of base beer styl­es and spe­cial ingre­di­ents work well tog­e­ther while others do not make for har­mo­nious com­bi­na­ti­ons. If the base beer is a clas­sic style, the ori­gi­nal style should come through in aro­ma and fla­vor. When­ever spi­ces, herbs or addi­tio­nal fer­men­ta­bles are declared, each should be noti­ceable and distinc­ti­ve in its own way (alt­hough not neces­s­a­ri­ly indi­vi­du­al­ly iden­ti­fia­ble; balan­ced with the other ingre­di­ents is still cri­ti­cal) – in other words, the beer should read as a spi­ced beer but wit­hout having to tell that spe­ci­fic spi­ces are pre­sent (even if declared).
Com­mer­cial Examples
Dog­fi­sh Head Pun­kin Ale, Schlaf­ly Pump­kin Ale, Sout­hamp­ton Pump­kin Ale
Notes
Autumn Sea­so­nal Beers are beers that sug­gest cool wea­ther and the autumn har­ve­st sea­son, and may include pump­kin or other squas­hes, and the asso­cia­ted spi­ces. See the Intro­duc­tion to Spe­cial­ty-Type Beer sec­tion for addi­tio­nal comm­ents, par­ti­cu­lar­ly on eva­lua­ting the balan­ce of added ingre­di­ents with the base beer.
Ori­gi­nal Gravity
0.000 - 0.000 SG
Final Gra­vi­ty
0.000 - 0.000 SG
Color
0 - 0 SRM
Alco­hol
0.0 - 0.0 %vol
Bit­ter­ness
0 - 0 IBU