New brews for fall and Oktoberfest

The arrival of autumn is always a great time of year for beer drinkers — when breweries release seasonal offerings based on traditional styles, including malty Oktoberfest lagers, and some more experimental stuff, such as spiced-up pumpkin ales.

Here’s a sampling of new and notable American craft beers for the fall season, all recent arrivals in Atlanta beverage stores, along with one freakish Halloween oddball.

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Shmaltz Brewing Co.

Shtick is part of the package for products from Shmaltz Brewing Co. Its Freaktoberfest is 6.66 percent alcohol and is pink. Deciding if it’s an American amber or a red lager is up to you.

BOB TOWNSEND
BEER PICK

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• Bob Townsend is editor of Southern Brew News, a bimonthly beer publication distributed throughout the Southeast.

Weyerbacher Autumn Fest, Weyerbacher Brewing Co., Easton, Pa.

From a brewery that’s new to Atlanta, Autumn Fest is Weyerbacher’s take on the venerable German Oktoberfest tradition. The amber-colored brew is made with Vienna and Munich malts, giving it a sweet Bavarian lager flavor that’s roasty and smooth. It also has a slightly fruity, alelike essence and a nice balance of hop bitterness.

Mendocino Oktoberfest Lager, Mendocino Brewing Co., Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

As usual, Mendocino offers a lot of bang for the buck, selling for as little as $5.99 per six-pack at some discount beverage stores. This limited-edition lager has a surprisingly deep malt taste with pleasantly toasty, nutty notes and good bit of hop presence.

Left Hand Oktoberfest Maerzen Lager, Left Hand Brewing Co., Longmont, Colo.

A high-quality beer with a price to match, Left Hand offers its version of a fest beer, calling it a maerzen lager. Round, roasty, robust and very easy to drink, the malty flavor and medium body is balanced by a dry finish that begs for another sip.

Victory Festbier, Victory Brewing Co., Downingtown, Pa.

Maybe as close as any American brewery gets to the classic Oktoberfest style, Victory puts its German-engineered brewhouse to good use to create a smooth amber lager. With rich German malts and spicy whole flower European hops, it drinks like it’s straight out of Munich — except fresher.

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, Del.

If you’ve turned up your nose at pumpkin beers, Dogfish Head Punkin Ale may be the one to win you over. Unlike most other versions of the style, it has a depth of flavor and a complexity that’s more than just beer with spices. Maybe because it’s really a brown ale, with pumpkin, brown sugar, allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg, plus a good bit of hops.

Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin, Weyerbacher Brewing Co., Easton, Pa.

Weyerbacher ups the ante for pumpkin beers with this 8 percent alcohol by volume monster that’s become a new favorite. Big and bold, but still very drinkable, matching a rich caramel malt flavor with loads of spicy cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamon and cloves.

Coney Island Freaktoberfest, Shmaltz Brewing Co., Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

OK. This is a joke, right? Part of Shmaltz Brewing’s Coney Island series of sideshow-branded “lagers,” Freaktoberfest could be the perfect Halloween beer — if you’re into tricks as much as treats. The first clue comes as garish pink foam bubbles up out of the bottle. That’s followed by a Red Zinger tea-colored beer that can only be called crazy. Is it an American amber? A red lager? Neither the aroma nor flavor are particularly distinctive, with a amorphous presence that recalls a light lager, unbalanced by a weird bitter rush.