Autumn Ale - Breckenridge Brewery, Breckenridge

Breckenridge's Autumn Ale isn't a Märzen or and Altbier... it's not the kind of beer you'd expect by looking at the label. With pictures of leaves and earth tone hues you'd be forgiven for thinking this was an Oktoberfest style lager. Instead of bottling a hoppy or bitter Oktoberfest beer Breckenridge has brewed up the darkest fall seasonal I've seen yet. This beer can best be described as somewhere between a Märzen and a Stout. It's a bit odd, even more so because Breckenridge calls this an Old Ale. It's really all semantics, you can call your beer whatever you want so long as there is a passing semblance of logic to it. What's really more important is how your beer tastes, and in that regard Breckenridge has succeeded in making a good beer.

This Autumn Ale, which has a delightful "After Rakin'" tagline printed above the name on the label, is much darker than I was expecting. Pouring this into my pint glass I thought I'd mistakenly opened a bottle of Vanilla Porter. This beer pours dark and has a thin, but fluffy, tan head. These aren't typical characteristics of fall seasonal beers. The flavor of this beer is reminiscent of Oktoberfest Märzens but different in an enjoyable way. Being so dark, I was ready to get a mouthful of bitter and chalky malt but this beer was actually quite mellow in bitterness and rather well balanced. The hops aren't remarkable and more of an accent while the malts take center stage. The beer as a whole suffers from being a touch too watery and a hair too mellow.

As far as seasonal beers go I'd suggest saving this one until the late days of autumn, well after you've brought the sweaters and wool socks out of storage. This is a cozy beer and, despite what the label says, I'd enjoy it more when it's snowing outside rather than after raking up a pile of leaves.