The Bruery Autumn Maple

The Bruery Autumn Maple: Generally speaking, seasonal beers don’t get any more disgusting than the pumpkin puke that emerges every fall, with even the best attempts at blending the orange sqush with nutmeg, cinammon, and other brown spices eventually approaching nausea after the first few swigs.

So what did Orange County’s The Bruery do instead? They picked a different piece of seasonally correct orange produce, namely the yam, and jammed 17 pounds of it into each barrel of Autumn Maple that they made. Granted, they stuck with the brown spice mandate — cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, vanilla, molasses, and maple syrup, to be exact — but let their special Belgian yeast strain do the fermenting, and the result is a smooth and seemless blend, which is a surprise, given how many ingredients there are.

It’s not too powerful either, and with a nice, long finish, but I’d still recommend sharing the bottle, preferably with a big plate of turkey and mashed potatoes.

Available at Bin 2860 in Los Olivos. See bin2860.com and thebruery.com.