Colors of autumn

Your guide to fall beers, local and otherwise

I wasn't always a craft beer lover.

I grew up in fine restaurants and tasted wine from Riedel glassware during five-course dinners. You’d think I became a wine expert or a connoisseur of all of the nicest things in life, but instead, I’m a girl with uninhibited love of great beer. 

 My fascination with craft beer blossomed when I opened a restaurant a few years ago. While researching products for our bar program, I stumbled upon some wonderful local people making great local products. My first craft beer love was COOP DNR, a Belgian Strong Ale served in a 750-ml bottle, which I added to our beer list for my own enjoyment. This epiphany led to a world of boozy geekery I did not know existed.

I’m no beer expert, but I love handcrafted local products — and the ones that make me tipsy have a special place in my heart. As fall slowly creeps in, our palates naturally change with the weather; the crisp evening air inspires a taste for sultry, spicy flavors and hearty sustenance. In anticipation of autumn, these are my favorites for the season in the order in which I would drink them, lighter to darker. 

Local fall favorites

COOP Native Amber
Toasted caramel is the phrase that comes to mind when thinking about this creamy amber ale. I recently had the pleasure of drinking a freshly canned Native Amber during a tour of COOP’s new brewery in Oklahoma City. Its freshness was a decadent treat. The perfect balance of hops and malt is what makes this beer addictive. 

Roughtail Polar Night
Adding a stout to a fall beer list might seem crazy to official beer geeks, but this lady craves a semi-chocolaty coffee stout when the temperature drops. This is a lighter stout with more emphasis on hops, which is probably why I like it. Its ABV is 8 percent which qualifies it as the vanilla-laced, full-bodied nightcap beer of choice. Oh, and it’s available year-round, too.

Marshall Oktoberfest
This Tulsa girl has German roots, so I have a natural affinity for a classic German beer made in the 918 – especially by Oklahoma’s finest. Eric Marshall and his crew do a great job with all their beers – I drank nothing but Atlas for years – but Oktoberfest is a fantastic, malty lager that is incredibly easy to drink. This full-bodied, copper-colored Märzen weighs in at 6 percent ABV. It’s a limited release beer, so if you see it, grab it.

Prairie Funky Gold Mosaic
The first whiff of this pale-yellow sour ale is papaya and mango — a surprising and delightful tropical kick. This is the beer for seamless transitions from hot days to cool nights. It’s refreshing, exotic and easy to drink, mostly because of its fruity playfulness. Packaged in 16.9-ounce bottles and produced on a small scale, it’s a bit hard to find. Check with Freddie at The Biergarten in Jenks; he’ll hook you up. It’s currently on draught at R Bar, too. 

Dead Armadillo Black Hop
There is something highly seductive and challenging about an über-hoppy ale in a big bottle, but I fell in love with Black Hop, a complex beer that entertains the senses with every sip. The nose is slightly honeyed and mostly toasty and the bittersweet coffee flavors enhance those aromas. Even though it seems like it should be a heavy, serious beer, it leaves you with a dry, tingly mouthfeel. With an IBU of 117, this might be too bitter for the average beer drinker. If that’s you, try their Amber ale for a sweeter, medium-bodied malty experience.

Ask the experts

What beers have tickled the palates of Tulsa’s true beer aficionados—the brewers?

Tony Peck, Dead Armadillo Brewery
One of the best beers I had in the last year was from Almanac Beer Co. from San Francisco. They made a bourbon barrel sour Porter that was unbelievable. It had a great malt backing from the porter, which would have been very good on its own, but this beer came through in layers, and each one was a very pleasant surprise. You really could taste what the bourbon barrel contributed, and the roasted barley mixed really well.  Then it finished off with a tart, but not overpowering sourness.

Paul Hargrove, home brewer
One of my favorites of the last year is the 2014 batch of Cuvee de Tomme by The Lost Abbey. It’s created by using a Belgian Dark Strong Ale, which is brewed with malted barley, candied sugar, raisins and cherries. It’s then added to French oak and American bourbon barrels, where it spends a year with more sour cherries, souring bacteria, and Brettanomyces (a wild yeast). The end result blends dark fruit notes, a smooth vanilla flavor from the bourbon barrels, a vinous quality from the cherries, a complex funk from the Brettanomyces, and a refreshing lingering sourness that begs you to take another sip. 

JD Merryweather, COOP Ale Works
India Pale Ales are one of the most popular styles of ale in the craft beer market. This summer I was lucky enough to try one straight from the source and it blew me away. Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon, killed it with their Fresh Squeezed IPA. On tap at their Public House I was overwhelmed with the taste and nose of this fresh bomb of citra and mosaic hops. It was not a fluke pour—I had three pints to make sure. Originally a seasonal for Deschutes, this amazing offering is now a year round beer.

Beer lovers, mark your calendars

Harvest Beer Festival (Sept. 27)
The fifth annual Harvest Beer Festival is set for Sept. 27 outside McNellie’s downtown. The festival will feature two sessions this year to accommodate beer enthusiasts who’d like a little more time to talk with the more than 30 brewers in attendance about their bounties. The first session is from noon-3 p.m. and the second is from 5-8 p.m. Tickets are $25 and are available at ticketstorm.com.

First Draft (Oct. 10)
Tulsa’s premier beer tasting fundraising event hosted by the Tulsa Press Club at ONEOK Field will celebrate its tenth anniversary on Oct. 10. Tickets are $50 and the price of admission includes a commemorative pint glass, a regional beer tasting from the finest brewers, rare beers and ballpark goodies.

Linde Oktoberfest (Oct. 16-19)
River West Festival Park hosts the biggest beer extravaganza of them all Oct. 16-19. Tulsa’s beloved Oktoberfest will welcome more than 60,000 visitors and feature around sixty special Oktoberfest beers, authentic German bands, delicious food, games and family activities — everything that continues to draw Tulsans to the other side of the river (while drawing beer-loving patrons from around the world) year after year.

Oktoberfest: More than a party

Oktoberfest, Tulsa’s favorite yearly beer extravaganza, is still a ways off, but the actual celebration is only part of the old German tradition. The name Oktoberfest also refers to the style of Marzen beers (so named because they’re brewed in March) that were put aside in ice-filled caves to keep fresh over the summer. (“Despite what our friends in Golden, Co., would have you believe, they did not invent frost brewing,” said Wes Alexander of Marshall Brewing Co.) The beer was then released around late summer, and needed to be finished off in time for the barrels to be used for new beer, brewed using grains from the autumn harvest. No better way to finish barrel after barrel of beer than a two-week party, right? Hence, Oktoberfest.

Marshall’s batch of Oktoberfest brews is rolling out in bottles right now, and the brewery will hold a ceremonial tapping of the first Oktoberfest keg at an official launch celebration on Sept. 11 at Fassler Hall. Find Marshall Brewing Co. on Facebook for more details.

Where to have a pint

James E. McNellies Public House
409 E 1st Street
7031 S Zurich Ave 
With more than 350 beers to choose from, this is where Tulsa drinks beer. 

The Fur Shop
520 E 3rd Street
They strive to offer every Oklahoma beer they can get their hands on.

Soundpony
409 N Main Street
“Magic served by the pint.” Enough said.

R Bar
3421 S Peoria Ave
Josh Royal puts together a heck of a selection of local and regional beers. 

Leon’s 
3301 S Peoria Ave
The newly remodeled bar can now hold twice as many local-beer-loving sports fans.