Beer Review: Autumn Ale, Short's Brewing Co.,Elk Rapids, MI

Good Afternoon craft beer bretheren! Yesterday I enjoyed a college-football roadtrip for my alma-mater and an amazing fall bonfire afterwards. Today is a relaxing day and I decided to break out a new fall-themed beer while I watch some NFL. I saw this beer from Short's over at Siciliano's and it describes itself as an "Extra Special Bitter Ale-Lore of the season captured in ale." Hmm, so this is either a pumpkin/spice ale styled like an ESB? I don't want to go to Beeradvocate.com to find out before I try it, because I don't want to skew my thoughts and opinions before I try it. Okay, let's pop this top.

A- The beer pours an amazing amber hue with quite a bit of clarity. Lots of carbonation bubbles can be seen rising and clinging to the inside of the pint glass. A small half-finger head rises and quickly falls, with an off-white appearance.

S- This one smells deeply of malts of all sorts! I can smell some kind of spice in there as well. I could definitly characterize the nose as that of an ESB or an amber. Great malt scents, slight hop character on the front. Apple spice, clove, and nutmeg? Hmmm, interesting. Let's take a sip!

T- Wonderful floral flavor! This one is in no way an overly-spiced pumpkin ale. This is a wonderfully balanced, yet very rich ESB that tastes sort of like an american style amber ale. There are the smooth, rich flavors of malts and bready, biscuit-like earthiness. To furher compliment such a nice malt addition they have generously rounded this one out with floral hops. It tastes sort of like Cascade hops due to the slightly citrusy/floral twange, with a hint of Centennial hops in there too? This beer looks and tastes like a crisp fall afternoon in a park full of the glorious color of the season; very rich, but still refreshing.

M- Mouthfeel is similar to that of a Bell's Amber, in-fact almost to a tee. Definitly not too light and watery, but gives you a good, full mouth-coating beer with very pleasant after-taste.

D- This is a session beer and I plan on picking up some more for tailgating next weekend. This is one amazing beer from the best beer producing state in the country, Michigan! Love it!

Go get yourself some of this beer. Even if you only stick to the light American adjunct-lagers (and why the hell would you do that in the first place?!) you will enjoy this.