I’ve lived in Brisbane for most of my life, and we don’t really have autumn here. After our eight months of summer, there’s a transitional period of “I haven’t been sweating as much lately” before we reach our prized few weeks of winter where it drops below 20 degrees.

It wasn’t until I moved to Sydney for a while that I got to delineate between the seasons, as I got to spend a few autumns with deciduous trees and enjoy the red and yellow leaves that come with the territory.

I love the idea of seasonal beers, so as I share these beer styles, I’m channelling cooler weather and red leaves and finding ways to make life interesting with the holiday season well and truly behind us. Whatever the weather is like where you are, let me encourage you to do the same.

Malty Lagers

Okay, so this isn’t a style so much as a group of styles. But malt-forward lagers take the lighter, refreshing body of the pale lagers you’ve been enjoying through the warmer months, and amp up the flavour (and often the colour).

The pick of the bunch here has got to be Burnley Brewing’s Märzen. Toasty, earthy… everything you’re looking for as the temperature starts to drop. Märzen (German for March) was traditionally brewed in - you guessed it - March, and would ferment and cellar for months, coming into its prime in time for Oktoberfest. But since Aussie seasons are the opposite of German seasons, why not drink Burnley’s version in the month for which it was named?

Red IPAs

This is one of my favourite styles of beer. It’s got it all - gorgeous colour, vivacious hop character, luxurious malt flavour, full body. And rather than deteriorating as they age, red IPAs simple evolve, becoming less hop-driven and emphasising the malt character more.

Six String Dark Red IPA and Former Tenant by Modus are the O.G. red IPAs in the Australian beer scene, and are always worth checking out (or returning to for the hundredth time). Exit’s #025 Red IPA blends together caramel and toffee with pine and citrus; malt sweetness with hop bitterness. Quakers’ Red Rye IPA serves up rich but smooth malt, with tropical fruity hops a kick of spice from the rye.

And I’ll let you in on a secret - pour 7th Day Brewing’s core range IPA into a glass and you’ll see that it sneaks into this category as well. It brings together dark golden syrup with light peach iced tea. Delicious.

Double IPAs

Maybe this is my Brisbane bias, but in the scorch of summer, I feel like I’m constantly on the edge of dehydration. As a result, I can be wary of turning to beers too high in alcohol on a hot day. I eye them off, waiting for the day the humid air is less thick and sticky so I can pounce back onto the thick and sticky beers.

Autumn is the time to get back into these boozy monsters.

Mash Brewing’s Battlecat is a tropical and citrus beast that’ll sneak up on you while you’re not looking; hop dankness and bitter orange rind are balanced with caramel sweetness and stone fruit in Exit’s Double IPA; and Moutere Double DIP from Six String is pumping with intense pine and citrus, and it’s as big, bold, and bitter as your eighth grade PE teacher.