Fall in Montana has rewarded us with a week of beautiful blue skies, very warm temperatures and those cool, crisp mornings that jump start your day. It is my favorite time of year. College football is back. The weather is grand. Nature’s colors dazzle.  And . . . . the fall seasonals hit the stores and the taps.

From day one in my craft beer exploration I’ve preferred malt flavors to hop bitterness. True, my interests and appreciation are broadening in leaps and bounds, but I’m not quite following the natural progression of the beer palate. I always return to the malt.  Which is why I love fall and the myriad fall seasonals that bring sweet malty grain and caramel flavors in great abundance. Brown ales, oktoberfests, bocks, and even some ambers tend to make me smile.

Lately, though, another category of great brews has hit the scene.  Wet hop, or fresh hop ales, made with hops that are harvested and rushed to the breweries without drying, are becoming more numerous and tend to feature the grand flavors of hops without pouring on the bitterness.  Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere Wet Hop Ale and Full Sail Lupulin Fresh Hop Ale are two fine examples.  If you’re lucky enough to be close to Yakima, WA next Saturday, October 2, you can even take part in the Fresh Hop Ale Festival that celebrates the fact that 77% of all U.S. hop production takes place right there in the Yakima Valley.

What’s your favorite time of the beer year?