Water, malted barley, yeast and hops: these are the four main ingredients of beer. But as the seasons change, so do the beers. Fall, especially around Halloween, is no exception to the trend. Just look to pumpkin ale for proof.

Pumpkin ale is a great way to welcome in the change of seasons and the decreasing temperature. It’s darker, a bit heavier and often has a higher level of warming alcohol than traditional summer beers like golden lagers and cloudy hefeweizens. The hint of spices also prepares one for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

In light of this — and in the spirit of accepting autumn — I personally sat down with a couple of these seasonal brews for an afternoon tasting. First on my list was Blue Moon’s Harvest Pumpkin Ale. It pours a rich, dark amber color with a fine, mousse-like head. The aroma is fairly malty, expressing slight hints of toffee and allspice. It has a sweet, medium to full-bodied entry into the mouth, giving way to very mild biscuit-like maltiness. It has a nice matching of pumpkin flavor to spiciness — neither too weak nor too intense.

This beer finishes fairly clean as well, which I like for this style (I don’t like to feel as though I’ve just slurped down a soupy pumpkin pie). If you’d like to try a well-crafted pumpkin ale, this one is for you.

Next on my list was the Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale. This was less pleasant, accenting many of the features of a style which I don’t particularly enjoy and leaving out other redeeming qualities. It pours a lighter orange-amber with a quickly-dissipating head that leaves just a minimal amount of wispy lacing atop your pint. The aroma is pronounced spice, predominantly clove and nutmeg. It is very light-bodied for this style of beer, almost to the point of being watery. Pumpkin flavor asserts itself on the palate, then gives way to a spicy aftertaste.

Overall, it ranks low among the pumpkin ales I’ve had.

To lift my spirits after this insipid ale, I switched to another seasonal brew, Hacker-Pschorr’s Oktoberfest. This helped wash the spice taste from my mouth and also gave my taste buds some respite from pumpkin flavors. This darkish lager pours a rich copper-amber with a large, frothy head. Pronounced malt and toffee aromas encourage that first sip, which reveals a beer of beautiful balance between sweet malt and bitter hop flavors. It is medium-bodied with a refreshing amount of carbonation. This is a great example of the Oktoberfest/M√É.√Ü.√É.√§rzen style.

I recommend this as a seasonal alternative to any who do not appreciate the pumpkin or spice of a pumpkin ale.

Remember, pumpkins are not just for carving!