Article by Loren Green

Building a Flight of Minneapolis Fall Beers

Just a few years ago, the term “fall seasonal” meant dark-hued beers, complemented by whimsical takes on pumpkin spice and smoke. Even the term “seasonal” is less common nowadays, with taprooms favoring a rotation of limited beers that fit the season but aren’t always available for months at a time. Minneapolis has developed a vibrant brewing scene that allows beer fans to enjoy their favorite beers and discover new flavors in many ways. There are small, neighborhood joints and large beer halls, each with its own atmosphere and ambiance. This list captures that diversity with some local highlights.

1. Pocket Watch Pecan (6.8% ABV) – Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative

A traditional English-style brown ale – in the sense that pecan pie is a fall classic. This brown ale drinks very smooth, leading with toasted malt character and slight coffee notes, then building fast into a sweet pecan-forward beer with caramel notes. It’s sweet but, unlike the pie, it is balanced with earthy grain notes that let the pecan steal the show, but not totally overshadow a strong base beer. After that big pecan flavor, it finishes with a clean coffee note that creates great balance for a sweeter beer. It’s a bold beer, but it's still easy drinking enough for a night of pints with friends.

Broken Clock is a member-owned cooperative brewery in Northeast. Many of their beers, like Pocket Watch, begin with a traditional style and then add a modern American craft twist, also offering slow pour lagers. The brewery shares space with Curioso Coffee Bar, and Aki’s BreadHaus (known for their pretzels) are next door in the same building. Visitors can sit at the bar, separate tables, or play pool, pinball and darts.

2. Oktubrefest (5.9% ABV) – La Doña Cervecería

It can be difficult to make a traditional beer style like the German Märzen lager stand out when almost every brewery makes one. La Doña delivers a malt-forward, copper-in-color lager that’s crisp and refreshing, but with a drier profile as compared to the caramel-heavy flavors at many other breweries. Oktubrefest is still traditional: it offers a sweet aroma of toast and subtle candy corn, but the beer itself is roasty, with a honey-like undertone that sticks on the tongue but doesn’t dominate the experience. This beer pairs with the changing leaves: it has a sweet vibrancy, but it’s earthy, with subtle nuttiness, and surprisingly dry for the style. Due to the lager fermentation process, it finishes with a clean, smooth finish. Available beginning in October.

La Doña is in the Harrison neighborhood and features a bright, Latino-inspired color scheme and decor, as well as house-prepared tacos. Animales Barbecue, mentioned as a food truck earlier, will soon open a restaurant next door. La Doña will celebrate its seventh anniversary with a taproom party on Oct. 4, 2025.

3. Wild Rice Amber Bock (7.8% ABV) – Northbound Smokehouse & Brewpub

Amber bock is a classic fall style, but Northbound adds a Minnesota twist with the inclusion of wild rice. The aroma gives caramel and honey-forward impressions, leading to a bold beer that’s suited to the cooler fall evenings. The caramel and honey flavors are the first to hit the tongue, then they grow into a rich nuttiness that would pair well with truffles, juicy red meats, and berries. While it is rich in flavor, the wild rice adds an earthy element for balance. It’s bold, but it’s not a decadent dessert beer. The lager base is clean and smooth, making it easy drinking but big on flavor. It’s somewhere in between the extremes – just like the fall.

Northbound brewpub offers a full barbecue menu and cocktails in addition to their house made beers. They offer a bustling patio as the weather allows, tucked tightly into the mostly residential Standish neighborhood near the Blue Line.

4. N.E. Porter (5.2% ABV) – Padraigs Brewing

N.E. Porter is nearly black in color but mid-bodied and approachable. The roasty beer begins on the mellow side on first impression, with a building flavor that progresses from slightly sweet and bready roasted malt into a coffee-esque bitterness, ultimately merging all of those flavors for a roasty beer with hints of both sweetness and bitterness offset with a light, lingering milk chocolate finish.

As a whole, Padraigs emphasizes traditional Irish brewing methods and ingredients, brewing their beer in Northeast Minneapolis (hence the beer’s name). Their taproom offers a classic pub vibe with an open view of the brewhouse and a seasonal patio that perfectly captures the aesthetic of the neighborhood. Their fall menu also features pilot batch English-style hard beers in limited availability.

5. Darkness (12.0% ABV) – Surly Brewing Co.

Released each year as the days grow shorter and the nights grow longer, Darkness is a cornerstone beer for Surly. This annual limited release is an imperial stout that pours jet black in color with dominant flavors of coffee and chocolate. Like any beer this high in alcohol, a warmer temperature will bring out layered flavors. Darkness presents notes of cherry, raisin, dates, and figs. It’s a big beer in every way, yet it has a deceptively silky body that separates it from other imperial stouts. Surly hosts the annual Darkness Day party to mark its release, offering live music, special variants, bottle sales, and more.

Surly, in Prospect Park, is a large destination beer hall with two restaurants, ample outdoor seating, and an amphitheater for concerts. They pour more than 20 taps, including many hard to find recipes.

There are more fall brews to be found...

Keep in mind that taps are frequently changing and there are many more high-quality fall flavors worth seeking out on a visit. Additional fall beers are available at Fulton, Indeed, Utepils, Inbound BrewCo, Town Hall Brewery and many many more.