Fall is a great beer-drinking season, but pumpkin beer and Oktoberfests have been on the shelves since August. Season creep is real. Now, as the leaves are starting to change color, it’s time to start looking for other ways to celebrate the autumnal equinox.

I found some. If you look hard, you will too.

The Bradley Brew Project

The Bradley Brew Project, in Bradley Beach, is a funky little brewery that’s pushing the boundaries. What’s Happening, My Sister is a light and malty English Mild that they call a Jersey Brunette. It’s a 4.2% ABV session ale with 80% New Jersey-grown barley. Complex, with notes of caramel punctuated by some nuttiness, this beer is perfect for a long night sitting around the fire pit. Like its British counterpart, the carbonation is low, too. Fill your pint up to the brim and settle in for a cozy-in-your-sweatshirt evening around a crackling fire.

Cape May Brewing

Cape May Brewing has invoked the spirit of “the Dude” in a collaboration with Left Hand Brewing (Longmont, CO). Inspired by the Big Lebowski’s favorite drink, they’ve created a White Russian Imperial Stout with coffee, cocoa, lactose and vanilla. There’s no way you could drink a beer like that without a little nip in the air! It is, of course, called Ties the Room Together. I think the Dude would abide this particular beverage.

Icarus Brewing

Lakewood’s Icarus Brewing debuted a butternut squash chili porter that may just be the epitome of fall. The beer is little sweet, a little smokey, with a touch of heat to warm you up after watching some local football. Is that not fall in a glass?

The beauty of the season is all about variety. How about trying a little variety in your beer, too?