IF BEER HAS A SEASON, we're in it. Bold flavors taste best in crisp air—a Jackson Pollock on a stark white wall—but beer's autumnal ties are more than aesthetic. Late fall marks the historic start of the brewing cycle, and the release of the king of beers: barley wine.

Before refrigeration, brewers relied on winter's chill to keep fermentation slow and consistent. They started with barley wine, a potent harvest feast in a glass. First made in 18th-century England with extra helpings...