It’s Pumpkin Beer Season. Drink Something Else.

Image via rbowen. Used under a Creative Commons license, no modifications were made to the image.

Two weeks ago pumpkin ales began popping up on the shelves of my local grocery store. August 17 marked (for me) the beginning of pumpkin beer’s seasonal creep for 2015. That this creep starts earlier and earlier every year is not news to you, but what you may not know is that you have many, many alternatives to pumpkin beer at this time of year. If you like pumpkin spice frosting, lattes, whipped cream, cookies, and the like, that’s great, but for those who don’t, read on to find out more about some options, many of them local, that might interest you.

Wet-Hop Beers

These beers are brewed with hops that have been recently harvested and don’t undergo drying (hence the “wet”). In some cases, the beers are brewed a day or just hours after the cones have been freed from their bines.

Lost Rhino went a hop-pickin’ at Whipporwill Manor Farm “in God’s Country“, Madison County, Virginia. The team b