A Preview of Brewery Ommegang's New Releases

I just love this time of year. Not only is the weather becoming milder and the sights, sounds and smells of fall beginning to emerge ... it's also my favorite time of year for several special beer styles that are only available during the autumn season. Just like the changing of the leaves from green to a multitude of colors, many brewers are releasing their seasonal specialties - pumpkin ales, Oktoberfests, double bocks and stouts to name a few - bringing a little bit of color and variety to a beer-lover's world dulled by the doldrums of summer.

One such brewery out of Cooperstown, NY is taking this a step further, however. Brewery Ommegang is a world-class craft brewer, specializing in Belgian and Belgian-influenced styles. One such style is their Three Philosophers. Ommegang Three Philosophers is a Belgian-style quadrupel with added kriek (cherry) lambic, creating a rich, fruity ale of exceptional quality and complexity. The year-round version of this beer is unique enough, in itself, but add to that the fact that the brewery has taken 280 cases of this unique ale and dropped them 156 feet down into the storied Howe Caverns where the beer sits at a steady 52 degrees and you have a truly special, or specially-conditioned, beer. This is Brewery Ommegang's Cave-Aged Three Philosophers.

Ommegang isn't finished yet though. The brewery also happens to celebrate their 10th anniversary in October and what better way to celebrate than with a special beer to commemorate the occasion? Enter Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence - a stout with a twist or two. First, Brewery Ommegang uses real cocoa powder to produce a true chocolate experience, accentuating the dark roasted malts. Then, they use a special Belgian yeast strain to impart a lively, fruity character to a style that can often be rather one-dimensional. A Belgian-style stout ... I simply can't wait.