Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

Give Thanks for the Best Sweet Potato Beers

Lee Heidel
By

Thanksgiving is the perfect time of year to honor the simple sweet potato. A harvest season staple that is versatile enough to be used everything from savory side dishes to sugary desserts, the sweet potato also makes a fine adjunct for adventurous brewers. While pumpkin beers get all the headlines, these sweet potato beers are quickly accumulating fans during the cooler months of fall. 

If you’re looking for a fall brew that your friends and family probably haven’t had before, we suggest picking up one of these five best sweet potato beers below.

Recommended Videos

Sweet Potato Casserole

Funky Buddha Brewery

Funky-Buddha-Sweet-Potato-Casserole-beer
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Funky Buddha Brewery is the undisputed master of crafting beers that taste like food. From Maple Bacon Coffee Porter to Lemon Meringue Pie to French Toast Double Brown Ale, the Florida facility’s magic recipes produce beers that convey the subtlest intricacies of the original dish. Sweet Potato Casserole is no different. A tasty recreation of the southern staple, this beer has sweet potato roast, heavy spices, and yes, even marshmallow flavors.

Related

Sweet Potato Stout

Lazy Magnolia

lazy magnolia sweet potato stout
Image used with permission by copyright holder

As the oldest brewery in Mississippi, Lazy Magnolia has been an active part of the craft beer renaissance, guiding its home state to more progressive alcohol legislation. Jefferson Stout was created in the dark days of Mississippi brewing, when there was a 5 percent alcohol by volume limit. But don’t let the low alcohol content keep you away from this beer, which is a milk stout big on coffee, caramel, and chocolate flavors highlighted by a full mouthfeel.

Autumn Maple

The Bruery

the bruery autumn maple beer fall
The Bruery/Facebook

Autumn Maple from California-based Bruery is brewed with 15 pounds of yams per barrel. While yams and sweet potatoes aren’t technically the same thing (sweet potatoes are members of the morning glory family, yams are related to lilies), the flavors are close enough to include this beer in the list — and what a beer it is. Pouring a gorgeous deep red, the strong spices of cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg are capped by a gently warming 10 percent ABV.

Sweet Potato Soufflé Rye Ale

sweet potato souffle odd side ales

Oddside Ales

Sweet Potato Soufflé is an old ale brewed with sweet potatoes and lactose. Post-fermentation, it’s aged in rye whiskey barrels and spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg. Like its namesake dish, you should expect the warming sensation of the baking spices to combine with the lactose-thickened beer to forge an excellent dessert beverage that will complement any holiday meal. It’s on the boozy side at 11 percent ABV, which makes it a solid choice to balance out the drama of family dinners.

Yammy Yammy

Platform Beer Co.

yammy yammy platform beer co
Platform Beer Co./Facebook

Cleveland’s Platform Beer Co. makes the excellent root vegetable beer Yammy Yammy. Formerly known as Yamma Jamma, this beer features roasted sweet potatoes augmented by the complementary flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove. As the ale warms, expect the sweetness to give way to a dry earthiness belying its ingredients.

Along with brews like Carver by Fullsteam in North Carolina and Taterlicious by Georgia brewpub Moon River Brewing Company, sweet potatoes (and yams) have proven to be a delicious alternative to the now standard fall pumpkin beer, and have earned a place at the Thanksgiving table.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Lee Heidel
Lee Heidel
Lee Heidel is the managing editor of Brew/Drink/Run, a website and podcast that promotes brewing your own beer, consuming the…
Get To Know 6 Trending Types of Beer Hops
beer hops types

If you blink, you'll miss the debut of a new beer hop variety. The craft suds scene changes so fast it can be hard to keep up with, even when you follow the industry closely or are even part of it.

We've got you covered. New options may be coming to market in droves, but only the best make it big in beer land. As you shop for beer, scan the labels or talk up your bottle shop steward to see what hops are included. IPAs especially tend to wear the hop bill on its sleeve, a proud proclamation of what varieties made it into the brew. Think of hops like grape varieties in a good blended wine -- they play a key role in building the beer, and soon you'll begin to hone in on the ones you really like.

Read more
The 7 Best Stout Beer Glassware Choices in 2022
two bottles of beer and two stout glasses on a bar.

Stout beer glassware has changed considerably since the Imperial Pint Glass or the Nonic Pint Glass were invented. The Imperial Stout Glass is what you would typically find your Guinness in. It looks like a regular pint glass but it also has a weird bulb shape near the rim of the glass. Since then, stout glassware has evolved into the use of tulip glasses or snifters.

A little Beer 101 for Stout Glasses seems to be in order. We're going to leave behind the typical pints, beer mugs, and pilsner glass because yes, every beer has its glass soulmate. Just as there are several cocktail glasses, there are also different types of beer glasses to enhance the beer's flavor profile. It's not that regular pints and mugs don't have their place, because they do. When talking about craft beer, it's about the body, the viscosity, the aroma, the flavor, and the visual appeal.

Read more
The 11 Best Beer Glasses for Every Style of Beer
A group of friends enjoying their glasses of craft beer.

If you’re a self-proclaimed beer lover or beer connoisseur, you should know that glasses are more than vessels for drinking brew. And not just any glass, mind you. It’s those uniquely shaped beer glasses that allow you to get the full bouquet of aromas and distinctive flavors of your favorite beer.

From pilsner glasses to snifters, there are beer glasses for every style of brew that provides the ultimate drinking experience. Don’t be ashamed if your knowledge of bar glassware isn’t on par with your local hipster bartender, for we created this guide on the best beer glasses for every style of beer.

Read more