It’s time for the fall brews, the highlight of the year for many beer drinkers who anticipate the arrival of two distinct styles — Oktoberfest and pumpkin ales.

 Oktoberfest beers started in Germany, where they are named for the yearly festival, originally a party for Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig in 1810, according to Horst Dornbusch, an international beer industry consultant and a well-known beer journalist.

 Now, even though only six German brewers — Spaten, Augustiner, Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbrau and Lowenbrau — are allowed to use the name “Oktoberfest,” breweries around the world brew their own interpretations of the style.

 “The Oktoberfest beers today are aged for about six months and should be more than five percent alcohol by volume (ABV),” says Dornbusch of West Newbury. “It should be amber in color. It should have a lot of aroma hops, but not a lot of bittering hops. It’s a malt-oriented brew, but not as heavy as a bock.”

 Although several of the official German Oktoberfest beers are available throughout the Baystate, including Spaten’s and Paulaner, there is another German beer that drinkers should seek out, the Ayinger Oktober Fest-Marzen.

 Brewed in the town of Aying, the brewery uses only local ingredients, including their own well water, locally grown barley and a healthy yeast strain, says Dornbusch.

 “They don’t skim on the process,” he says. “They let it age forever. It’s a beautifully, malty brew with only the finest ingredients. It’s a glorious brew.”

 Brewers on this side of the pond are also making a splash with their own Oktoberfest-style beers. But, Dornbusch says, be careful and read the labels. Oktoberfest beers are lagers, while many craft beers brew ales and call them Oktoberfest.

 One of the outstanding fall beers brewed in the states is the Samuel Adams Octoberfest, which won the gold medal at the Eurostars beer awards ceremony in Munich, Germany for best Oktoberfest beer.

 “It is a completely traditional version of the style,” says Sam Adams president Jim Koch. “It includes a substantial amount of a rare malt, malavian malt. The hops come from the two hop-growing areas around Munich. It’s a littler richer and creamer than the recent Oktoberfest beers available in Munich, which have become lighter over the years. Sam Adams Oktoberfests taste like the Oktoberfests I had in Munich in 1971. I’ve been to Oktoberfest since then, but it didn’t meet the same standard.”

 There are several wonderful examples of Oktoberfest beers available in Massachusetts. Last year, the Berkshire Brewing Company’s Oktoberfest Lager was a hit. At eight percent ABV, the taste of alcohol was masked wonderfully by the rich, malty flavor.

 The Victory Festbier, brewed by the Victory Brewing Company of Pennsylvania, has a nice, caramel taste, blended with a slight hop flavor.

 Harpoon’s Octoberfest Beer is a thick-bodied beer with a pleasant, sweet grainy taste.

 Dornbusch is not surprised American brewers have excelled at the style.

 “I think, In general, the American craft brew scene has caught up in quality to many of their European counterparts,” he says. As for the Sam Adams version, he says it is “wonderbar.”

 Pumpkin ales also start hitting the store shelves this time of year. Mostly an American style, the beers are still developing an identity.

 Shipyard Brewing Company’s Pumpkinhead Ale is the most widely available. The Maine brewer’s label, a pumpkin-headed horse rider, stands out. The Cambridge Brewing Company, a Cambridge brew pub, produces a wonderful pumpkin ale using real pumpkins in the brewing process.

 But, some of the top pumpkin ales come from other locations. The Brooklyn Brewing Company’s Post Road Pumpkin, is outstanding, while Dogfish Head Brewing of Delaware offers up a solid Pumkin’ Ale.

 Perhaps the best is the Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale. Clocking in at eight percent ABV, it smells like pumpkin pie and the flavor is definitely from real pumpkins, not from pumpkin flavoring.

 Dan Weirbach, owner of the small Pennsylvania brewery, says he only brewed the beer because a wholesaler friend convinced him to do so.

 “I didn’t want to do it,” he says. “I thought it was a fad, but he said the sales were growing every year. They tasted like spiced amber ales to me, so I said, ‘I’ll do one next year, but it’s not going to be five percent (ABV).”

 But since then he and many other brewers have learned the same lesson — pumpkin ales, like their Oktoberfest cousins, are no fad.

2. Berkshire Brewing Company’s Oktoberfest Lager

5. Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale

— Norman Miller