Shorter days. Cooler nights — yes, even in Hawai'i. And more — lots more — beers to pick from.

The arrival of fall and the holidays that follow brings a flood of seasonal beers to market, from pumpkin spice ales to Oktoberfest and yuletide brews. This, of course, follows a long hot season of wheat, blueberry and other summer beers.

But it turns out seasonal beers, the latest popular offshoot of the craft and microbrew phenomenon, aren't all that new.

"Christmas beer is a tradition that actually predates Christmas, frankly. It goes back to the earliest days of brewing," says Don Russell, a beer writer who's just written "Christmas Beers: The Cheeriest, Tastiest and Most Unusual Holiday Brews."

"Whatever holiday was going on, brewers would have made special beers for that holiday," he says. "You wanted to mark the occasion with something special."

But in recent years, breweries large and small have rolled out seasonal beers.

"About a year ago is where we saw seasonals pass pale ales as the No. 1 growth in craft beers," said Paul Gatza, director of the Brewers Association, a trade association in Boulder, Colo., with about 1,100 brewer members.

Seasonal beer sales grew about 23 percent in the first half of this year compared with the same period last year, he said.

" 'What can I try that I haven't tried before?' is really driving a lot of the sales in the category," Gatza said. "The craft beer drinker tends to like to have different beers in the fridge from different brewers on different occasions."

Just as wine drinkers vary their selections by season and what they are eating, a growing number of beer drinkers want their beverage to work with what and when they eat.

"It's a great marketing idea. You can call it a ploy, but it's great to have the variety," Russell says.

Wheat beers for summer, for example. "In the last two years, wheat beer has been the hottest trend in craft beer," says Russell. "Everybody, it seems, is offering a wheat beer."

Though fall and winter appear to have the most seasonal beer offerings, Russell says summer wheat beers "might be reaching, if not outstripping, seasonal beers as a style."

For the breweries, it just makes good business sense. Besides giving consumers more choice in shops, at bars seasonal beers often land their own special taps.

This is a move mastered by The Boston Beer Co., the maker of Samuel Adams.

Company founder Jim Koch has been a pioneer in the seasonal beer niche. But it hasn't always been easy.

"For 15 years, consumers and retailers struggled with the idea" he says. "At this point, you've even got Bud, Miller and Coors jumping on the bandwagon."

Koch first began making seasonal beers in fall 1987, when he offered a double bock followed by an Oktoberfest.

"People feel the holidays as a special time of the year. They're rooted in primitive instincts, that life changes when the seasons change," Koch said. "We forget that we are natural beings in a physical world."

Something to reflect on, perhaps, over a seasonal brew.

HOLIDAY BEERS

Ready to add some seasonality to your beer-drinking? Here are some options:

• Many labels have an Oktoberfest brew, including prominent brewer Samuel Adams.

• Consider a flavored ale; pumpkin is not just for pie anymore. If you can find them (look to specialty stores, such as Tamura's), try Michigan Brewing's Screamin' Pumpkin Spiced Ale, Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale, or Brooklyn Brewery's Post Road Pumpkin Ale.

• Anchor Steam's Christmas Ale and Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale are good bets as winter solstice approaches.

• Among imports: From across the pond, Samuel Smith's Winter Warmer is a stellar example. Beer writer Don Russell lists Corsendonk's Christmas beer, from Belgium, as one of his favorites.