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Autumn drinks from 28 chains that don’t contain pumpkin spiceAutumn drinks from 28 chains that don’t contain pumpkin spice

Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii, Bar Louie, Beans & Brews Coffeehouse, Biggby Coffee, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse, Black Tap, Blue Bottle Coffee, Carl’s Jr., The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Dog Haus, Dutch Bros, Eggs Up Grill, First Watch, Jack in the Box, Juice it Up!, Krispy Kreme, Miller’s Ale House, Next Level Burger, Panera, Rock & Brews, Smokey Bones, Snooze A.M. Eatery, Starbucks , Tacodeli, Tim Hortons, Turning Point, Wahlburgers, and Wayback Burgers

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

September 28, 2023

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Although pumpkin-flavored items grab many of the headlines at this time of year, there are plenty of other new beverages out there, some with explicit autumn flavors, especially apple, but also caramel, maple and other warm, harvest-inspired elements, but others are just part of the regular cycle of rotating and usually highly profitable drinks that restaurants would like their guests to dry. That includes Bar Louie’s Grand Lemon Drop, some proceeds of which are going to hunger relief, and Dog Haus has launched a cocktail to help with Maui relief efforts.

BJ’s has a new seasonal beer, Black Tap is rolling out high-proof “shake shots,” and Krispy Kreme has taken the time to relaunch its entire coffee program.

Miller’s Ale House is using Kendall Jenner’s tequila, and Rock & Brews is using Metallica’s whiskey.

Smokey Bones has new cocktails without any celebrities behind them.

Blue Bottle Coffee is using cardamom and orange blossom as a unique seasonal combination, and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is flavoring a seasonal tea with Valencia orange.

Juice it Up! has new horchata smoothies, and Tacodeli has a new agua fresca.

Read on to see what drinks other chains are offering this season.

 

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected] 

About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country for both publications as well as guiding overall F&B coverage. 

He is the host of a podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

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