Why Seasonal Craft Beer Comes Out So Early: The Campaign For Seasonal Beer
Seasonal beers are one of the best parts of being a craft beer fan! Variety is one of the major benefits of being a fan of better brew and seasonals give you that variety and also help to make certain beers more special (it always tastes better when you have to wait for it). Every year we wait eagerly for the stouts of winter, the assortment of styles that spring brings, the lighter and refreshing brews of summer and the Oktoberfests and pumpkin beers of fall. For many breweries seasonals are their best sellers, and with good reason. Somehow few things are more delicious than one of your favorite beers that you’ve had to wait nine months.
Over the past few years, though, we’ve been seeing seasonal beers released earlier and earlier. It used to be that the first summer brews arrived in May. Now, we expect them in March. Spring beers...well we’re pretty sure we saw some as early as February this year (sick, we know). But brewers pushed us over the edge when we started seeing pumpkin ales in early August. AUGUST! That is literally the middle of summer. We don’t know about you, but when it’s 90°+ and humid as hell, the last thing we want is anything involving pumpkin! Plus, this means there’s never any left for Thanksgiving, when we all want it most! In our poll about seasonal beer, a full 68% of you even said that seasonal craft beers are coming out too early!
From hanging around the industry as long as we have, we know why this is (but we still don’t like it). All the brewers want to be first to market. The first beer of the season you try is the one you’re going to stick with most likely and has switched your taste-season to the next season. The craft beer diehards (like us) may disagree and say that you try them all and will switch back to the current season, but 90% of the craft beer market is the casual drinker...and THAT person will usually stick to their first and move to the next season. Plus nobody wants to have extra inventory on the shelves come the end of the season (do you ever drink Spiced Christmas Ale after Christmas? Neither do we.). So it’s a race. And every year that race starts earlier.
Now that we’ve identified the problem, what’s our solution? Simple: don’t buy seasonal craft beer until YOU think it’s appropriate. Don’t want pumpkin beer in August? Don’t buy it. Wait until Thanksgiving...or at least Autumn. Spiced Christmas Ale? Let’s stall until after Thanksgiving. We don’t want to hurt craft brewery’s sales, we just want to shift the seasons back to normal. So once that season hits, as Jim Cramer might say, “Buy buy buy!” Let’s show brewers that they don’t need to launch pumpkin beer in August to sell it all in time for Thanksgiving.
Also, we’ve launched the Campaign For Seasonal Beer. So what do you think? Want to discuss this with us on Twitter or tell brewers to hold off on how early they launch these, use #CampaignForSeasonalBeer. Or hit us up on Facebook. Or, you could always just leave us a comment below. Either way, let us know your thoughts! Cheers!
Are Seasonal Craft Beers Being Released Too Early? [Poll]
The other day we went on a mini-rant about pumpkin beers being available in August, which expanded into a discussion with our followers on Twitter and Facebook about how early seasonal beers are being released lately.
If you've been paying attention to this type of thing in craft beer, you'll notice that pumpkin beers are available in the middle of summer, spring beers are sometimes released as early as January and that's just the tip of the iceberg! What this means is all the summer brew is gone while it's still 90°+ in August and you've got to grab a fall seasonal like pumpkin beer. Once you really want it in late October or, God forbid, Thanksgiving, that pumpkin beer is nowhere to be found and you're stuck with spiced Christmas beer. What gives?
So we want to know! What do you think? Are seasonal craft beers being released too early lately? As usual, vote below, then let us know why you made that choice on Twitter (if you think they're released too early, use the hashtag: #CampaignForSeasonalBeer), on Facebook or in the comments below the poll. Cheers!
Add a commentSixpoint Brings Their Beer to Cans [Brewery Profile]
We've been fans of Sixpoint for a long time. We visited the brewery five years ago as part of a road trip down the East Coast. During our visit we ended up chatting with Shane Welch, founder of Sixpoint, and he even let me add the hops to a batch of Sweet Action. Everyone we met at Sixpoint clearly loves what they do and it shows in the quality of their beer.
Sadly, until recently, the only way to drink their beer was in a local bar and even then you had to hunt for it in Boston. That's all changed now thanks to Sixpoint's new nanokegs (cans). I nearly jumped for joy when I found out Sixpoint was canning their beer. First because it meant I could have their beer any time I wanted but, secondly, because tall boy cans are bad ass. For now Sixpoint has released four of their beers in cans (with a fall seasonal pumpkin beer coming as #5). If you're a Cliffnotes kind of person I'll cut to the chase a bit...they're all damn good! For those with a bit more patience here’s a quick take on each one.
Crisp
I'm on a bit of a pilsner kick right now, it's always been a style I've liked but lately breweries have been putting out some really tasty versions of them, this being one. I recently had a discussion with a friend, he's not a huge beer drinker but mentioned he liked pilsners. I gave him a can of this and got a text message from him the next night simply saying "Pilsner is awesome, thanks!" That's all that really needs to be said but we'll go a tad more in depth. As the name might suggest this beer is crisp and refreshing. There's a great balance of hops and “lager funk” everything in this beer seems to be present in just the right amounts. It’s a tad hoppier than some other pilsners but never feels overly bitter. I’m mildly obsessed with it right now, I find myself picking some of this up every time I go to the store.
Sweet Action
This wins out of the gate for having an awesome name. The funny thing about this beer is that I used to skip over this in the bar in favor of their Righteous Ale. Now that it’s in cans I find it being a staple in my fridge. Sixpoint named the beer based on the balance of malt (sweet) and hops (action). I’ve brought this along to at least five cookouts so far this summer. Cream Ales tend to vary pretty wildly as a style. This one is slightly fruity with a hint of sweetness and a nice balance of hops. It’s really easy to drink a few of these at a time, something I’ve done on numerous occasions this Summer.
Bengali Tiger
This IPA leans more toward the English style vs American style. By that I mean that it’s a bit more balanced, it’s not a giant hop bomb but rather a nice blend of sweet malt and bitter hops. Don’t get me wrong though, it’s still plenty hoppy, it just doesn’t wear on you as you drink it. This is a really nice every day IPA. If you have friends that tend to shy away from beers that just taste like hops bring some of these. Bengali Tiger seems to please a wide variety of people which is a tough thing to do.
Righteous Ale
This is the beer that made me love Sixpoint. The combination of rye and hops is almost always a good thing. At 7.4% abv this beer is no joke, adding the rye adds a nice tartness to the beer that balances out the malt sweetness. Righteous Ale is loaded up with hops so for those of you who aren’t into that kind of thing you may prefer the Bengali Tiger, but give this a try first. There’s notes of both citrus and pine from the hops and a nice earthiness to the beer overall. I’ve spent many an evening sipping on one of these at dinner, now that it’s in cans it just means I can do it even more.
If you’re reading this last bit it means you made it through the whole article without leaving to go buy some Sixpoint. Impressive! Now go get some, you’ll thank us.
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