Christmas beers...in October?

Out here the weather already kinda reminds me of christmas, so yeah, why wouldn't one have some Christmas beers to go along with it?

 

Considering you live in Cleveland, as I did when young, the seasons seem to change quicker than in the southern part of the state.....when we moved from Avon to Cincy we literally gained 2 months months of extra sun shine because of living in that damnable snow belt. Can easily see why the Christmas brews hit early up there. No offense meant by the way, Cleveland rocks----especially on the brew side of life.

 

I can't wait until I start to see all the SN Celebration Ale pics on the WBAYDN thread....that tells me that Santa is soon to come to town! :-)

 

Ha! I've got nothing against pumpkin beers but this is still funny.

 

One driver for the breweries must be the risk of getting stuck with excess inventory close to the actual holiday. Retailers won't buy pumpkin or Oktoberfest beers in November, Christmas beers in January, or summer ales in September. And retailers having to discount large quantities on clearance will reduce orders the following year.

 

St. Bernardus Christmas should be a year round beer.

 

Deschutes Jubelale came out a few weeks ago. I had a few out of my six pack when it was around 100 degrees out and I loved every second of it.

Never understood the idea of only drinking _____ beer if it's ______ outside. Good beer is good beer in any weather or season in my opinion...but don't get me wrong, the general atmosphere/climate can elevate a beer from being just okay to amazing.

 

Odd that people don't buy pumpkin beers to drink at Thanksgiving, especially since pumpkin pie is almost a requirement for dessert after Thanksgiving dinner.

 

Saw a whole wall of Mad Elf yesterday.

 

To answer OP's question, probably because the change in temperature/lifestyle/flavor of the beer is much more significant from summer to fall than it is from fall to winter. Fall beers can be spiced, then so can winter beers. So nobody blinks an eye. Summer you're going from pilsner and hefe to spiced pumpkin beers and oktoberfests, big change.

 

Got me some Struise Tsjeeses Christmas Beer 2015 - De Struise Brouwers from their store in Belgium. With the dollar being so strong, it's now really a bargain to buy beers from Belgium....

 

Cool----and hey,close enough to Cleveland and the great breweries there....need to check out Akron someday.
That said, the difference between the hate for pumpkin brews and the love of holiday ales is more of a matter of balance in my humble opinion. A great pumpkin ale is harder to find that a solid good Christmas brew.....that and the higher abv, Rumpkin aside that is (which was astounding). Post Road, ect.....not so much on the wow factor...Warlock is good, but how many great pumpkins can one name compared to excellent Holiday ales?

 

With a few exceptions, there are generally two categories of reactions from people when it comes to "seasonal" beer:
1. People who hem and haw and criticize the appearance of a beer when a beer's name or label (or both) doesn't match the weather conditions outside of their location or a specific time frame they personally deem to be appropriate.
2. People who see a beer and their reaction is "Hey! Fresh beer!"

I fall into category #2 and find most people's adherence to #1 very silly but, then again, I'm not buying or drinking their beer so let them quibble while I drink fresh beer and enjoy it. None of my concern, I say.

 

Awesome brew!!!

We got it in Casper before a mate of mine got it in Oregon. Lol!

 

Is this any different than bathing suits hitting the stores the day after new years and Halloween costumes the day after labor day? I don't mind my favorite winter seasonal coming available now as long as I can still get it in the winter. ie december Some of my favorite summer lagers are sold out by July. This hurts when we still have 2 months of heat left. No comment on pumpkin beer but I heard if you add extra spices and nutmeg and cinnamon and clove etc it makes them better. HA hA

 

If it's available I'll drink it.

Cheers!

 

Did the Jubel 2015 show up by ya? Totally different brew, but one of the best Deschutes put's out.

Cheers!

 

Sure did, John. And I couldn't agree more aboot how grand it is. Best Anniversary beer in years and perhaps, best beer overall in years...

 

Never had a problem with this, for me it's any style of beer...anytime of year.