Is trashing pumpkin beers hypocritical for some?

Really though, it is the spices which people seek, not the pumpkin meat

 

If memory serves correctly, from 2013 to 2015, pumpkin beers showed exponential growth. However, there was ultimately a "backlash" from consumers. If I needed to venture a guess, the demand from the distributors resulted in breweries releasing their pumpkin beers earlier and earlier to meet the so-called demand. Consumers ultimately objected to seeing pumpkin beers in July/August and made their voice heard with their wallets. Retailers were then left holding a wealth of inventory well after the fall season and therefore severely curbed their purchase of these spiced, fall favorites moving forward.

As a result of dwindling demand and sales, many breweries have either limited their production or outright retired their pumpkin beer in favor of an alternate (and not so one-dimensional?) fall seasonal.

For me, the one AND ONLY pumpkin beer is The Fear (Flying Dog). I look forward to it every year and it has become synonymous with watching NFL football on Sundays. Since I currently live in a location where Flying Dog does not distribute, it looks like I am going to have to find a substitute...but it will most likely not be a pumpkin beer (but I'm always open to suggestions!)

 

This is really the source of my distaste for pumpkin beers. As some others have said in this thread, pumpkin is pretty bland really. It's how pumpkin beers (and some pies) are spiced is what turns me off. I feel the same way about some winter warmers/christmas beers too.
Adding a ton of pumpkin to a beer, and pumpkin alone, wouldn't resemble anything close in flavor profile to what many of us think about when we think about a pumpkin beer.

 

@zid nailed it here.

 

Pumpkin beers are awesome. It's one of the things I look forward to every single Fall.

Nothing beats having a Dogfish Head Punkin Ale and watching scary movies

 

Nothing except drinking an IPA with freshly harvested hops and doing the same thing.

 

My wet hop beers are usually reserved for my relaxation tastings.

Beer in proper glassware+ lights dimmed+ chill video game soundtrack music+ slumping down in my chair.

 

Interesting that bottle logic has defied the pumpkin beer stigma (based off ratings of the spice must flow and picture if you will).

I'd wager to bet that a treehouse or tired hands pumpkin milkshake ipa would do the same.

 

I love ham and pineapple... together even! Just not adjacent to tomato sauce and bread.

And I love tacos el pastor so I'm a pseudo-hypocrite.

 

There is one pumpkin beer that I can tolerate. That is Smuttynose. In that beer, the spices are tamed and there really is an essence of pumpkin which smoothes things out.

 

It means that it has become a game more about bells whistles (lactose, chalky cloud, strawberries, etc). and less about having a deft hand in brewing something that is reserved and authentic. But yeah, I would yell that at a hipster.

 

Yep, I"ve seen it too many times.

 

I for one do not think Pineapple belongs on pizza! And I actually love both pineapples and pizza, separately.

 

Fair enough.

 

My wife makes a pumpkin lasagna that is delicious.

 

As far as the original post I would say it’s only hypocritical to trash pumpkin beers if your argument is a purity factor but then go on to say coffee stouts are fine.

 

How about a Bud Light Orange?

 

I've personally never seen a "beer fad" burnout so quickly. From roughly 2008-2013, all the rage. Shipyard Pumpkinhead (one of the worst ones) would sell out upon release, as did Pumking (one of the few I actually liked). Then, shelf turds. I see pumpkin ales as late as January these days.

I don't "trash" the style, I still try one or two every Fall, but I can see why the style has ultimately failed. The good ones are few and far between.

 

My conception and appreciation of beer is as a grain beverage. Although they have zero appeal to me, I won't fault anyone for drinking or enjoying fruit or pumpkin or candy beer. I might, however, chuckle at some of the brewers who not so long ago were extolling the virtues of German Purity Law, who are now falling all over each other trying to see what foodstuffs they can use in their beer. It seems just a little too gimmicky to me. And as I watch it turn into a giant game of monkey-see-monkey-do among brewers, I guess I do find that as unappealing as the beers themselves.

 

Hand up this was probably me, and honestly it can be hypocritical. BUT in my humble opinion trashing Shipyard Pumpkinhead and beers like it is too much fun to stop doing it. I just cannot believe some of these basic pumpkin spice latte beers they come out with these days!