Sierra Nevada 2020 Oktoberfest

That 2014 Fall Variety pack was awesome. I would even argue the Oktoberfest was the worst of the bunch between that, Pale Ale, Vienna, and Tumbler.

 

Correct, each year is different. Ingredients, ingredient amounts, hops and ABV... Although, that is usually 5.8-6.2%.

 

I wouldn't disagree with you, but sales and distributors starting showing that they weren't moving. Variety packs and seasonals are on a decline the past few years, but with current times and treads that could start swinging back the other way.

 

Sounds like a great chance for you guys to get back out ahead of the trend!

 

If only they would bring back the 2018 Oktoberfest they did with weihenstephaner. That beer was amazing. 2019, not so much.

 

Seasonals are too? I thought flagships were dying and seasonals/rotating beers were doing fine?

Unless you mean non-IPA seasonals specifically...

 

Let's not go bringing up distributor's "expertise," shall we? I think I've already shown there are too many that can't be trusted to know what their customers really want.

Just sayin'.

 

Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Across America 12 packs produced some duds but also some of the greatest beers I've tasted I would by these any time they were available.

 

Man I loved that concept. Would love to see some sort of return

 

I’m in total agreement.

Beer Camp was fantastic but I imagine it was a logistical nightmare.

 

Same here!

 

Ya I can't imagine it was an easy one to pull off

 

A 12 pack with nothing but Oktoberfest and that Vienna Lager would empty my bank account pretty quick...

 

I have mixed feelings about the Beer Camp packs. They were expensive and not always easy to find in my area and while I did end up trying every pack and some of the beers were fun and interesting nothing ever blew me away.

 

And I would add that invariably some of the beers in the pack were not all that good. Because of these various Beer Camp packs (the last one I purchased was a case of 24 beers) I was forming the opinion that collaborative brewing was not the optimum manner to formulate a beer recipe. A case of 'too many cooks spoil the broth'?

Cheers!

 

With regards to seasonal variety packs, the problem I have is that at least one, and sometimes two, of the beers are available in 6 packs year round (it seems like every Sam Adams variety pack has Boston Lager and Sam '76) and/or there's some odd out-of-season beer the brewery is looking to just get rid of. Why buy a seasonal variety pack with only a couple of unique seasonal beers?

Sampler variety packs (like the one Von Trapp has out now) are a little different since they are meant to provide a variety of core beers, not introduce unique, limited availability beers.

 

I was a fan of the Sierra Nevada Fall mix-pack when it was available 'back in the day'. SNPA was one of the four beers but I really enjoyed the other three beers (which varied from year to year). I thought the Vienna Lager was very good, I also very much enjoyed Tumbler and whatever was the fourth beer was good as well.

As I understand it they stopped producing the seasonal mix-packs a couple of years ago. Sierra Nevada seems to be operating like Stone Brewing and concentrating on producing hoppy beers to keep the IPA crowd happy.

Cheers!

 

That Von Trapp mixed 12 pack is absolutely killer.

 

I would love to see a SN fall pack with their Pale Ale, Flipside, Tumbler (which made me fall in love with brown ales in autumn) and their Oktoberfest. That’d be a 10/10 winning combination. I’m still enjoying my beers of summer however I’m sure mid August I’ll start yearning for the beers of fall!

 

Awesome pack and one of those rare ones that is both a craft and crowd please-er.