Seasonal Beer Rules

I have seasonal rules: Buy them as soon as you see the new ones, they're at their freshest.

I do wish they'd wait a month or two longer to release them tho.

 

Yeah pumpkin ales are in full force round here.
Once good gourd is out I know it's time to get some pumpkin ale.
Mmmm, christmas ales are right around the corner!
But yeah I was very tempted to get some pumpkinhead but I feel like I should wait until next month at least.
Here in south florida August is the worst month.

 

The sooner fall beers come the better I say. My favorite seasonals are all in fall!

 

Same, buy em fresh. I understand why they release them early though, good business. My brain says summer is already over with kids going back to school very soon and all football starting up. Wow, summer is over.

 

Had to read this again to be sure...damn I thought pumpkinhead was renowned. I love that stuff!
Your talkin about shipyard right?

 

I'm with you, but only for Fall beers. Winter, spring and summer seasonals getting released early doesn't bother me, but autumn beers coming early rubs me the wrong way for some reason. I love Oktoberfests and Pumpkin Beers, but I just can't have them when it's 87 degrees and muggy. I will enjoy an older fall beer if it's on a cold Sunday in football season much more than a fresh one in summer weather. As such, I usually don't touch any of them until mid. September at the earliest.

 

I absolutely love it, reviews be damned!
Honestly I'm pretty surprised by that low score though, surely it's at least an 80 in my book.

 

I used to get more bent out of shape about it, but now I've decided just to drink what's on the shelves now and enjoy good beer while it's fresh. I love marzens/Octoberfests.

 

I will say it again, if we want to start talking about seasonal creep blame the damn Germans. Oktoberfest in September? Come on now, this has been going on forever.

I like a good Pumpkin Ale, sometimes I want one out of season. I personally have not issue with breweries releasing whatever, whenever. There is too much good beer out there for me to drink that I don't have to worry about what I don't like or agree with.

 

You all realize that breweries brew more than one batch of their fall beers right? This "buy them when you see them, they're the freshest" is nonsense. They don't just brew/release in July and that's it for the season.

 

Its a race to market. If you are only going to buy one Pumpkin Ale or Oktoberfest this year, it better be mine. Same reason retailers put up Christmas decorations after Halloween.

 

I'm with the OP. If you don't like season creep, don't buy the beer. It only encourages them! There will be plenty of fresh Oktoberfest on the shelf after Labor Day.

 

I drank a bottle of last years Punkin on July 25th. Happy Christmas in July.

 

The Fall beers have mostly arrived here in CT as well, but it's too damn warm out for me to enjoy any of my favorite pumpkin ales or octoberfests just yet. I'm excited for tumbler and SA's new Fat Jack Imperial Pumpkin

 

I pretty much have to stick to the seasons (what little there are) in Texas. It's really hard to crack open a Fall beer when it's 105 outside. I usually dont start drinking fall and winter beers until early to mid October.

 

Off-topic - I have to agree that Pumpkinhead is atrocious. I went kind of apeshit with the Pumpkin beers last year and the only one I will outright never try again is that one.

On-topic- my philosophy is pretty much the same 'vote with your wallet' mentality as the OP's, but the temps have dropped to the high 60s/low 70s here in Chicago and I'm thinking of grabbing some Southern Tier Pumking from down the street ...

 

I don't like to get wild with the pumpkin ales until it gets cooler and the leaves are falling, but I make an exception for ST Pumking. And I already had a Great Lakes Oktoberfest because why not? But I think it's a scientific fact that pumpkin ales taste better during autumn.