Fall Beer Sightings (2019)

The people running Oktoberfest in Munich are as responsible as anyone for season creep by having it mostly in September; subsequently amplified by cities here having it around Labor Day as a convenient excuse for the locals to get hammered over a holiday. No sweat off me because I'd drink the style year round if it wasn't a seasonal.

 

This exactly. Which I why I end up brewing my own Festbier/Marzen multiple times a year, as it’s delicious anytime! I wish more breweries would have year-round examples, even if they have to call it something else to hide it’s true form from those who can't stand to drink an "Oktoberfest" outside of the season.

 

There's a functional reason for that though. It's been mostly in September for a very long time, and it was because the weather is nicer.

And they can't really change the name to "Septemberfest" now.

They also were traditionally drinking the beer all summer long and simply finishing it off in October if I recall correctly.

Someone who's less lazy can correct me if I'm wrong though on all of this.

 

I think your general description is accurate but I would not exactly buy into the specific verbiage of “finishing it off in October”.

The principle reason for drinking the Marzen/Oktoberfest beers was just to be part of celebrating:

“The first Oktoberfest was a communal celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig (later King Ludwig I) of Bavaria and Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. It was held just outside Munich and attended by both royalty and citizens. The epic event started on Oct. 12, 1810, and lasted five days. The festival grounds were named Theresienwiese, or Therese’s Meadow.

The festival became an annual event, a celebration of autumn, harvest and agriculture. The timing was perfect for tapping that year’s locally brewed Märzen—still a dark beer, suitably aged and in prime condition for fall consumption.”

http://allaboutbeer.com/article/oktoberfest-style/

Cheers!

 

Märzen was originally a process of brewing beer in March with enough oomph and quantity to last thru the Summer (when brewing couldn't happen because of wild yeast in the air). And yeah, the last of the beer was consumed to celebrate the harvest and the coming of the new brewing season.

When Sedlmayr & Dreher started experimenting with new, richer styles based on English higher kilned malts Sedlmayr decided to see how the beer aged over the summer (a "true" Märzen) and his beer was served at the Oktoberfest as a new "innovation" ().

 

I love Oktoberfest beer and drink it year round so I just don't get the complaints about it being released in August. To me, there isn't anything inherently "fall" or "cooler weather" about O-fest beers other than the name. You could slap another name on it and people wouldn't give it a second thought. It's just not that heavy of a beer to me. Truck Stop Honey and Yellowhammer Rebellion (2 of our locals) are brewed year round and are just as "heavy" as a Marzen, but people drink them without complaint. Besides, given when Oktoberfest is generally held, I don't think August is that inappropriate of a time for it to be released.

 

To answer the question at hand, I haven't seen a single fall beer out yet. I dropped by Publix earlier during my lunch break to pick up some SN Pale Ale and noticed there is only 2 Sam Summer Ales left. There happened to be a guy stocking some nearby and I asked him if they had more in the back and he said that was it for Summer Ale. I assume in the next few days there will be some O-fest. I buy the shit out of that stuff.

I also saw someone posting about the fall beer being gone too early. In my area, you have to know where to look. I hunt in a very rural community (2 gas stations and a Burger King) and you are able to get Sam O-fest until about the last week in November. I assume that's because the area is the target market for Miller and AB.

 

Agreed, but I'm not the one rushing to get the fall and Octoberfest beers onto store shelves!

 

It cracks me up every year when I go to the local store in Mid-October and I see someone asking for the more popular fall / Octoberfest beers and the salesperson says that they're all out of stock already...

 

I get that, but "in theory" those beers should be available for purchase for the average craft beer buyer. On the other side, I get that breweries/distributors/stores want to sell all the beer asap to make room for more.

 

Saw some 2019 Pumking on shelves today..

EDIT: Saw some 2019 Warlock too..

 

Re: my earlier comment I was curious and dug into my archives and found this from July 19, 2013:

Southern Tier Pumking in the middle of July during a heat wave and with a 110F heat index?!? Eh, why the hell not?!?

So A) the seasonal creep has been around for a little longer than I realized B) on a personal level it was interesting to think about how much has changed since then, and how much has stayed the same.

 

It feels like seasonal beers come out a little bit earlier each year.. yeah it's definitely not anything new, and I understand it from a business standpoint, but it's just weird.. same can be said for non-beer related seasonal items.. oh well, it doesn't really matter or bother me..

 

Saw Market Garden Oktoberfest on the shelves along with Pumking.

 

It does feel that way, but to counter that. Year before last, Sam Octoberfest was out around July 20 in Alabama. I remember because we were heading to my sister's baby gender reveal deal and I ran across it in Publix near us. Then last year I didn't see it in any store until the second week of August. It seems a little too random - at least where I live - to say it's earlier and earlier. I don't know how the industry works, but it seems they just stock it when Summer Ale runs out. Like I said, it doesn't bother me. It just means I get to enjoy good beer a few weeks before I'm supposed to.

 

Fall beers can really be enjoyed any time of year if you think about it. Most Oktoberfests and Pumpkin beers are like 5-6%. I'm sure most people complaining have had heavier beers at some point this Summer - even if it was just a tasting. What's the difference here?

 

Yeah I'll drink fall beers anytime of the year. Not to completely contradict my previous posts, but the only place I part with that is pumpkin beers. I love pumpkin beers and you're right about the alcohol content (except for Pumking), but flavor is more what makes me shy away too early. Like I said in a previous post, there isn't anything inherently fall about the flavor of most Ofest beers (or most fall beers for that matter). Pumpkin is one where I say it is inherently a fall flavor.

That said, I'm still not going to complain about it coming out early. I don't blame the breweries because it comes down to being first out of the gate and I'm still going to stock up on it.

 

I'm with @BamaScott

Isn't it sort of impossible for them to come out earlier and earlier EACH year? Because at this point we'd have Oktoberfest beers in April. Or better yet, come full circle and they're coming out in the fall again!

I feel as if there was a major shift of a month or two at some point, due to breweries switching to quarterly releases rather than "seasonal". I recall @BillManley (back when he had his old user name and worked for Sierra Nevada) saying that Sierra Nevada switched to quarterly releases many years ago.

If a major player like Sierra Nevada does it, then it seems logical that many others in the industry would follow suit. And for beers like Celebration Ale, perhaps it's always been an "earlier" release of October-ish, because they brew using the fresh fall hop harvest.

It's entirely possible the "seasonal creep" is in our heads, because we always associate certain styles of beers with each season, but in reality, these beers HAVE to come out earlier for business purposes.

I feel like Pumpkin beers on the whole are a lot stronger than that. Think about the more popular ones...Pumking, Warlock, Rumkin, Punkin Ale, Good Gourd Imperial Pumpkin...etc.

Most Oktoberfests do fall in between 5-6% though, but the Munich imports all fall between 5.8% - 6.3%.

 

Oktoberfests I drink as fresh as I can, especially the imports, those come first. Because they are bottled in the April - June time frame.

Pumpkin beers I feel no need to rush and drink fresh.