Christmas Cheer that isn't.

Wait - folks are bitchin' about Oktoberfests in August but Christmas brews is gonna be a topic.

 

And now you know why we suffer from seasonal beer style creep.

To quote Pogo: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Cheers!

 

Woe be to the brewery that releases a bad Christmas Ale. I've never had a bad one. I do have a preference for enjoying a rich malty ale in the Christmas Ale category as compared to one with sweet spices, etc.

 

Is someone going to beat the rush and ask if the spices in Celebration Ale taste as good as they used to? Do we still do that? Anyway, Merry Christmas.

 

I haven't given Christmas beers any thought. Day of the Dark isn't even here yet.

 

Not only that but we are completely passing over the Veterans Day and Thanksgiving beers. Shame!

 

There are several pumpkin beers out already

 

To be fair, Great Lakes does a Christmas in July release of their Christmas Ale

 

This thread just reminded me... I can't recall the particular year, but I once had a Shiner Cheers that legitimately tasted like vomited up pizza. I had last years vintage, while not my style of Christmas beer, it was still vaguely enjoyable. But that horrendous bottle scared me off their products for quite some time...

 

My favorite example of season creep during just one decade, half a century ago. So, it ain't new. Genesee Bock ads 1950 - 1959.

 

JK, season creep is not new but the craft beer scene today is indeed new.

Back in the day (50 years go, 10 years ago) the majority of beer was via the distributed beer industry model. I don't have the stats but even for 2019 that is likely still the case with craft beer but there is indeed a 'shift' going on in that there are a plethora of small, local breweries (and ever growing in my area) that can serve our demands. While the distributing craft breweries (e.g., Sierra Nevada, Stone, etc.) have the pressure of being first on the shelves (and floors) of beer retailers the small, local breweries are operating in a different manner. They will serve their customers who come to their taprooms directly.

The larger, distributing breweries can choose to follow their business practices of the past or they can recognize that the craft beer scene is changing and make appropriate changes to better compete with the ever growing number of small, local breweries (or just go the way of the dinosaur?).

Cheers!

@AlcahueteJ

 

I think I saw Jack's Abby's Copper Legend before Sierra Nevada's Oktoberfest, and those were the first two I saw.

Shortly after I saw Idle Hands Broktoberfest. They're even closer to me, and smaller than Jack's Abby.

At least in my area, both small, medium sized, and large breweries release Oktoberfests early.

 

Not the case in my area (I already brought Workhorse to your attention; they haven't made their Marzen available yet).

Entirely up to you whether you want to give you money to your locals.

Cheers!

 

@jesskidden Are you some sort of time traveler? Do you just have rolls and boxes of microfiche laying around that you can summon on command to pull up all these references in every thread you happen across? Are you Michael Jackson in disguise? If not you should definitely publish a book, and if you have please post the ISBN so I can buy it.
Prost!

 

Welcome to the Wonderful World Wide Web:

https://sites.google.com/site/jesskidden/

Cheers!

 

Thanks for the info, I'm very aware of the WWW, I just don't make a habit of "googling" people.

 

Maybe a habit worth developing?

Cheers!

 

Hmmm...King of Prussia, Brookhaven, 2004 Mazda 6.