RIP Summerfest

Unfortunately they’re discontinuing Nite Heavy.

12 packs are on sale for $5 though from the brewery here in MA!

I can consistently make a great bowl of cereal.

It’s still a bowl of cereal.

 

You actually produced those cereal flakes!?!

Cheers!

 

Based on the sales data it looks like after 2018 is when it really started to decrease in popularity. Back in 2016 we sold multiple cases over the summer, in 2019 we didn't clear a single case.

I don't believe that apathy towards Summerfest has driven increased sales of other craft lagers. The folks I know who enjoy craft lagers tend to enjoy the same ones on repeat with no desire to explore. Summerfest being a seasonal really ruins that opportunity.

Further my SN 'legacy buyers', as in the folks who have bought a 12 pack of pale ale every friday for the last 20 years are more likely to pair their purchase with Coors or Busch Light than any craft lager. Something about getting old and getting cheap going hand in hand.

 

It's called trying not to deplete the Roth IRA too soon!

 

Summerfest sure seemed to do well enough around here and would sell out before the end of the summer. I blame YOU for the debacle.

 

I definitely noticed it lingering up here the last couple years. I'll take the blame though cause I rarely bought any. I'm a bit of a scrimshaw loyalist

 

Scrimmy is my jam eating fresh salmon fish n chips (grilled the next day) in Fort Bragg (of course followed by a Red Seal or two). It's been awhile. Time to head back.

 

I think this speak volumes about how things are dependent on your clientele, very regional (demand for that style and/or local competition of comparable styles) and/or based on brand recognition. I haven't noticed a steep decline in Summerfest sales in my tenure at my store but it has seemed more or less consistent. I've sold through several cases over the seasonality of the beer; this past year was a little bit more worrisome.

I echo what @Leighton_ says about sales of craft lagers: customers tend to stick to the same one or the same few every time and pair it with some AAL or cheap option. My observation is that it's a very hard category to get a new beer moving, unless it's one that's just new to your store. Also echo the SN Pale Ale buyers: though that has ebbed and flowed from no one buying it to selling one to three cases a week (12s or 6s).

 

Nope! I also didn’t make the physical bowl or spoon I use to eat it either.

This will really blow your mind, I pour milk in the bowl that I didn’t make too!

Interesting you both say that. Maybe it’s different in MA but from what I understand Jack’s Abby and Notch’s lagers move really well. And they produce all different kinds of lager styles that are rotated.

 

Pale ale and Busch light ???!! Not in my area would anyone buying SN Pale Ale do this

 

Take a closer look -- I see the same sort of mix all the time. Confusing to me, yes. But I see it all the time.

 

Definitely liking the 6x16oz cans of Scrimshaw, but it won't be long before they're 'long in the tooth' in my area. Summerfest as a seasonal was known to be fresh (in my area) for Summer camping/river/BBQ outings.

Really wondering how much longer my SN loyalty can hold out. My favorite local bottle shop said they were informed recently no more packaged Porter or Stout. And we're less than 90 miles from Chico. If Pale Ale or Celebration gets scaled back I'm going to really have to ask myself does SN still embody the company that does a full spectrum of styles well and things like the fundraising brews of Dankful and Resilience, or is it now more aligned to continual trend chasing with Hazy Little whatever the F iteration? Time will tell.

 

The comments on availability of Porter and Stout are a head scratcher for me. The Safeway I can walk to always has SN Porter and Stout shows up time to time.

 

Haven't seen the 6x16 yet but scrimshaw is a popular one around here, at my regular spots I don't even check dates on it and I've never gotten anything older than 2 months and usually its 3-5 weeks.

I had two reliable sources for those two but both stopped carrying them last year at some point.

 

Owner of my local shop said they're going to be draft only going forward. @SierraTerence can you confirm what the future holds for packaged Porter and Stout?

 

It wouldn't surprise me to see the large refrigerated beer isles shrink in size leading to beers like SN Porter disappearing. Even as a customer I question the profitability of such large selections although I appreciate it. I just don't see many people snapping up beer these days.

 

Something that doesn't get mentioned much is that each regional distributor for a given brand chooses, or has limited access to, what they bring in. The distributor's buyer determines their selection at the warehouse, which determines a store buyer's selection. One of the main factors why I suspect a distro wouldn't carry an item is that it's not popular and/or profitable enough to justify the space it would take up in the warehouse.

On a store level, some items may not be available to the buyer because the company has disabled the ability to order that item, despite the distributor having it.

Summerfest's "retirement" is just an example of something that a lot of the mid-to-large sized regional/national breweries like SN are going through. At a certain point, growth is pretty hard to continually generate so shrinking portfolios down to successful products or shrinking distribution footprint is one of many strategies to decrease expense and free up valuable time and resources (ingredients, fermenter space, packaging capacity, etc).

 

I think they stopped doing the first thing you mentioned a long time ago.

I don't see them stopping the second part though, they seem like good people at Sierra Nevada.

 

Think it's a bit about location too, until recently I could still get their Porter, Stout, and Crystal Wheat packaged (in addition to their hoppy stuff, including Bigfoot). Pulling Summerfest means no lager option, and now the format shift for Porter and Stout means they're mostly one dimensional in my area now too. Sad thing to watch evolve.

 

What has been your Summerfest replacement at the same SN price point?

Unfortunately, all of my replacements so far have been in the higher $ price tier of Norcal "Craft Lagers". Alvarado, Urban Roots, Moonlight, ect...

Still looking for a easily available (in NorCAL) Lager in that SN Summerfest Price range.