Fresh Fall Beer Sightings 2024.

I don't want to be that guy (because you're absolutely right), but Summer literally started like 2 weeks ago.

 

You're at least a week late. Hofbräu Oktoberfest, anyway, has become a June release.

 

Nope. This part of the country is never among the first to get anything. I feel the midwest is always the place where the first new seasonals start popping up.

 

I saw Highland Brewing Clawhammer in a Total Wine in Alpharetta, GA yesterday. I thought it had to be old inventory, right? Took a bottle out. Bottled on date was 6/11/24.

 

So far I found spaten and paulaner marzen which is available year round in some areas. I also found hofbrau oktoberfestbier and weihenstepaner festbier.

 

When you write that those beers are “available year round,” do you mean that there are always fresh versions available or that the huge delivery that comes in once per year simply doesn’t sell and the supply lasts so long that one could purchase the beer at any point during the year?

There is a big difference between these two options.

 

Not my area, we always seem to be last.

 

From what I've learned through research, it's fresh stock available from the importer. The reason only some areas seem to have it is that a distro needs to order a minimum amount and they're leery because it doesn't sell off-season (at least I hear that in my area).

I've seen Spaten with best-by months all up and down a year, so it's not left over... for the most part, anyway. Your distribution may vary.

 

That's great. Whenever I see Oktoberfests outside of August-October in my area I run the other direction. Shit is ancient. In fact, I have noticed stores mix in with the current year's batch what they couldn't sell the previous year. I get it. It's business. But it's a business to which I won't return.

 

I've mentioned it before, but I've called out places that put last year's stock of a seasonal on the floor -- but it's not always the retailer, it's the distro -- at least around here.

One retailer literally shrugged. The other took me seriously and did the research (odd codes at the time) then called the distro to take back the expired stock.

FWIW -- a few years ago the Spaten importer was very late getting stock in and the area distro refused the shipment in late September because he knew (or thought he did) it wouldn't sell.

The next year he was in such a hurry to get Spaten to retailers that he stocked Okto that was only 2 months from the best-by. I waited a while and the fresh stuff finally showed at smaller retailers.

Always down to consumer awareness.

 

I'll enjoy some summer classics while we are waiting. The one I am most impatient to see is Deschutes Twilight Summer Ale. I don't see any information about it at the Deschutes website which makes me a bit nervous.

 

the spaten bb was 04/25 and the paulaner 03/25. From what I gathered from other members on this site they both are available year round they are not seasonal.

 

Both of these dates compare to BB dates from past years where we only get it seasonally.

I've seen September and December BB dates in the past.

 

This was the first time in over 3 years that I’ve seen spaten that was not 10-12 months old.

 

New distro in your area?

 

The Budweiser distributor has not changed. So unless spaten is no longer under ab inbev it is the same.

 

It is still, but I had to wonder if there was some distro shakeup.

 

I’m glad something changed spaten is my go to marzen. Last three years I’ve been buying a sixer of each imported marzen I seen. This year I’ll probably be exclusively buying the spaten.