Elysian Pumpkin beers

Jubelale is coming soon too.

 

WF up in Portland has Punkuccino for cheap too. Can't remember if it was 4.49 or 4.99, but I picked one up - regular price is 6.99.

 

I think that may have been a mistake in WF's system. I grabbed a Punkuccino at that price the first day they had them; the next day it was back up to $8.99 with DotM and Great Pumpkin. Seeing them at $6.99 instead of $8.99 would convince me to get more, at $8.99 I'm happy to save my money for fresh hop beers.

 

I picked up Punkuccino for $7.19 (or so) at Central Market in Kirkland. Way better than $10 that everybody else was asking up here.
I figure it's worth a shot at that price.
They also had Great Pumpkin but it was $8 something. That seems higher than I remember.

 

I think saying "the interest in these beers is pretty limited" is not very accurate.....

Pumpkin beers are VERY popular......maybe not among the hardest core "beer geeks" out there, but people like them and drink them a lot....why all the pumpkin hate?

Elysian's 10th Annual Great Pumpkin Beer Fest in early October SOLD OUT in record time, and thousands of people will be there for it.....does that sound "pretty limited"?? The fact that they (and others) have been doing such fests devoted to pumpkin brews should be testament enough to their increasing popularity...

http://www.elysianbrewing.com/great-pumpkin-beer-fest/

 

Pumpkin beers always seem to overshadow fresh hops, which are my favorite beers.

Maybe that's actually a good thing.

 

John......no disrespect meant on this end either....we can agree to disagree, that's cool

It's just your original post made it sound like pumpkin beers are not very popular - "The impression I get overall, is that a lot of folks are pretty indifferent to the style" and " I think the interest in those beers is pretty limited " (/Quote) is not IMO, telling the true picture of this style of beer.

I mentioned the Elysian GPBF selling out in record time, at an event that is extremely popular, because it shows people are NOT indifferent to the style, as you put it, that's all.....comparing one event you experienced to the entire country "being indifferent" to the style, is not telling the whole story.

Perhaps in Oregon, this style is not as well liked as in other parts of the country, but in MANY parts of the US, including where I am from, the style is well liked and there does not seem to be much "indifference" that I see among the beer drinking public I interact with on a regular basis.

And, yes, I am passionate about this style, (and many others), and do not like to see things said that I do not feel accurately portray a particular styles popularity or lack thereof.....

(as background, I have worked in the craft industry in the recent past, for a well known local brewer, and another brewery from out of my state.....so I feel I have a pretty good understanding of the market)

 

Obviously Pumpkin beers are popular since every brewer and their live in brother-in-law is trying to collaborate with Elysian on pumpkin beers. Just had some 21st Ammendment pumpkin beers that Elysian offered the pumpkin expertise on (one was good, one was effing gross). I just saw that Ninkasi had Elysian down to throw a few pumpkins into their tanks.

Also 10 barrel just released their pumpkin beer in No. 4 in their series, and Cascade releases pumpkin smash every year which gets great reviews (probably mostly due to the 13 percent ABV).

When larger craft beer/marketing companies like 21st, Ninkasi and 10 Barel are putting money into pumpkin beers you know there is a greater interest in the market place.

The more brewers that take them on, the more interest/shelf space it takes up. So I expect it to only grow from here.

 

FWIW, Oregon and Washington are quite a bit different than the rest of the country when it comes to fall seasonals. Due to our proximity to the hop fields, pretty much every brewer in the area can drive an hour or two to the hop fields, pick what they want, and have a FH brew going within a few hours of the hops being harvested. For every local brewer that brews a pumpkin beer I could probably name 5 that brew a fresh hop beer (or 3) instead, because that's what people here clamor for.

The fact that we have at least five different fresh hop festivals in the region (4 in OR and 1 in WA) and only 1 legitimate pumpkin beer fest (the one at Elysian) should tell you all you need to know about the popularity of the two styles in the part of the country. To give you numbers rather than anecdotal evidence I ran a quick sales report. During the month of October 2013 we sold 22 cases of Pumking and 18 cases of Elysian Night Owl, which are the two most popular pumpkin ales. During that same month, we sold 47 cases of Deschutes Hop Trip and 28 cases of Deschutes Chasin Freshies.

 

I'm shocked people bought that much Chasin' Freshies...that stuff is foul.

 

Just wish Seattle would get an actual fresh hop festival.

 

Hmmmm.....I take it you work for a distributer in OR?

Comparing sales for pumpkin beers in October against 2 very popular Fresh hop local brews in the same month does not tell me a lot. Pumpkin beers come out in July - August these days (as everyone here laments ad nauseum every year) so there is a bit of "pumpkin fatigue" on store shelves and stores desire to buy by October falls off.....fresh hop ales, especially from a large local brewery like Deschutes, that have not been on the market long, will surely outsell many styles of beer, pumpkin or otherwise.....those "numbers" to me prove nothing of any consequence.

But, like you....I love fresh hop ales as well....am going to homebrew one tonight in fact, with some fresh cones from my little hop yard....I am psyched!

 

Bleh

 

Stopped at Whole Foods Tanasbourne after work tonight. Punkuccino was $8.99. I passed at that price. On the upside, they still had 4-packs of the 8/27 3-Way.

 

Damn, they must have fixed their database; that's where I got mine.

 

Me too. Brouwers Fresh Hop night is cool, but a festival somewhere on this side of the mountains would be awesome.

 

Maybe it's all over the place now and this post is moot, but I picked up Elysian Punkuccino at the Kirkland Costco (for $6.99, I think), and they had quite a bit. They had Space Dust IPA as well.