Pumpkin beers...where'd they all go?

Late hop harvest.

 

Still plenty of pumpkin around here. I like pumpkin, but certainly looking forward to some Bell's best brown ale to really get me in the mood for fall.

 

IN ME BELLY

 

Funny you should ask.....I'm halfway through a Longtrail Imperial right now and picked up a couple of Southern Tier Pumking's earlier today.Mmmm......pumkin beer.

 

They've been out for 2 months now, so they've hardly just arrived, but there are still tons available around here in bottles and on tap.

 

Hopefully back to the hell from whence they came.

 

What are you still looking for and where are you looking? Still a bunch of pumpkin beers in upstate NY. Smuttynose, Brooklyn, Southern Tier, Redhook, DFH, Sam Adams... I'm sure the list goes on.

 

They came early and left early basically. Depends on the ones you're looking for in the Pittsburgh area. There's cases of the move under-appreciated stuff like Wolavers, Smuttynose, Post Road, Weyerbacher, etc, all over the place still, but Pumking, DFH, Fat Jack, and other bomber types were gone as soon as they got here. I think the real problem is nothing new is hitting. There's still stuff on the shelves but we just now hit October and I haven't seen a pumpkin ale not named The Great Pumpkin or Ithaca's Country Pumpkin that hasn't been on shelves for at least a month already. God forbid someone wait and put it on the shelf at this point and capitalize on those that have a love for the style not having gotten anything new for two to four weeks now. Just another reason why I can't wait for La Parcela to hit.

 

Enough pumpkin.....two words........celebration ale........i want it!

 

Pumpkin beer were so last month. Bring on the winter seasonals!

I am joking a bit as I still am drinking my Pumking keg. Still, I was hoping it would last until Halloween, but I'm afraid it won't make it. Over half gone already.

 

They're pretty much gone already. I got the last 4-pack of Punkin at one of my shops, and another store has a couple bottles of Fat Jack. That's all I've seen of the pumpkin beers since I've been looking. And I was really looking forward to my first Pumking ...

 

I had a variety of a dozen or so. Then tried my first Pumking. Everything pales now so I'm drinking them up to make room in the fridge for more 'king. Incredible stuff.

 

Still a pretty big display in the middle of my local beer store. Seems like the mound they have built keeps getting bigger, not smaller.

 

I know seasonals come out earlier and earlier and we talk about it a lot. I'm seeing something a little different in my area. No, seasonals are not coming out later, but the math here is not adding up. Seasonals should be around for about 3 months and maybe a little beyond with some leftovers.

Fall beers have been here a whole 2 months this time around, which is something I've never seen before. Fall beers are already becoming scarce, with pumpkin beers almost all gone. Shouldn't pumpkin beers last at least until Thanksgiving? My question is have you seen a 2 month beer season before? Is it normal to see that? Do brewers intentionally market and sell certain seasons longer? Lastly, I am using pumpkin beers as a barometer because I can get other Fall seasonals, such as brown ales and o fests all year long.

 

I definitely saw them early in NY and NJ, but I still see tons of the Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin, Punkin, Pumking, etc... everywhere I go.

And I still buy a 4 pk of Punkin whenever I see it.

 

Some liquor stores have more stock than others in my area (central NJ) but there is still a decent amount of pumpkin beer around overall. Weyerbacher and Pumking are pretty attainable and the same goes for DFH. I can even get SY Smashed pumpkin in a number of stores when I don't even remember really seeing it last year in my local stores. Schlafly became scarce very early in the season but I was lucky enough to find a place that got it back in it so I picked up another sixer to stash away.

 

They didn't get here early. Pumpkins showed up at the beginning of September here. Sam Adams Octoberfest was out by the beginning of August though.

 

I got 2 6 packs of Schlafly the week it came in and by the end of the week, if that, it was gone. Luckily Williamsburg Pumpkin is about as good.

 

My store went through 85 cases of Pumking between July and September. All gone. 25 cases of Dogfish was done by mid August.

People who know, know that you need to stock up in the summer. It's dregs city now.

 

Ive seen a few rogue cases of Pumking sitting at Total Wine next to a few bottles of Smashes Pumpkin at Total Wine.