Rank the seasons by how much you enjoy the beers that are out

OK, I’ll take a swing to get things started. Winter is the most style inclusive season for me. The big, bruising styles I really enjoy (RIS, Barleywine, Quad, Belgian Strong Dark, etc.) are in relative abundance, yet I am still prepared to drink IPA’s, Sours, Pale Ales, whatever.

Summer squeezes me style wise, as the big, burly stuff doesn’t work for me personally given the heat and humidity where I live.

Spring is a transition out of winter and fall a transition into winter. I’m starting to break out the heavier stuff now as the temperature drops. The heavy stuff will start appearing in stores soon.

 

1: late summer/early fall - Fresh Hop season!

2: late spring/early summer - crisp, smooth, quaffable brews.

3: late winter/early spring - bocks and marzens.

4: late fall/early winter - stick, syrupy-sweet stouts.

 

I would agree, but say:

1. Fall: It is the best. From festbier, to autumn ales, to anything toasty. The list goes on.
2. Winter: It has the benefit of stouts, porters, and the such. More sugar and alcohol are never a problem here.
3. Summer: Some of the most refreshing and citrus and wheat flavored beers. When done right, can be groundbreaking.
4. Spring: Not exactly sure what to do with beer here. Sort of in stout withdrawal. Trying to re-accustom to Saisons? It's the season for learning where I reevaluate my beer palate.

 

That's easy!

What @Insomniac said.

Winter

 

1. Winter - stouts, scotch ales, belgian dark ales, quads, dopplebocks, porters...I love the heaviers bodied beers on those chilly nights

2. Summer - hefeweissens, pilsners, saisons - I love the lighter styles to go along with the warmer weather.

3 . Fall - marzens, brown ales, munich dunkels

4 . Spring - usually just a continuation of winter with some olde ales and barlewines thrown in for good measure

 

My take:
IPAs are what most people in US drink and they are year round. That’s a style that works in any season.

Spring- that is when it’s still cold enough to enjoy the big beers and a lot of the summer style lagers are being released fresh. So maybe you are tired of big Belgians, Barleywines and BA stouts by this point? Maybe not?

Summer- Those cold lagers, table farmhouse saisons, and other low ABV styles of preference are so refreshing in the heat, big ABV beers may be hard to choke down. Style variety is somewhat limited in the summer.

Fall - Summer beers are now getting stale. Do you like browns and toffee/caramel forward session beers? Fall may be for you. Also the big cellar beers you’ve stashed away since last winter could be nice to break out on a crisp fall night.

Winter - gets dark early. Nothing much to do in the evenings. Cold out side and maybe in your house as well. Time to Sit by the fireplace and stare at a 10%+ oil black beer in your glass and contemplate life and if you can hibernate Well and survive until The Spring thaw comes.

The cycle of beer life for the craft beer advocate.

 

Is it too late to make this a poll?

1. Fall
2. Winter
3. Summer
4. Spring

 

1. Fall
Fresh hops, Oktoberfests, Pumpkins, Nosferatu...not even a question
2. Winter
Big beers, Xocoveza and Celebration, also no question second place
3. Spring
Double Crooked Tree was basically the only reason Spring was ahead of Summer for me, now it's a toss up
4. Summer
Oberon and saving money on beer to spend it in the fall

 

Fall
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Summer
Winter
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Spring

I’m not a bock fan. Love fresh hop / fest biers, great Pilsners are always a treat In summer, and I like a good holiday ale / imperial stout come winter.

 

Fall.
Brown Ales, Octoberfest Beers, Pumpkin Beers, malty dark Beers in general.
The temperature drops, malt bills rise-unfortunately so do prices.

Summer.
Winter.
Spring.

Cheers.

 

1. Fall
2. Winter
3. Meh.
4. Meh.

 

1 Fall Ocktoberfests
2 Winter Imperial Stouts and Barley Wines & Celebration Ale from SN
3Summer Summerfest from SN.
4 Spring

 

Spring, fall, winter, summer.

Or should it be fall, winter, summer, spring?

Or should it be winter, summer, spring, fall?

Or should it be fall, winter, summer, spring?

I'll stick with my first choice, but I really don't care very much.

 

Fall then spring. Fall is all about Porter's brown ales best beers marzen's. Spring is all about Maybach.

 

Used to be winter since I favored dark strong beers such as high-ABV BA Stouts. In the last year I've gotten into sours and IPAs, so now I'm covered for the summer too.

 

I like the warmth of alcohol in a 10%+ ABV in the summer heat.

Anyways there’s no right or wrong, it’s more about every persons preference even though the hotter it gets, the lowest ABV becomes my go to. Pale ale, Belgian blonde, IPAs...

Since there was a thread about the Lagers lately, I agree that even Heineken or Bud can hit the spot during a terrible heatwave, not to mention the price.

 

There's Fall and then there's everything else

You could say I'm a beer drinker only during Fall and not be wrong

 

I should have kept spring at the first position of each line in my pose because of the Maibocks. It's clearly my favorite style. My local German-inspired brewery makes a batch that is large enough so that it lasts about 4 months.

 

I think spring and summer will only be the favorites of those who almost exclusively like Kettle sours and goses. That’s all I’ve seen “seasonally” from many breweries. Sure the occasional Hefe or lime lager, but jeezus h. christ everyone makes a tart something-or-other.

 

Fall first for the Marzens and FH varities.
Then summer for camping and enjoying those lagers.
Winter is warmers and stouts.
Spring is fresh IPAs and the last of the winter beers.

 

I hate Summer. Much like OP don't like the heat at all. Also don't get excited about the Summer lagers, as I can pretty good examples year round. It's no problem to find a good helles or pilsner in the Winter.

Fall- pumpkins, oktoberfests, and browns to drink on chilly days. Some barleywines and stouts are showing up too. Turning out great since the East seems to be blessed with the first early Fall in like a decade.

Winter- Winter warmers, bug stouts and barleywines abound. Love drinking around the holidays.

Spring- Seems I'm mostly drinking leftover Winter beers.

Summer- unless I'm swimming or fishing I'm inside wishing it was Fall or Winter. Beer styles this time of year don't impress me much. I'd be a bit happier if I had access to a lot of good Saisons. Still mixing in stouts with wheats, lagers, tripels. and some IPAs. Doesn't help that my favorite Spring/Summer beers are American Pale Wheats and good examples (I know many don't think there are any) are hard to find and mostly replaced by Wits, which I do enjoy.

 

I honestly think that the only seasonal beer that I look forward to is Sierra Nevada Celebration. And it’s a good one.

 

Based on my tastes about beers, my personal seasonal ranking is:

- Winter.
Complex beers depending on the style, full-bodied, aged beers, barrel-aged beers, meditation beers to be paired with invenal specialties (toasted chestnuts, Christmas sweets,) and a good cigar by the fireplace.

- Summer.
I like complex beers ... but I also like to drink by the sea, on my little boat in the Sardinian sea ... In that case beers, fresh, juicy, light-bodied, simple but characteristic, wide to the imagination but always preferring tradition.

- Autumn.
Well autumn beers are always about quality styles. For us on this side of the ocean, autumn is the perfect time to rediscover our historical styles of beer (Germany, UK, Belgium, Czech Republic ...). Characteristic beers, warm but less full-bodied than winter products.

- Spring.
Considering that it is increasingly a season absorbed by summer ... I see spring more as a transitional period in which, depending on the weather, I like to taste beers belonging to both autumn and summer types.
In any case, beers with a not exaggerated body, but not belonging to just one of the styles characterized by malts or by styles characterized by hops or fr

 

It’s a toss up between fall and winter; I love the marzens as much as the dopplebocks.

I can’t stand the hot weather, and drinking “craft” in the summer means buying pilsners that taste like pale ales or overpaying for an ironic twist on AAL for twice the price of the BMC options

 

I'll pick the cold and rainy one, That's 12 months long

 

My beer habits don't change all that much with the seasons. I'll drink a big stout in the summer heat but I'll also happily drink a TIPA during the winter cold (even though "winter" is barely a thing where i live.)

Honestly I just buy whatever looks the best at the time. I don't usually shop for style when I go to the store I shop for something that catches my interest. Sometimes I don't buy anything and sometimes I walk out with 4 4-packs of mixed styles that I didn't even expect to buy.

Heavily fruited sours can be good year round but they but they are more refreshing in the summer. Sadly they are easier to ship in the winter without worrying about a crowler busting in the mail due the the heat

 

Celebration Ale season, so fall

 

1 Fall
2 Not-Fall


There's a beer for every season for me, but Fall and the rest are equal.


Fall, because the best beers are fall beers, IMO. Oktoberfest beers FTW and later we get SN Celebration.

Summer, because season creep allows me to get Oktoberfest beers earlier and I do love me some Pilsners before that happens. And Kolsch.

Spring, the Bock beers. I do like me some Bock beers. And Kolsch.

Winter, Murphy's, because it's freaking cold out and that nitro & roasted malt. Although, the waist line was not too happy after these all winter....might have to find something lighter in carbs and still tasty.

 

I will rank mine by how "excited" I am by the change of the seasons. I am an IPA/IIPA guy, but I generally enjoy them all year. However, I am most excited for beer when Winter arrives. Big heavy stouts, chocolatey porters, SN Celebration Ale!, Winter spiced beers (even Sam's Winter Lager I love). My go-to bulk beer in the Winter is always Guinness. I'd say from Halloween through St. Patricks Day. The rest of the year my go-to bulk beer will be something like SN hazy little thing. So my rankings would be: Winter, Summer, Fall, then Spring.

 

I'm surprised winter is so far down, since most people who rank Fall as #1 or 2 have it right next. For me, I'm not sure if it has something to do with my first "real" beer being drunk during fall, my preferred taste preferences lining up with styles popular around that time, the fact that Halloween and beautiful scenery is right around the corner, or some combination of the above.

 

Best time of the beer year is when I'm drinking relatively fresh Oktoberfests and it's relatively cool out. It's a small window where Oktoberfests are fresh and it's cool out, but it exists (for now).

Speaking of which, it'll be in the 50s tonight and I've got Copper Legend in the fridge.

 

My rankings look exactly like yours.

Thanks for posting this so I know that I am not alone in putting summer waaaaaay at the bottom of the rankings in both beer and life.

The first 18 years of my life, summer was precious and priceless. Once I became an adult, summer was little more than oppressive heat and humidity with maybe a week vacation, a music festival and the 4th of July thrown in the middle.

 

So this answer has changed based where I have lived. Depends on how into festbiers local breweries get or how cold winter actually is to warrant real stout season. Now living outside chicago I have it like this....
1. Winter (Stouts, Porters, Winter Warmers, Barleywines, Wheatwines, Old Ales, Strong Ales, need I continue? A big beer on a cold night is a perfect pairing)
2. Fall (Oktoberfests, less ipa centric, get some more harvest ales and brown ales again and this will make it more of a conversation with winter)

Huge drop-off

3. Summer (Though a preponderance of crisp lagers are making this more fun though)

Small drop-off

4. Spring (This is when I drink the saved up saison, lambics, brett ales, etc, but actual spring releases are usually pretty weak... give us maibocks!)

 

1) Fall
2) Summer
3) Winter
4) Spring

If we're talking about what seasons we like best, summer is 100% my favorite, but as far as beer releases go, the plethora of fresh hop harvest ales, Oktoberfests, brown ales, and stouts and porters make fall my favorite.

 

Agree with your order. We are in prime time beer season.

 

For me it looks like this:

Winter: IPA/DIPA season
Spring: IPA/DIPA season
Summer: Lager Season
Fall: IPA/DIPA

I don't have a preference regarding a particular season but the enjoyment of a good lager on a hot summer day is quite special.

 

1) Late Summer/Early Fall: The most wonderful time of year! Fresh hop season!

2) Late Spring/Early Summer: Getting to lighter and brighter stuff

3) Late Fall/Early Winter: Oktoberfest and tasty dark lagers, yummy

4) Late Winter/Early Spring: Dark and mysterious tastiness

 

It's always saison season and that's my favorite season.

 

The only season that seems clearly defined these days is Fall with Festbiers and pumpkin stuff. It seems like imperial stouts and big barleywines used to be a winter thing, but now they're brewed and consumed year round. So I'd say it doesn't really matter to me... I'm mostly drinking Pilsners either way