Sierra Nevada Changes, Rumors & News (2022)

I just think it is funny that everyone is all over it and Summerfest in this thread. Always loved those beers, but remember them having average ratings when I used to order them regularly for the bar I managed.

 

I agree with most of your post and they’re excellent points.

But I find it interesting Sierra Nevada first brewed Summerfest in 1991. Sam Adams first brewed Octoberfest in 1989.

And Summerfest sales were good as recently as 2015…so what happened there?

 

16oz format for lagers is insulting and obviously a money grab. They should all be 12oz 6 packs

 

Jesus Christo. Now you people are starting a thread to bitch about SIERRA NEVADA(shakes fist at clouds)?!?

 

@SierraTerence

Bring back the kolsch or we riot.

 

You mean a country that wont charge $16 dollars for a 4 pack of pint cans?
Ill glady take a boot of lager but fuck off if your only sales format is close to $20 for a pack

 

Good post.
(1) I think Deschutes might be a fairly comparable example of an older craft brewery that is surviving fairly well.
(2) I acquired my beer drinking habits in the 70s when I would try almost any beer, but had one or two favorites (all "grocery store beers") to have at home.
(3) Odd to say, when I first tried SNPA in the 80s, I didn't think there was enough body! (I thought the porter was great.) I think the rest of the market has move toward more attenuation (as has my taste?), so SNPA is fine for me now.

 

I can only remember SN doing one Kōlsch and they nailed it out of the park. That's not an easy feat.

 

We were making Summerfest before 1991, but I believe that was the year it made it as our first Summer seasonal that was distributed nationwide.

 

Its a joke bro, lighten up. SN is amazing. SNPA is amazing. Thanks for being the arbiter for the thread and keep it classy. Cheers.

 

Just seeing this thread now, and I’m certainly bummed that I’ll no longer be able to buy Sierra Nevada Octoberfest. I’m at least good for a couple of 6 packs, if not more every year. While there’s certainly plenty of other Octoberfests available in my area, SN had a special place in heart.

 

@SierraTerence provide some data here:

“Sam's largest seasonal is Oktoberfest, it single handily holds up their entire seasonal portfolio and the last numbers I remember looking at, they sell roughly 200K barrels per year...”

Maybe you have something here!

Cheers!

 

It is insulting!

Should be 16.9 oz.

 

Hey! I resemble that remark!

Or I did (sort of) until I shaved my beard off last month.

 

Unfortunately, my state doesn't allow beer to be sold that way. We have to go to a brick-and-morter place so that we can produce ID if so asked. Beer in particular is subject to archaic rules re. distributors and master distributors. Unless someone changed the rules and I didn't notice.

 

So move over..... Schlitz?

 

If I didn't shave on a regular basis, my beard would be grey and white, but is that really why SNPA has been a staple in my fridge for the last two months, even if it wasn't brewed last week?... just good stuff, it's all good, even the stuff that can't be gotten again... it happens...

 

Thank you for a reply. Good info here. Glad Celebration and BF are still going strong. Very nice to know more around the way BF is brewed. I will be buying many cases of Celebration again this year and looking for Bigfoot.

Enjoy

 

@SierraTerence

Thank you for taking the time to address our questions. SNPA was the first craft beer I ever had, on the Wynn Las Vegas casino floor (guessing around 15 years ago). Have loved the beer ever since.

What is the best way for customers to report stale beer in the marketplace? Will an email to SN be forwarded to a sales rep (if applicable) and or the distributor?

In Chicago, it has been hard to find fresh SNPA for at least a year. Six packs at the two stores I visited today were bottled in mid November 2021 (Craft Beer Store) and late October 2021 (Grocery Store). I would have bought if they were bottled this Spring.

I'm grateful to find fresh SNPA when I travel out West, but would love to be able to buy it reasonably fresh here as well.

Thanks!

 

Bah! You didn't love Trumer like I did, in 2008:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/11017/12679/?ba=Bitterbill#review

 

Yep! So, they can concentrate on making even more IPAs! Porter, Stout, Kelleweis, Summerfest and now Oktoberfest don't sell well. The answer is to produce more IPAs! Because there aren't enough IPAs on the shelves already. Why not make different styles? And distribute them nationwide. Instead of making them brewery-only? Something is definitely going on with them internally. I give it a year or two, before they sell out.

 

Well, with the decision last year to nix Summerfest as their summer seasonal and now Oktoberfest this year as distributed products I would suggest the above statement is more appropriately confined to just "ales".

Cheers!

 

If the majority likes to drink IPAs, how come so many of them are expired? To me, that means they either don't sell well or there are way too many of them being produced.

 

Beer companies won't ship to folks in Delaware at all.

Luckily for you, they will. You just need someone aged 21 or older to sign for the package. I've had them send beers to a friend in east-central PA and he just signs for it when it arrives. Not hard at all.

Cheers

 

I can anecdotally report that there is a lot of old Sierra Nevada beers at my local beer retailers and that would seem to indicate they are not selling all that well here.

But the pricing of Sierra Nevada in Pennsylvania is higher (e.g., 12 packs > $20) than other parts of the country so maybe that is contributing to this aging on the shelves (and floors) issue?

Cheers!

P.S. It would seem that the Chicago area is similar per the post by @ChicagoJ above:

"In Chicago, it has been hard to find fresh SNPA for at least a year. Six packs at the two stores I visited today were bottled in mid November 2021 (Craft Beer Store) and late October 2021 (Grocery Store). I would have bought if they were bottled this Spring."

 

This is the part I find to be confusing and both national and local brands are aging out on shelves, partially because there are just so many choices. And even some of the seasonal IPAs that were once very popular, their stacks barely move now. There are these claims of so much demand but I am just not seeing it around me anymore.

 

I really liked your post and as one of those who has griped about the loss of Stout, Porter, Tumbler, and especially Summerfest, I agree with much of what you said.

But I want to highlight the bolded point above. I'm just wondering whether changes in leadership and/or company philosophy at SN are driving related changes in what counts as "sufficiently popular to warrant continued national distribution."

Just how profitable does a beer have to be to warrant national distro in SN's eyes? Have the metrics used to make such decisions changed in recent years? My suspicion is that Summerfest, Oktoberfest, etc. were still profitable, but simply not profitable enough to please the people making these decisions. A lot of breweries, I think SN included, have often said that values and tradition mattered more than profits. Certainly I want them to make good money and provide a good living for their employees, but I have no doubt SN could do that with Summerfest and seasonal variety packs still in its lineup. These recent changes seem more likely to be about driving the company valuation higher for its own sake (or a potential sale of the company).

 

As regards freshness of product, which is very important/critical for beer styles like IPAs, I wonder how this compares across the board via the varying methods of retail: buying beer at the brewery vs. supermarket/beer store retail.

Earlier this week I met up with a friend at a local, small brewery and below are the canning dates of some of those beers that are now in my refrigerator:

• West Coast style IPA: 6/28/22
• Hazy/Juicy PA: 6/23/22
• Hazy/Juicy IPA: 6/27/22

All of those beers are only a week(s) old and they were cold at the brewery and cold now in my refrigerator.

I recognize that you are a price sensitive shopper (as I am typically) so the above place is not exactly in your 'sweet spot' but there are fresh and quickly moving hoppy beers to be purchased (at a higher price point).

Cheers!

 

What percentage of this majority even look at the date coding? Just because you, myself or other BAs look at the date coding does not mean the majority of IPA drinkers do. One thing to note is that SN has best in class packaging with respect to dissolved oxygen as has been discussed on the forum so their beers hold up better over time than most other IPAs. SN states their recommended shelf life on their PA and most other beers is 150 days, so about 5 months. I presume this is your definition of 'expired' for your anecdotal observations? Obviously there are examples of out of code beer like @ChicagoJ mentioned which is a shame. But I reckon a SNPA packaged in April/May has held up much better than most other IPAs packaged around the same time, if not even a few weeks later. Would be a good opportunity for a blind tasting side by side!

 

My answer to that question is "yes".

Below is something I posted recently in an other thread:

"FWIW I am of the opinion that a notable 'turning point' for Sierra Nevada was when a decision was made to promote a 'corporate' person to be the new CEO of Sierra Nevada - Jeff White became the new CEO in January 2019. It appears to me that once Jeff took over there was a marked change in direction at Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, a 'transition' from beer brands such as Nooner Pilsner, Kellerweise, and later Stout & Porter to 'doubling down' (or is it tripling down?) on Juicy/Hazy and/or IPAs."

Cheers!

 

You are missing an important caveat to the above statement: the beers need to be stored cool/cold.

Are the Sierra Nevada beers at your local beer retailers (and wholesale distributors prior) continuously stored cold?

Cheers!