Sierra Nevada & Weihenstephaner (Braupakt & Oktoberfest 2018 collaboration)

WOW! Some of the best beer news I’ve received in a long while. I’m amped

 

OH HELL YES!

To both of these - the Hefe looks great and I personally am a huge fan of Weihenstephaner's festbier - so I will have high hopes for the Oktoberfest collaboration.

@SierraTerence any idea when we should expect to see Braupakt stateside?

 

Well, not if one accepts the current "Craft Brewer" definition and lists from the US's Brewers Association, which recognizes a good half dozen or so older breweries as "craft", starting with 1829's D. G. Yuengling & Sons.

Well, that's closer - but isn't Boulder Brewing Co. still operating?

 

Cool, when Sierra Nevada started doing this a few years back I thought it was only a matter of time before these two collaborated. Awesome news !

 

Very nice! The 2018 Oktoberfest should be both very good and very memorable.

This means I'll also will have difficulty waiting for the 2019 Variety Pack containing all 4 collaborative Oktoberfest beers.

 

Hey Sierra Nevada! Here is more of my money!!!

 

Want.

 

Well, this is bound to be a bust.

 

I had the Oktoberfest collaboration figured out when I saw the picture of Scott Jennings and a Weihenstephan brewer together on Facebook with no comments. My wife pointed out that Weihenstephan is not family owned.

I think it was the picture in this release.

https://www.weihenstephaner.de/en/general/news/details/news/perfect-match-sierra-nevada-und-die-bayerische-staatsbrauerei-weihenstephan/?tx_news_pi1[controller]=News&tx_news_pi1[action]=detail&cHash=b44cd8bf6dec79ab7bcd42d90a45c8ea

 

Hell yeah! Plus, between the approaches of each brewer and the accompanying article, I'm sure these will be well thought out recipes (no hasty pudding here ). Looking forward to enjoying each by the liter.

 

Fuck me...

I was about to say this is going to ruin my summer because I'll want it to be over as quickly as possible so I can try this brew...but if recent history holds true, we'll see it in July.

 

Deep breaths, man -- deep breaths! We still have to get thru Maibock season and the SN Summerfest release.

 

I'll get exact dates, but off the top of my head it is late March, early April. Stay tuned.

 

But if, as Sierra Nevada does, a brewer gives its beers a 5 month shelf life, when should they release a beer celebrating an event which begins in the last week(s) September?

I imagine they think, correctly, that a beer labeled "Oktoberfest" is unlikely to sell very well in January if they were to wait until the end of August or the beginning of September to release it.

 

I am not ashamed to say that I just got wood.

 

Do people still get excited over Oktoberfest beers? They don't even sell well. I always see discounted tables/carts full of various Oktoberfest beers. Maybe the market is oversaturated or maybe a lot of them aren't made well, or the majority of people just don't like them.

EDIT: In the title it suppose to say '18, since it's 2018. Not 18'

 

It seems like people might be misinterpreting the news about the Braupakt beer - it's a Weihenstephaner release (not Sierra Nevada).

On the Oktoberfest front, while I'm certainly looking forward to drinking multiples of it, I really liked it when Sierra Nevada collaborated with more unsung German brewers (unsung stateside that is)... or at least with brewers that don't have 6 packs of product that I can easily pick up over here. Nothing against Weihenstephaner (and the beer in the glass is what really matters), but shining a light was part of the fun.

 

Very.

... or people won't buy Oktoberfest beers in November at full price. Blame it on the name and association.

 

But that timeframe is with continuous cold storage.

My local beer retailers (e.g., Retail Beer Distributors) received their shipment of Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest last summer and those beers just 'baked' in those non-air conditioned warehouse buildings. I suspect that under those conditions those beer had the functional equivalent of 5 months in about 2 months; so just as late September was arriving those beers would be 'stale'.

Non-cheers to putting beers on the shelves months early.

 

Good point. Founders clearly states "KEEP REFRIDGERATED", but nobody (retail stores and probably distributors too) does it.

 

Hey, I'm not saying it's right or what I'd prefer - only that's the reality of seasonal beer marketing...

Yes, but I doubt many SN distributors are walking around with thermometers, keeping track of retailers' storage temperature and pulling stock based on that, rather than SN's "5 months".

 

I don't think you even have to narrow it down to "SN distros."

 

OTOH, there was a time...(in this case it was the distributors' storage temps, not the retailers' but):

"Stroh's overage beer policy is that packaged Stroh products are not to be sold by retailers more than 90 days after the brewing date if the wholesaler did not maintain the product in a temperature controlled warehouse. If the product is kept in a temperature controlled warehouse, the product must be sold by retailer not more that 105 days after the brewing date."

Of course, that one's kinda perplexing, too. I mean, what if the beer sat at the wholesaler's "temperature controlled warehouse" for only a week, and then spent the other 98 days on the room temp floor of the retailer?

 

For the most part, I don't care when they release it. I love the style and drink it fresh.

I think August is perfectly fine though, maybe late July. But I believe two year's ago the first bottling date was July 1st. Granted I believe that was due to Summerfest unexpectedly selling out early that year.

Moreover, Sierra Nevada has a 5 month best by recommendation, but there's only a bottling date on their products right? Regardless, today's finicky beer geek may not buy a 4 or 5 month old product.

And your Average Joe Sam Adams drinker probably isn't checking bottling dates. So the question there becomes, are they more likely to bring an Oktoberfest beer to their Fourth of July party, or Christmas?

 

Also, amber or pale Oktoberfest for this collaboration?

I assume pale because it's Weihenstephan, but maybe they'll change it up.

 

Should the local Sierra Nevada sales representatives be doing something here?

When they visit retailers and see beers sitting at 90+ degrees F should they say something?

Cheers!

 

The only discounted oktoberfests I see around here are the American (poorly) made ones. The German imports sell out. Also, SN sold out around here last year by November. I went back to get more and it was already gone.

As for people getting excited - yea, there are people getting excited - including yours truly. No, its not as widely popular as the hazzzzzzze, but for those of us that do get excited for it there is no less anticipation than those lining up for the next tired hands milkshake.

Are you a book editor or an English professor??

I'd guess pale as well, but I'd almost prefer that they do an amber with them to see what its like.

 

I'm sorry, I can't come to the phone keyboard right now, so allow me to copy/paste "steveh":

 

Yeah. I have to get Ayinger once it hits our shelves because it goes quickly. I've learned to not "wait until next trip" because I love that beer.

 

Not to gang up on the distros (again), but aren't they supposed to be maintaining those as well?

I stopped in at a retailer who had 12-packs of Trumer Pils. The date on the boxes was 11-20-17, but didn't say if it was bottled-on or best-by. The retailer "assured" me that the distro wouldn't let them sit that far past the best-by date. Guess what?

 

Wow, this is a dream collaboration for me along with Ayinger and Augustiner (hopefully we'll see those ones in the future). Can't wait to try this.

Yes.

 

Always a part of the anticipation, no?

FWIW -- the Märzen collab between HB and Leinenkugel was more Amber than Pale, and HB only makes a Pale Oktoberfest, so there are no hard and fast rules.

 

Maybe I was not 100% clear in my query to you. I was wondering what your thoughts are on the responsibilities of the local Sierra Nevada sales representatives. If a Sierra Nevada employee visits a retailer and sees their beer sitting in 90+ degree conditions should they simply ignore this situation?

Cheers!

 

Yes, most definitely!

 

Oh, yeah - I agree. But at this point, it's almost a rhetorical question, isn't it? And thus my re-quote of @steveh's post - it's just about true of every other brewers' reps and distributors. Certainly, Anchor and MillerCoors reps seem to walk right by their own products sitting warm on the floor even though they clearly say "Keep refrigerated".

 

Seasonal SN releases often don't even make it to retailers here until the previous seasonal sells down, so that delicious festbier just sits there baking in the summer heat with me drooling over WBAYDN posts. If they could find a way to get it directly to my mouth fresher, I probably wouldn't mind the seasonal creep as much. Although a second run of freshies would be great to enjoy with regular season football. I prefer Pilsners preseason when it's still hot out.

Hell yes! Beer advocates do.

I couldn't find any Ayinger at all last season. First time in over a decade. I was looking forward to tasting the buttery batch everyone was complaining about.

 

Yes, this. I'm not a big Gordon Biersch fan by any means but I definitely respect that their flagship is a Marzenbier. Wish more guys made one year round, too.