The ever advancing seasonal creep

Summer Ale? Clearly you're not looking very hard, or you would have seen that the Sam Adams mixed 12-packs for winter 2016 are already coming out.

 

This is getting to be, this is getting to be,
This is getting to be a drone

I'm a seasonal creep, I'm a seasonal creep,
I'm a seasonal creep and I'm stoned...

...anyway...

Yeah- the fight to be first on the shelves has got to piss off those who matter sooner or later. I don't know what can be done other than just not buying it- but the downside is that the beer may be past its prime once you get in the mood to pick it up. It just seems all the stranger this year because around here there is still icy snow covering practically everything; the last thing I am in the mood for is thinking about summer beers. They will be on my 'ignore list' for the time being.

 

I wonder if Boston Beer Co. meant for that beer to be exported to the Southern Hemisphere.

 

Expect Sam Adam's pumpkin by middle of June.

 

Last year, we got our first shipment of Penn Oktoberfest on July 28th.

 

Summer shandy billboards are up in milwaukee. right on time.

 

ummm what do you mean your sold out of Jubelale? ITS APRIL!

 

Yep, Summer Shandy is on the shelves here in Ohio already. I haven't seen any Sam Adams Summer Ale yet but I wasn't looking either. Not that I was looking for Summer Shandy ! But one summer beer that haven't seen yet is Bell's Oberon . . . And it wouldn't bother me in the least to get that as soon as possible. C'mon Oberon !

 

If the beer is good, and something I enjoy buying, I don't care when they release it.

 

I just saw that DFH Aprihop and Terrapins Peach beer will hit stores in the next 2 weeks.
I still have 2 feet of snow on my lawn. Not really in the mood for summer beers

 

I haven't seen the Sam Adams spring mix pack yet... Maybe I'm looking in the wrong stores?

 

I'm currently drinking a Bell's Oberon. We don't get Bell's in New Mexico, so I picked up a bunch of their beers. I wasn't clear what the situation was with the Oberon, but I said, ah what the hell. What I mean by that is that I'm not sure whether Arizona is already getting this summer beer, or if it's from last summer. I checked the date and it only confused me more--- the packaging date was November of 2013. Anybody wanna try to wrap their head around whether this is this year's Oberon packaged 5 months ago or what?

 

Website says it is available starting in March. Still seems a bit odd that they'd bottle it that long ago if it was only just released.

 

we've been so fucking bombed with cold here in the northeast, i'm happy to see these wishful thinking spring/summer beers. sign me up.

 

I do sometimes wonder about why breweries insist on brewing and packaging a beer that will be out of its prime before the season it was intended for. Seems like a waste of resources and workers time to do such a thing.

 

same here. but the annoying part is when they go so heavy on advertising something as a summer beer and then bombard you with it the first week of march. its just kind of dumb.

 

and comments in threads...

 

Breaking News: There ARE no seasons in marketing anymore. How many years have we seen Christmas decorations, etc. in stores by Labor Day (or earlier)? Just part of the overall culture...and not in a good way

 

Yep. Wegmans supermarkets had pumpkin beer displays out by that time last year...ridiculous.

 

Drinks great year round...

 

When is Octoberfest coming out? Come on Sam Adams, I need my fix!

 

It is the poisoning of your own well. Although season creep is rampant, consumers are smart, and they can identify when a corporation is doing something purely as an opportunistic move. Keep pushing the date back, and it will backfire and all credibility is lost.

Let's take a bigger picture perspective here:

The entire intention of the seasonal, from a formulation standpoint, is to create a beverage that is seasonally appropriate. As the seasons evolve, our metabolic needs and taste inclinations change. So brewers craft beverages that are more appropriately designed for our gustatory and taste desires for that season. When you take the approach of starting with the CONSUMER EXPERIENCE first, you can't lose.

However, the entire intentional of the seasonal, from a purely opportunistic corporation standpoint, is to get your product on the shelf first, and take the shelf space from your competitors. Milk, milk, milk that cow. It doesn't matter if you are 3-4 months before the season starts - you need to generate larger and larger returns for your shareholders.

One path leads to a healthy relationship, the other path is a downward spiral.

 

Spring arrives and this is the first week I have seen new breakfast stout cases(dated 12/29/13)..This is the other side of the problem when the seasonal beer doesn't arrive in season.

 

Doesn't Bell's brew Oberon year-round for Florida or something wacky? I think I remember seeing that somewhere.

 

Agree! Pretty much what I was referring to in my earlier post.

 

Sill waiting for winter to arrive so I can drink some winter warmers!
Looks like spring outside.

Being ahead of things is the industry norm,not just in brewing. Christmas cards suddenly appear on the hottest day in August.

 

I think we're going straight from autumn to spring and missing out on winter entirely.

 

Yes. We haven't had a single day below freezing. I'm enjoying a Blackwood Stout sitting out in the garden at the moment. As I just mowed my lawn that makes it lawnmower beer !

 

I did a beliner when i finished the lawn, yesterday.

 

I have seen a lot of Oberon already but im thinking this was last years late batch. Considering bells has yet to even have the official release party anyways. I'll stay away until it's actually warm out...which at this rate might put us into June. But by then the Octoberfest's will be out haha

 

It always seems like the pumpkin beers roll out in late July/early August, which seems a little ridiculous.

 

When I did the Sam Adams tour they mentioned that Summer is their best selling seasonal. They said that for that reason it is their longest running seasonal of the year and also that they have some deal in place needing it to come out for the beginning of the MLB season.

 

Already out. I did pick up some Aprihop already. I consider it a spring beer. At 7% abv! it doesn't seem too "summery."

 

I don't know about the Terrapin beer, but Aprihop is DFH's spring seasonal. So that's right on time for the season. Festina Peche is DFH's summer seasonal.

 

Couldn't agree you with you more on this...and Sam Adams seems to be thinking themselves into a corner.

In the craft beer world, the best business model starts with the community's best interest.

 

Keep in mind that it is the same temperature in your house either way...

 

Aligning your taste buds with a season is much subjective anyhow. That pebbly little carpet of flesh on my tongue will greedily enjoy Marzens in January or Parabola and Stille Nacht in June with wanton disregard to the calendar of appropriate beer consumption.

 

You people that have "Seasons " think the whole world revolves around you?

 

Its beyond ridiculous. Pumpkins are not even ready for harvesting until September at the earliest if grown in the traditional areas. Anyone releasing pumpkin ale in July is using last year's pumpkin as an ingredient. But even more ridiculous than that is the fact that many "pumpkin" ales don't have any pumpkin in it at all. That is the epitome of selling a seasonal image, without the actual substance behind it.

Yup, but sometimes the community's best interest is at direct odds with what shareholder's want - which is a return on their investment.

Haha, you are right in the sense that a good beer is a good beer no matter which time of year. That being said, the temperature fluctuations in a city like NYC are way more severe than most areas. It was down near 0 degrees a couple of months ago and this July the temps will most likely pierce 100 degrees. Big barleywines in the summer are not exactly what thirsty NYers are craving. But I might be sipping one at home. :-)

Good point. The Oregon season is one of the nations's most unique. One of the most perfect and beautiful climates in July and August, but Nov-Feb can be brutal. But probably one of the best areas on the planet to drink good ale.