"Why August Is Pumpkin Beer Season"

Boy, this doesn't seem like fishing for website hits at all.

 

Wow, and I thought that Pumpkin beer came out so early so we can hurry up and get that crap out of the way and get back to drinking real beer!!

 

Nail on head, pretty much. When I'm doing tastings with the Captain's pumpkin ale, people will ask why it comes out so early, and it's pretty much to get ahead on the competition. If you're the first one to release your seasonal, you've got a better chance of getting a foothold in the market before everyone else's seasonal hits shelves.

I'm willing to bet there are diminishing returns in just how early you release a seasonal though, and there will be a point at which releasing it TOO early won't end well, as people flat-out don't want fall beer in the summer. Running into that several times at tastings; people love the pumpkin ale but are adamant about waiting for September at least to buy it. Can't say I blame them!

 

Although I love pumpkin, I'm not a fan of the style. I don't care what time of year it comes out, I'm passing.

 

Article seems credible and consistent with what retailers have told me. Always a gamble how much you buy first time around and if there will be a second time.

Wet/fresh hop ales are seasonals immune to this creep due the limited availability of ingredients. A true seasonal.

 

Slap pumpkin on a beer label and people will buy it. I'm surprised they don't release these beers in June. I don't mind having a couple pumpkin beers every year, but there are a lot of people who want to try every breweries pumpkin ale.

 

All this proves is that breweries operate under the capitalist economic system. Get your product to market first so you will sell more. It's annoying but unfortunately it works for manufacturers and retailers, especially when you say "get it now before it's gone". Fear and greed are great motivators. Fear from the consumer that they will be shut out of buying a product and greed on the manufacturers to make as much money whenever possible. Understandable.
But consider this... If Pumpkin Beer is in such high demand that brewers want to get it to market in August, don't you think they would sell as much of it as they do now if it was sold in the proper season? This is especially true if a limited quantity is made, which it seems reasonable to believe. Is there a big difference to a brewery when they sell their production of pumpkin beers? IMO No, but when one jumps the gun, and the others have to follow or perhaps they won't sell out. If there was some sort of agreement between the brewers that pumpkin beer would not be sold until the first day of fall, everybody might be happy. And given the spirit of cooperation between craft brewers, this may not be as far fetched as it sounds.

Disney is/was the king of the get it now or else merchandising. I remember years ago when we were planning a trip to Orlando. The tag line was "get your park passes now before they sell out." Of course, my wife went for this B.S. and when it rained two of the days we were there, she had to put on her best trailer trash attitude to get a refund. And their ads for videos in "limited quanties". Yeah right, limited to how many they can make. Department stores are another offender. Get the seasonal merchandise out early so consumers buy early, forget where they put their purchases, and buy again. I'm real sick of seeing Halloween merchandise in September, Christmas merchandise right after Halloween, yada yada yada.
Good thing I'm not emperor of the world.

 

Right now you are correct, but given the state of agricultural science, who knows for how long?

 

Another question. I know nothing about farming but it seems that if the beer comes out in August and fresh pumpkin is used, it would have to be harvested in July - and that seems a bit early but again, I'm a city boy. Or, brewers could be using pumpkin extract? Am I correct or way off base?

 

Pumpkin beers that are released in August are either brewed with non-fresh pumpkin (e.g., canned pumpkin) or not brewed with pumpkin at all.

Cheers!

 

The article somewhat addresses this. Basically saying that most don't actually use pumpkin or they use a frozen/canned version of it

EDIT: Jack beat me to it...

 

Thanx. I thought so.

 

Sorry but I couldn't read the entire article. Too aggravated.

 

So u can decorate your Xmas pumpkin. I persaonlly celebrate newyears in October. Then summer comes in late January and so on.
Wu Tang bitches

 

but wait...shouldn't we also diversify our hops?

 

Yes you should. I forgot been celebrating too much.

 

My Total Wine got the first shipment of Pumpkin beer and Oktoberfests in July...I'm guessing the Christmas/Winter beers should be rolling in any day now!!!

 

You all still don't get it. They sell by quarters. So quarter three would be July-October. You can't make money if you only sell pumpkin beers on Halloween.

ay yaiyai.