Pumpkin Ale's effect on Craft Brew's bottom line...

Beer and Spirits
1

Who knew?

http://www.thestreet.com/story/12832484/1/pumpkin-ale-is-ridiculously-vital-to-craft-beer.html

2

This link made an interview with Jim Cramer pop up, and even after closing the link I can’t find it to make it go away. [swearing.gif]

3

Hmmmm, no pop up when I click it.

4

I love how they make the leap from “Fall Seasonals” to Pumpkin beer. Fall Seasonals include, Oktoberfest beers, fresh hop beers, Christmas beers, and, yes, pumpkin beers. Hell, the Germans have been doing this for centuries with their Oktoberfest beers and Sticke Alts. The Fall is the busiest time of the year for seasonal brews. People don’t drink as much beer in the winter, and brewers spend all spring ramping up production to take care of summer demand. Fall seasonals are a way to extend the beer drinking season before the doldrums hit in January.

What they says about people turning off to certain seasonals, this is true. People will buy an Oktoberfest beer in September and early October, but sales will drop precipitously in late October. Same with Christmas beers. After the New Year, no one wants them.

5

Rick,
At New Year’s I feel like winter is just getting started. My major concern with buying seasonal beers late in the season is that they may not be fresh.
Seeing as some beers can age for years, how valid is that concern? I consider it mainly a factor in light lagers, pilsners, and fresh hopped IPAs.

BTW, I hate pumpkin beer.

P Hickner

6

Peter, I think the provenance concern is a real one. Of the fall seasonals, I’m generally leery of end of the season fresh hop beers and Oktoberfest beers that are made as ales (the lagers will keep just fine if stored cold). The bigger issue is how has the brewer and the distributor handled the beer before you get it. If the beer has been respected (not subject to high temperatures along the way) then it should be fine at the end of the season. If the beer has been abused, it doesn’t matter when you buy it.

We try to limit what we sell to any store so that we don’t end up having a bunch of old beer hanging around. If we see old bottles on the shelf, we will arrange to swap them into something fresher and then check the old bottles to see how they’re holding up. Usually they’re doing just fine, although earlier this summer we picked up some year-old wheat beer at one place in PDX (a store with serious provenance issues) that was just vile.

We hold back bottles of just about everything we make, and about the only beer that don’t taste as good, sometimes better, after a year (held in ideal conditions) is our Pils.

7

Great pick from a brewery…when Pumpkin attacks!

8

I’ve never figured out the allure of Pumpkin beers, but I sure sell a hell of a lot of them, so who am I to criticize. I find myself cringing when I send the pre-orders out, and get these huge orders back, half the time I want to call them and ask…“Really?”

9

It’s like drinking pumpkin pie. If you don’t like pumpkin pie then you probably won’t like them. To me they ooze “Fall” and a lot of people really love the Fall.

I just picked up a pack of Lakefront Imperial Pumpkin which is barrel aged. Ought to be interesting…

10

Count me as one who loves the fall, but pumpkin everything… well, it depends. I’ve had pumpkin beers I like, that aren’t too sweet.

I like O’Fallon from here in the St. Louis area. Last year’s would have been hard to pick as a pumpkin beer. On the other side of the fence last year was Schlaffly’s Imperial Pumpkin, which had ventured into Starbucks territory. Had a sample of this year’s version though and it seemed to have been dialed way back on sweetness and pumpkin-pie spice flavors. Will try both.

11

Just had Two Roads Roadsmary’s Baby Pumpkin aged in rum barrels a couple of days ago. Excellent pumpkin beer. Not over the top sweet, not over the top spiced. Delicious.