Seasonal Creep continues to rear its ugly, pumpkiny head

Plenty of more seasonally-appropriate beer could’ve filled this space.

It’s the last day of July, and the fall seasonal beers are already hitting beer shop shelves. In fact, some of them have been sitting on shelves for over two weeks now. “Seasonal creep” in the beer industry, as we’ve noted before, is getting out of control. Brewers continue to push up their timelines so they can be first to market with their top-selling seasonal beers. Remember when Sam Adams tweeted a picture of a bottle of their Summer Ale in the snow back in March? Not surprisingly, their Oktoberfest hit market the same week we suffered from an oppressive string of 90+-degree days. Bottled-on dates on the first batch of Southern Tier Pumking to hit New York City were in early July, meaning they started brewing their fall seasonal in June.

So what will it take to stop this madness? Well, for a while, we’ve said that it’ll take a groundswell of both consumers and retailers saying no to pumpkin beers in July and summer ales in March. Consumers, for their part, can only do so much. If the retailers take on the beer, then let it sit on their shelves idle for a month until their customers are actually in the mood, brewers will still brew it, because the demand will still be there.

One Boston-area beer store, however, has finally taken a stand. Craft Beer Cellar’s two locations in suburban Boston have announced via Facebook that they will not sell a single fall seasonal beer until September 1st. We’d love to see more retailers take a stand against seasonal creep. Will it mean sacrificing a little bit of business? Maybe, but we just don’t think there are people running out to hoard pumpkin beer in July and August.

You might ask, “what’s the problem with selling pumpkin beers in July? I like them, and I’ll buy them - so what’s the harm?” Well, we’ve gone into this before, but an advancing calendar discourages the use of fresh ingredients in beer, especially when it comes to fall seasonals. Where do you think Southern Tier is getting pumpkin from in June? A can.

For those that want to use fresh ingredients in a seasonal beer, they get less shelf space at retail in September, when those fresh ingredients are available. That goes for hops, too; a wet-hop beer with freshly-harvested hops can’t come out until September and October, when such a beer is released “out of cycle” and gets squeezed into shelf space not already occupied by seasonals that have been out for months. We always cite Notch Session brewer Chris Lohring’s screed about seasonal beers from two years ago, when he had to stop producing a beer with locally-harvested malt for an October release because he worried it wouldn’t get it to store shelves. By accepting the new calendar, beer drinkers miss out on fresh beer in two ways: when they finally want one in September or October, they drink fall seasonals that have been sitting on the shelf for two months, and they push out potential offerings with fresh ingredients.

We know, we know. This screed is nothing new, and we’ve written it at least twice a year, every year. But when will the line be drawn? Pumpkin beer is being brewed in June! Is this insanity finally enough for consumers and retailers to say “no more?” If enough retailers take the lead of Craft Beer Cellars, maybe it will finally send a message to brewers that Seasonal Creep is out of control.