No Octoberfest for you, drink Pumpkin beer

Ah sales creep. Same reason Starbucks released their Spiced Latter in August, why there's 'back to school' sections before school's even out, why I'm going to see Xmas decorations before I turn the AC off, and why black Friday has become a black Wed-Friday. Ridiculousness.

I do like some pumpkin ales though

 

I like pumpkin pie and pumpkin bars/muffins. thats it. Everything else pumpkiny needs to go!

 

To each their own..... but, damn, I hate pumpkin beers.

It is too bad when they start taking the place of multiple other options instead of just being an alternative. I would be pretty frustrated if one of my local establishments started pulling good options and replacing them with pumpkin beers....... If they swap a pumpkin in for a "summer shandy"...... I could care less. But if I showed up and Bell's Two Hearted was gone to make way for "Spiced Bourbon Barrel Pumpkin Amber Ale".... . Well, I would be looking elsewhere

 

It would be refreshing to see someone capitalize on this. Putting Pumpkin beer back into a "novelty" category by only selling pumpkin beer from the time that pumpkins are harvested until say Thanksgiving. Then use some marketing to stamp on the bottle that "there's a special reason the beer is only available from X to X because they don't use canned pumpkin. Pumpkin beers that show up prior to X rely on old canned pumpkin to beat the season."

 

Dark of the moon changed my mind about pumpkin! I am looking forward to that, the other pumpkin beers, not so much.

 

On a whim I bought a bomber of Southern Tier pumpkin spice beer last night. My wife and I agreed, it was horrible! (It was the only beer I have ever poured out. Nasty!) I have changed my mind about brewing one now. I shall work on an Oktoberfest for next year, as I have my lagering chamber set up now. No more pumpkin beer for me.

 

Spice Bourbon Barrel Pumpkin Amber Ale sounds amazing, now I want one.

 

I was at Oktoberfest in Snowbird on Sunday, and there was nary an Octoberfest in sight. Plenty of pumpkin beer available. Granted Uinta claims to make one of the best pumpkin beers on the market, so I can see why they would make it the fall beer festival centerpiece. I was quite happy with the Uinta pilsner and Kolsch, but a little malty punch would have been nice.

 

Spiced Bourbon Barrel Pumpkin Amber Ale?????????

Pffft.

I only drink Bacon Peanut Butter Spiced Bourbon Barrel Pumpkin Amber Ale on Cocoa Nibs.

 

I like some pumpkin beers myself. But really, if I'm going out for a beer, I don't want a novelty beer. Pumpkin beers are for buying in bottles and enjoying at home (for me anyway).

We have a local brewery that a lot of pubs have on tap around here. I hate it, it's like a really crappy cream ale with crappy pumpkin spice. Or something. Everyone raves about it though. Bleh.

 

Non-HBTF conversation:

"Hey, have you tried this new SloshinCrotch Autumn Pumpkin Ale?"
"No, why?"
"It tastes just like your grandma's pumpkin pie! It's awesome! Want one?"
"But why turn pumpkin pie into beer?"
"I don't know. But you gotta try one!"
"I'll, see ya' later."
"Hey, where ya' going? I thought we were going to have a beer?"
"You can have mine. I'm going to Grandma's."

 

To be fair, the same thing being said about the over-saturation of pumpkin beers this time of year could be said about the over-saturation of IPAs in, well, any time of year. There's a bazillion of em. Not saying that's good or bad, it just is. I like IPAs just fine. And, obviously, lots of others do to. But some people don't.

The breweries are gonna crank out what sells. Happens to be pumpkin beers this time of year. Not a huge fan myself, although I did just buy a sixer of Alaskan's Pumpkin Porter that was pretty good...more subdued on the pumpkin spices than some others. I've had other pumpkin beers that were horrible. Same can be said for some IPAs. To each their own.


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I'm experiencing the same problem its Marzen season for me...and the taps are all being filled by pumpkin. Hey, I enjoy a pumkin beer every once in a while for fall, but less festbiers??? what the sh!t. Curse you market trends!!

 

I would love to know how many of these pumpkin beers actually have any pumpkin in them. Shockingly few, I'd guess. "Pumpkin Pie" beer indeed.

 

Cracked the SN Oktoberfest last night. It was delicious.

 

I'm a chef IRL, and my biggest peeve with "pumpkin" flavored anything is that ITS NOT PUMPKIN FLAVORED! It's clove/nutmeg/cinnamon flavored! Stop calling it pumpkin beer when it's really pumpkin pie beer or pumpkin spice. There are obviously some exceptions to this, but at the end of the day, it's not the same thing for most beers.

 

I don't mind pumpkin beers but this is a new low:

http://firstwefeast.com/drink/pumpkin-spiced-natty-light-is-real/

 

That's true. Maybe I'd like "pumpkin" beer. I know I don't like that potpourri crap. :cross:

 

Well crap. Looks like I'll be getting a case of Natty. Maybe that'll get the pumpkin kick out of me...

(says the in-discriminant pumpkin beer lover)

 

You must have missed Bohemian's Oktoberfest and the little tent near the tram with a selection of around 8 imported styles from Germany. I am pretty sure there was at least 1 Oktoberfest. But you are right, there should have been more. That being said, Wyld on tap is pretty damn good, and the Jack O' Lantern wasn't terrible.

 

I enjoy certain pumpkin beers. Brooklyn brewings post road comes to mind. Southern Tiers Pumpking on the other hand tastes like liquid potpourri to me...

Fall samplers from Sam Adams hit the shelve in Florida in late July... It's hard to think of fall beers till December in this state :/

 

pumpkin beers are hit and miss with me. I find myself liking the darker pumpkin beer. A lot of them are too sweet and try to taste like pie. They're too spicy and crackery then finish sweet. Not what I'm looking for.
Flying Dog's The Fear imperial pumpkin ale isn't bad. It's sort of a brown ale with pumpkin and spices but it's not overpowering. Pumpkin porters or stouts are pretty good too.

But I agree they came out crazy early this year. All it takes is a couple breweries to hit the bars early then bam... everyone feels the need to rush to get their pumpkin beer out before everyone is tired of it. I think the best time for pumpkin beer is Oct/Nov and this year I'll be brewing mine to suit that time frame. I only brew 3 gallons of it. I'd rather leave people wanting more than not wanting anymore.

 

There are a lot of crap pumpkin beers because there are a lot of people doing it because the market is hot. The season creep is what annoys me. I'd like my pumpkin beer in late Oct and November please. Give me large quantities of Oktoberfest right now. And maybe a mild or bitter or porter in between.

 

I like Pumpkin stouts...and I just realized there's not much flavor difference between a pumpkin stout beer and pumpkin coffee! Dark, roasty, touch bitter, and pumpkin pie spices.

 

Counted them tonight - 4 different pumpkin beers on the shelves, from 3 breweries.

Lost track of the Marzens and Okto's over 20, covering both in-state and out of state breweries.

I'm living in a pumpkin dead zone.

 

Went to Oktoberfest at The Silver Gulch last night. Not a pumpkin beer in the house, but plenty of tasty Oktoberfest though!!

 

South Dakota isn't the greatest example because we have such limited distribution here, but I've noticed that the local liquor stores are stocked up on a fairly even amount of Octoberfests and pumpkin brews. I bought a sixer of Alaskan Pumpkin Porter and it was pretty good. To my tastes, a stout or porter provides a better base than an amber, which is what many of em seem to be...an amber with pie spices, and maybe some pumpkin.


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