Word from the Brewers Association just now that
…seasonal release beers are the number one selling craft beer style even having surpassed pale ales.
which is surely interesting and, at first glance, a Good Thing. Consumers want something new and different…
However, I cannot get out of my mind the image of a horde of BeerAdvocates ravaging the land looking for the Next Big Thing .
How does craft brewing survive and grow if its focus is short-term releases which are popular (I would argue) for the very reason that they are short-term?
I know the appeal of rare beers, but that is clearly not a paradigm for success.
My immediate reaction is that, if what draws people to your local beer bar and/or brewpub is not the ongoing roster of beers, we have a serious problem developing for the long run.
Am I wrong about this? Let me know.
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Perhaps seasonality is the way we should go. being in touch with where we are in the year, with the changes and challenges will be what propel craft beer into the real of truly fresh, local and seasonal, much as the independent restaurant world has been leaning. perhaps its not about being different and new, but about be true to where and who we are?
Seasonal does not always mean limited release. Historically in the upper midwest there was a big tradition of ‘bock season;’ seasonal drinking is nothing new. English breweries frequently list factors like wet summers in their earnings statements. I think seasonal releases are a good way for the craft brewers to remind their consumers that they are a real cut above the factory beer.
I agree with you completely Jack. I’ve been noticing for the past year or so that there is a very short attention span as to what is next greatest beer, brewery or pub. I believe this somewhat frenzied status can not be good for the craft brew industries overall long-term success.
One would think (or should that be hope) that seasonals, one-offs and the like would be viewed as an augmentation of an already solid yet varied standard array of beers. I’m thinking that the “buzz beer” noise is just that – noise – that for some evokes an almost knee jerk response whereas for others it’s simply background.
I think that the biggest challenge for most brewpubs is to round out their brewing with a menu that goes well with their standard lineup. With few exceptions, I think that you can pretty much guess what will be offered on the menu at a large percentage of brewpubs: pub pretzels (check), chicken wings or fingers (check), etc I’ve been in more brewpubs in more states that I can shake a stick at and by and large they all seem to have similar menus.
As some of you (looking at you Jack) may know, my palate and preferences for beer styles has changed dramatically over the last several years and I do not feel compelled to run towards the noise. I drink what I like and more importantly what I feel like sipping that very moment. Sometimes it’s my mood that determines, other times it’s the weather.
Seasonals have their time and place as do what I’ll loosely term “beer events” but at the end of the day – it’s what I personally like and not what anyone likes that factors into my decision.
A philosopher, a publican and a bar fly…is this a great conversation or what?
Couldn’t it just be that in the heat of summer more people will reach for a wheat beer, a marzen in the fall, and that stout or winter warm when there is snow on the ground? I know I certainly buy beers that fit with the season. Even my food changes with the season, I don’t braise much in the summer, nor do I grill much in the winter. So winter beers go better with winter food, and vice versa.
Also who’s to say that certain beers that are seasonal wouldn’t sell really well all year round given the opportunity. Sierra Nevada’s Celebration, and Victory’s Hop Wallop I think would be good examples. I would certainly keep buying them through spring and summer were I able, and on the rare occasions I find cases of them in the summer, I pick them up.
So I think its just a matter of people buying more of what fits the season.