The weather may be cooler than usual for the dog days of summer in RVA, but it is undeniably still August. Walk into your corner store, however, and you’d be forgiven for wondering if your calendar were wrong. Yes, that is pumpkin beer sitting on the shelf for sale.
The weather may be cooler than usual for the dog days of summer in RVA, but it is undeniably still August. Walk into your corner store, however, and you’d be forgiven for wondering if your calendar were wrong. Yes, that is pumpkin beer sitting on the shelf for sale.
Some of RVA’s numerous craft beer connoisseurs have begun to decry what they call the “seasonal creep” of beer releases, most notably the release of pumpkin-flavored beers in August and even July.
“Drink fresh. Drink local. Drink in season,” is the message of a humorous video released by Jacob Brunow, head of the craft and import department at Brown Distributing (http://www.brown.com/). Speaking to Richmond.com last year, he emphasized his desire for Richmonders to be “militant” against seasonal creep.
“Seasonal beers are where you taste the fruit or the flower of that period,” An Bui, chief beer officer of Mekong, told the AP last year. “It’s so early. What’s going on?”
“I believe that there is something great about enjoying a beer in its intended season,” said Brad Straughn, craft brand manager of Loveland Distributors in an interview with Richmond.com. “They go with the mood of the season, they go with the food of the season.”
For many craft beer lovers, the most visible offender has been Lakewood, New York’s Southern Tier Brewing Company, which annually releases its Pumking imperial ale in mid-July. In response to these summer “fall” releases, some stores have begun boycotting fall beers until September.
For now, RVA breweries seem to be holding the line – Hardywood’s celebrated Farmhouse Pumpkin ale will be released after the autumnal equinox, while Strangeways and Lickinghole Creek breweries usually release their fall beers in October and November respectively. Bui told the AP that Mekong will not be serving any fall beers until the correct season.
On the forums at Beeradvocate.com, user gardenstatepkwy sums up the sentiment best. “Fall is my favorite beer season. […] That being said, I will not drink a single pumpkin beer until after Labor Day. Seeing pumpkin beer on the shelves in July is no good.”
