Pumpkin Beers: The New Beer Trend

Its the last day of October.  A month symbolized by Halloween and pumpkins.  Not only are pumpkin patches on every corner or in every super market, but pumpkins have managed to find their way onto beer shelves as well.  Much like you now see pumpkin coffees and pumpkin muffins everywhere, over the past few years, there has been a huge increase of pumpkin beers.  It is a style that has been around since the 1600s.  Much like the recent explosion of the IPA style, pumpkin beers have suddenly become the new trend and are becoming far too common.  It is also possibly over-saturating the market.  You used to have the handful of breweries who started the trend of pumpkin beers, such as Dogfish Head's Punkin Ale, Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale and Brooklyn Brewery's Post Road Pumpkin Ale.  But now they are seeming to come from every brewery these days.

Why are pumpkin beers becoming more popular?  Pumpkin beers bring people to the good times of eating pumpkin pie, especially during Thanksgiving.  Pumpkin beers resemble that experience very well.  Pumpkin pie is a soothing, comfort food in most people's taste buds.  Heck, they are even using the same ingredients as your mom's pumpkin pie.  You have the pumpkins, of course, in addition to breweries using nutmeg, cinnamon, yams and other ingredients that are synonymous with pumpkin pie.  Sounds like a pretty good pie if you ask me.  So its not surprising to me that more and more people are taking to the style.  But is that reason enough to flood with market with it?

Whenever a beer style becomes trendy and popular, it becomes over-produced, less distinct and mediocre (similar to the IPA style, which I will not get into right now).  Pumpkin beers used to be something you had to search for because it was nothing the beer world had even seen before or even thought of producing.  Now when I go to a liquor store or super market, all I see are pumpkin beers, pumpkin beers and more pumpkin beers.  What this is doing is taking away the mystique of this uniquely crafted beer.

Not only is it becoming popular with micro breweries, but macro breweries are also getting in on all the action.  Shock Top, an Anheuser-Busch product, released a pumpkin edition of their well-known Belgian Wit.  I mean, seriously?  Talk about pumpkin overkill.  And I do believe Blue Moon, a MillerCoors product, also produced a pumpkin version.  I hate to say it, but I believe the sudden rise of popularity may eventually do in the great seasonal beer forever.  I mean the pumpkin editions from breweries have been out only a couple months now, and I was already bored of it after the first 2 weeks.  Too many breweries are brewing too many mediocre versions.  I can't tell you how many bad pumpkin beers I have had over the last couple years.

If this style introduces and turns consumers to the craft beer world, that is great.  We do need them on our side.   Its sweet, comforting and synonymous with the Fall season.  But, in my opinion, if the beer world wants this style to last, breweries need to slow it down and make sure they are producing something special before just throwing it out on the market just because it is the latest trend.

Happy Halloween and enjoy the MANY pumpkin beers available!

Does Limited Availability Hype Up Beers Too Much?

Since Pliny The Elder is the reason why I am writing this post, I'm focusing on it.  Though this is also meant for the other beers that have the same level of hype as Pliny.

I went on a trip to Los Angeles this past weekend and as usual while I am in Southern California, I look for beers that aren't distributed to Las Vegas, nor the other half of the country.  More specifically, I am a hophead and am always on the hunt for Pliny The Elder by Russian River Brewing Co.  Pliny The Elder is on the top of most beer rankings around the country and even the world, and is widely considered one of the best Double IPAs on the planet, maybe the best.  Not to mention, it is one of only a few Double IPAs on Untappd that is given 5 out of 5 caps (stars) by those who are lucky enough to try it.  (Another one is Pliny The Younger, also brewed by Russian River and only available on tap for a few months out of the year.  But I'm not going to touch that beer and its crazy hype.)  While calling around Los Angeles liquor stores and supermarkets that are on it's distribution list, Whole Foods told me that they only receive one case, 2 times week and have a waiting list of over 100 people looking to purchase it.  At another local liquor store, it has a purchase limit of one bottle per person.  I called 5 or 6 other stores that were completely sold out of it.  This got me thinking.  Are beers with limited availability gaining underserved buildup?  Pliny The Elder is obviously one of the best Imperial IPAs out there, but is it worthy of its almost cult-like following and reputation?  Or is it a product of the old hype-machine and limited availability or is it really just that good?

What if Pliny was brewed by Sierra Nevada or New Belgium?  Two breweries who can brew it on a larger scale, increasing its availablity and distribution areas.  Would Pliny have the same reputation if it could be found anytime you want in supermarkets, liquor stores and bars without a waiting list or a limit on how much you can purchase?  Would it still be at the top of the same people's beer rankings?  I don't know if it would be.  But, my guess would be no.  It would still be regarded as a great Double IPA, but would not receive the praise it currently has.  It would be more like the subdued hype of Dogfish Head's 90 Minute IPA and Stone's Ruination.  But then again, they could easily scale down production on their best brews and limit its distribution.  But I'm sure they are more concerned about wide availablity to please their loyal fans.

The United States is a big country and an even bigger one when it comes to beer.  You have these great breweries in the east, midwest and west that only distribute to their respective regions for various reasons.  Some of those reasons are different state laws, a lack of resources and funds to move beyond their regions and/or not having a desire to grow and just stay local (much like Russian River claims).  You have Hopslam by Bell's Brewery in Michigan, Dark Lord by 3 Floyds Brewing Co. in Indiana and Heady Topper by The Alchemist in Vermont, just to name a few.  All three beers have reputations for being world class, yet cannot be tasted by others in the other regions of the country.  So word of mouth grows.  But when it comes down to it, can any beer measure up to the growing hype it receives over time?  With so much hype, a lot of beer drinkers may feel let down when they finally get their hands on them because their expectations grew to an unreasonable level.  This brings me back to Pliny.  I have heard from so many people who were dying to get their hands on some Pliny.  When they finally did, some were disappointed.  They thought it was great but wondered what all the hype was for and definitely didn't think it was worthy of it.

Is a beer like Pliny that much better than the next Double IPA from another brewery?  It depends.  But the gap isn't as wide as you would think judging from the demand for it.  In my opinion, Pliny The Elder is overhyped, but not overrated.  I have also wondered if Russian River and other breweries are taking advantage of the hype machine by refusing to increase production of their popular beers.  They know the demand for it is high, so you would think they would find a way to brew more.  Whether it be adding more equipment, contracting another brewery, or simply dropping a less popular beer from their lineup.  This may be a great ploy by them to keep the hype high by refusing to grow and continue to limit its availability.  If it is true that Russian River honestly wants to focus on quality instead of quanity, I salute them. In any case, it deserves it's praise because it is a great tasting Double IPA, even if the hype machine adds to it.

Blog Name Change: The Hophead Report

Hey everyone!  I've decided to make a name change to this blog.  Starting immediately, the name is being changed to The Hophead Report. However, I am going to keep the same web address (www.brewmansbeerreport.blogspot.com) for another week so my visitors without knowledge of the change can still access my blog.  In a week, the web address will become www.thehopheadreport.blogspot.com.  Thank you!