In Mid-August, we have eight to ten Oktoberfest beers out on retailers' shelves, with at least four pumpkin beers on drafts by now.
In the spirit of the 1960's "Peanuts" comic strip where Charlie Brown grouses that he went to the store to get a Halloween mask, and they were all out--Violet asks if they were going to order any more, and Charlie Brown says, "Ha! Are you kidding? They were too busy putting up Christmas decorations!"--I'm calling for readers to report the first spotting of a Christmas beer of 2009 vintage (not leftover stock from last year)on a retailer's shelf OR a tap handle.
I'm predicting October 10th. You?
6 comments:
this always annoys the crap out of me. actually me and my buddy were out and a local establishment that prides itself on knowing beer and i don't think i saw very much on the menu seasonal. there were 5 heavy autumn beers on tap and many more were super hoppy and/or high in alcohol. not exactly a beer i want when it's 95 degrees out.
sadly i think it's that when people think of "good" beer (micro-brews) they think of something that's super hoped up or heavy in the alcohol category. I recently visited Dog Fish head's bar in rehoboth and almost every one of their beer was some niche crazy flavor or some stupid story about "made from the graves of king tut" or some shit. i mean, why pander to that and why not just make good beer that's well balanced. If i wanted peach beer...i'd pour peach schnapps into my miller light. haha.
I mean brewer's art (a place that prides itself on it's hefty beers) have all but 2 of their beers at the 4.5% category right now (the only 2 being their Ozzy and Resurection...which never leave the menu)...so at least it's nice to see someone offering some nice crisp/light summer beers.
Also i had some great summer beers at Salt: I highly recommend the duvel green and the bitburger (both served in nice glasses as well)
rant over.
Agreed.
And while I do enjoy a good Autumn beer, it's just too freakin early... and too freakin hot
Yo, Ryan?
Tone down the language just a touch. I almost rejected your otherwise good rant for the sake of the two expletives. Unless you're doing a satirical rant in the style of George Carlin or "Mr. Wrong," we don't need that here.
On hot days I like hopped up beers. As for DFH, going there, you should have known what they do. There is no excuse for the autumn beers being out yet though.
I'm guessing Max's will be first, they probably have some leftover Belgian Christmas type beers from the Belgian Fest.
The Troegs Mad Elf seems to arrive at the same time for all the big beer guys (Max's, Mahaffey's, Frisco, etc.), they're usually smart about getting everyone it around the same time.
fair enough re: language.
and i have no problem with hoppy beers, just seems these days when people think micro-beer they always think it has to be really hoppy. and so bars act accordingly.
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