RunawayJim.org

I haven’t written a beer review in quite some time. That’s not because I haven’t been drinking great beers, but rather because I tend not to think of it or the beers just weren’t worth writing about (or they’re stuff I drink all the time). I’m also drinking less as part of my weight loss program. Well, Thursday night was a Long Trail tasting at Nikki’s Liquors. In fact, it’s Long Trail Month at Nikki’s with all Long Trail beers on sale all month long. Six packs are only $6.99 and the bombers of the Brewmaster’s Series are $1 off. It’s totally worth it.

Long Trail is one of my favorite breweries. It’s a very underrated brewery in my not-so-humble opinion. They make two Altbiers, which is two more than most breweries make. I love German ales, which tend to be lesser known styles. That gives Long Trail extra points in my book. Anyway, talking about Long Trail isn’t the point of this. They recently released a new year ’round beer – Pale Ale. I’ve had everything they’ve released and they’re all solid beers, though the Belgian White and the Blackberry Wheat leave a bit to be desired. They dropped their spring seasonal, the Hefeweizen, from their repertoire and added the Pale Ale. I love their IPA, which is made in a traditional English style. It’s well balanced and more malty than most American IPA’s. It’s a great IPA, though most hopheads turn their heads because it’s not in-you-face hops. It’s not meant to be. Well, hopheads can rejoice. Long Trail’s Pale Ale is, oddly enough, hoppier than their IPA, at least in flavor.

The beer pours a crystal clear light amber color with a nice one finger head. It has an immediate and lasting aroma of Cascade hops – a nice citrus scent. As you drink the beer, it leaves a nice lacing down the side of the glass. Upon first sip, I get the immediate flavor of those hops – a grapefruit flavor. It has a nice crisp, clean flavor that lingers just enough to savor while not leaving a long-lasting aftertaste. It’s quite refreshing. It was hard to let this one warm up too much, but as it did, I got a bit more of the malt balance. This is more definitely an American Pale Ale. While it’s not punch-you-in-the-face hops, it’s all about the hops. As I finish it, I am left wanting another.

The easiest way for me to describe this beer is through its similarity to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. It is a very similar beer, but quite different in many ways. The flavor profile is almost the same, but where they differ is in the body. This one is a little lighter, but in a good way. Where SNPA is heavier in all aspects of the beer, this one is crisp, clean, and refreshing. Don’t get me wrong, I love SNPA, but Long Trail Pale Ale definitely edges it out simply because I want more and more. The crispness and the lack of the lasting aftertaste make it that much better. While many call SNPA a “near-IPA”, this one falls perfectly in the APA category and sits tall there. Many beer lovers, especially hopheads, tend to dismiss the APA category. I mean why get an APA when you can get an IPA? Isn’t an APA just a light version of an IPA? It’s not, and Long Trail Pale Ale is a perfect example of why you would want an APA over an IPA.

The distributor said the beer falls at about 5.2% ABV. It’s a very easy drinking, but very satisfying beer. I bought a six pack. I already drank two of them. I wouldn’t be surprised if the rest of it don’t make it through the weekend. Do yourself a favor. Find this beer. Buy this beer. Drink this beer… especially if you’re in RI. The discount at Nikki’s is a great deal.

Following my weekend at Cannon, and the main reason why our friends from Providence came up to join us, was Kate the Great Day at the Portsmouth Brewery. If you didn’t know, the Portsmouth Brewery is a relatively small brewpub in downtown Portsmouth, NH. They make a whole bunch of excellent beers. Kate the Great just happens to be one of them. It’s their Russian Imperial Stout. The whole thing blew up when Beer Advocate named the beer the best beer in the world in their last issue of 2007. A beer that had been enjoyed by locals for a couple weeks was now seeing greater interest and less time on tap. The first Kate Day was in June of 2008. They did the bottle release and tapping and even allowed people to buy growlers of the beer (which had gone on for years prior). In 2009, my first Kate Day, they did the tapping and bottle release at the same time in the brewery. It was a big event and the place was packed. We tried it on tap and got our bottles. We spent most of the day at the bar before heading back to Providence.

This year saw a lot more fanfare. They changed it so that they would sell the bottles prior to tapping the beer. Because of all the craziness surrounding the event, we spent the night before in Portsmouth, allowing us to get up early to get our calendar date – our ticket to buy our two bottles of the beer. Some investigating told us they would start handing out the dates at 4:00 am. We decided to arrive at 3:30 after only getting a couple hours of sleep. We stood out on the cold rainy streets of Portsmouth for about an hour before we received our golden ticket and immediately headed back to the hotel to try to get some sleep before being back outside the brewery for the release at 9:00 am. Still cold and agitated from the lack of sleep, I tossed and turned until it was time to pack up our stuff, check out of the hotel, and head back downtown to buy our bottles. While I was awake trying to sleep, I counted out how far back we were in line based on our dates. We were about 120-130 in line for the calendar dates. The first people in line arrived at 12:30, hanging out there for four hours before the dates were handed out.

The mob outside the brewery when we came back to buy our bottles was huge. There was a mob of people across the street and a mob on one side of the brewery all waiting to hear their month called out. On the other side of the brewery was a line that stretched around the block. These were the people waiting to get into the brewery to try some of the Kate on tap. The capacity being only 300 made it difficult for people to get in. There were probably about 600 people in line and another 300 waiting for their bottles. While not everyone wanted a bottle and not everyone wanted to try it on tap, there were still a whole lot of people who wanted both. Many got in the line immediately after getting their bottles. Some took off for home after getting their bottles. The rest were like us – buying the bottles and wandering around or doing something else before getting in line.

After buying our bottles, we headed to the Friendly Toast for breakfast, as we did last year. It’s a funky place with an interesting menu. I wasn’t overly impressed by the french toast, but the other meals looked good. I wish they used real maple syrup. We were in Northern New England, after all. We wandered around Portsmouth, visiting some of the shops for a while, and then headed up to the Ale House Inn, where some of our friends were staying. We hung out there until about 2:00 pm and made our way down to the brewery to see if we could get in. By this time, there were only about 20 people in line and it moved relatively quickly. Unfortunately, we were a group of eight and finding a table large enough would prove to be difficult. After about an hour in line, we were seated at two tables of four. We hung out, had some beer, and got some food. By 5:30, Susan and I were beat and ready to head home.

I’m not sure I would do this again. I heard rumors that they’re thinking about doing the bottle sales at the Smuttynose Brewery, also in Portsmouth and owned by the same people, to prevent such a huge crowd from descending on the streets of Portsmouth. I’ve heard rumors that they’ll brew the beer at Smuttynose to allow for a larger batch and more bottles. The problem with that is the labeling. Because it’s from a different brewery, the label would have to go through approval before they can sell it, though I’m not sure how difficult that would be if they did it under “contract”. I definitely did not enjoy standing outside in the rain for an hour in the middle of the night. I did not enjoy getting only 3 hours of sleep that night. I did enjoy hanging out with our friends and the festiveness inside the brewery once we were seated. There were a lot more people than last year and it just made it that much more difficult for everyone. I didn’t see any fights or arguments about people cutting into the lines at all, which surprised me a bit as people were pretty riled up on BA about it.

The beer itself was excellent, though I remembered it being better last year. Perhaps that’s because we had some of the first pours from the tap, but that shouldn’t have affected it. The Imperial Porter they had on tap was also excellent. If you get the chance, go to the Portsmouth Brewery. All their beer is great, not just Kate.

Our little vacation ended with a trip to the Allagash Brewery in Portland, ME (after spending lots of time at LL Bean in Freeport). The tour started with a tasting of their main brands – White, Dubbel, Tripel, and Four. They weren’t full pours, but they weren’t small pours either, considering the strength of some of the beers. Not having had them in a long time, it was nice to be reacquainted with them, remembering how good they are.

The woman in the visitor center had a pretty strong knowledge of their beer and the styles. She knew quite a bit about the brewery and even seemed to have some good general beer knowledge. They weren’t brewing at the time we were there. In fact, they were just moving stuff around. The tour portion was short, but brewery tours need not be long unless there are a lot of questions. Given that the group was small, there weren’t many questions. They allowed us to check out some of their barrels, but not drink any of the beer in them, unfortunately.

What I found most disappointing was the pricing of the beer at the brewery. Oftentimes, breweries will sell beer for slightly cheaper than most retail outlets. In this case, that didn’t hold true. We didn’t buy anything extravagant, picking up a bottle of Four for ourselves and a bottle of Black for my cousin whom we were visiting for dinner that evening on our drive back to RI. I had wanted a t-shirt, but they didn’t have anything in my size in stock. I picked up a glass because that’s what I do at breweries, and we were on our way. It was one of the more informative brewery tours I’ve seen, and certainly the only real Belgian tour. I had expected their tasting room to be a bit different because of the popularity of the brewery. I was also hoping to be able to taste something a bit more special than the four beer we tried, knowing I wouldn’t get to taste the Gargamel or Vagabond.

It’s worth a visit, especially if you like Belgian beers. Someday I’ll get back up to Portland and tour the rest of the breweries in that fine New England beer town.

After our Sunday River trip, we  headed down to Brunswick, ME for the night to visit The Lion’s Pride, the newest restaurant owned by Chris and Jen Lively of Ebenezer’s fame. If you like beer and you live in New England (or anywhere really) and you haven’t been to Ebenezer’s, you need to get there… NOW. Of course their hours during the winter are funny, being only open on the weekend, likely due to their seriously remote location. This is why we decided to go to The Lion’s Pride. They’re open every night of the week.

While Ebenezer’s has a small middle of nowhere pub feel to it, The Lion’s Pride has a more urbane feel. Aside from that difference, they’re very much the same. The staff at both restaurants are fantastic. The food is to die for. And the beer… it’s world class. They’re both known for their steak tips, using the same recipe at each and getting their beef from the same local farm. This is what I ordered. And, as expected, they were absolutely amazing. Whatever they use as a marinade is just mouth watering. Susan got the seafood scampi, which said it came with lobster, mussels, shrimp, and scallops. We weren’t expecting much in the way of big hunks of seafood, but on top of the huge mount of pasta was a huge mound of seafood,  including a ton of lobster. I ate my whole meal, but Susan brought hers home. It fed both of us that second night. Prior to our meals, we were brought a small loaf of bread, which was amazing. I think it was a molasses oatmeal bread or something like that. I honestly don’t remember, but it was darker and very tasty.

Now the beer… being indecisive, we ordered a couple flights. They had a taplist of something like 25 different beers, all amazing. This made the choice difficult and the option of getting a flight much more attractive. Our first flight of six beers consisted of the following.

• Smuttynose G-Bock
• De Struise Pannepot
• Cuvee de Jacobins
• Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine
• Biere de Boucanier
• Harviestoun Bitter and Twisted

The Smutty was a great beer, classified as a doppelbock. It was sweeter and quite tasty. Cuvee de Jacobins is a Flanders red ale (or a sour red). The difference is that it’s far more tart than most in the style. In fact, it bordered on being a lambic, in my opinion. Pannepot is a spiced Belgian ale, similar to a spiced quadrupel. It’s tasty, but not my favorite (though I’ve heard it’s excellent aged). The Olde School wasn’t as good as I had hoped. It was hoppier, but not hoppy. The malt profile seemed lacking. I expected more depth to the beer. Bitter and Twisted is a traditional English IPA. It was nice and malty with a touch of hops. It’s very easy drinking. Finally, Biere de Boucanier is a Belgian strong pale ale. I wasn’t overly impressed by it, but it was still good (I’m not the biggest Belgian pale ale fan).

Because there was still so much beer left on the list that I had to try, I ordered a partial flight when we finished the first. That one consisted of:

• Smuttynose Oak Aged Maibock
• Allagash Interlude
• Koningshoeven Quad
• Bayrischer Berlinerweiss

The Berlinerweiss was ordered straight up. In Germany, they’ll add a shot of flavor to it, like raspberry or apple. We wanted the pure unadulterated beer. It’s a very light, easy drinking wheat beer with a tart finish. It’s a very refreshing beer. I wasn’t impressed with the Quad, which was surprising as I enjoy it from the bottle. Perhaps the difference was being on tap. I actually have  bottle of that in my basement from 2006 that I need to drink. I’ve heard that those bottles had something wrong with them, but I guess we’ll find out when I open it. Interlude is a different type of beer. I think Allagash was going for a saison, but ended up infecting it by accident the first time they made it. It gave the beer a slight hint of funky tartness. It’s an excellent beer as always. My favorite beer of the night, however, was the Oak Aged Maibock. I don’t know what kind of oak barrels Smuttynose used, but I was expecting a big bourbon flavor as with many oak aged beers. This one, however, was very different. The oak gave the beer a nutty maple flavor that I was not expecting. It tasted almost like maple walnut ice cream. It was a superb beer, and, as a big fan of everything maple, easily my favorite.

The waiter we had, Jon, was excellent. He brought us a complimentary glass of the Cuvee de Jacobins as dessert. He knew his beer, as did the other two people working there that night. I was very impressed by their beer expertise, though I shouldn’t have expected anything less. We chatted with them all for a bit before we left. Even though they closed up right after we left (at 9:30 pm), they weren’t in a rush to get us out of there.

Finally, I want to comment on the pricing. Our bill came out to almost $90 for our two meals and the two flights of beer. The way they do the flights is give you basically a half pour for half the price. They fill up large tasting glasses, which are probably about 5 or 6 ounces each. Our beer came out to just about $40, not including tip or the complimentary beer. My meal was the cheaper (I didn’t have lobster in it). Susan’s meal cost $27, but for the amount of food, especially the amount of high quality seafood, it was well worth the price. I am not one to enjoy spending a large amount of money going out to dinner. The food and beer at this place is well worth every penny. In fact, I would dare you to compare the quality of the food with any top quality restaurants in a major metropolitan area. The food matches the quality of some of the best restaurants here in Providence – a city known for it’s culinary masters.

I went to the GIBF this year for both sessions. While there seemed to be fewer booths at this one compared to the one last year (note: I did not go to the one in the spring), the quality of the breweries seemed to be a bit better. We had more smaller breweries present than in past years, though we also had some that weren’t present, most notably Smuttynose. I can’t help but wonder if their presence at Beervana had anything to do with them not coming to the GIBF. It’s probably a combination of that and the economy, considering the GIBF not only makes the breweries pay for a table but also donate the beer and their time. This is something that should not be done if you ever want to start a beer festival. Beervana, on the other hand, bought all the beer and simply requested that a brewer or brewery rep staff the tables. The breweries prefer this approach because they only have to donate their time. It also allows the festival organizers to hand pick the beers they are pouring at the festival.

Last year, I had only attended the afternoon session, which tends to be the quieter of the two sessions with more people who are really into the beer as opposed to people looking to pay $36 for an all you can drink party. I had heard some horror stories of the second session in the past. This time it seemed to be a bit more mellow. While there were a lot more people than the first session, and it was definitely crazier than the first session, there wasn’t a whole lot of screaming and chanting that I had expected. From an attendee’s standpoint, it seemed to go pretty smoothly, though they had a harder time forcing people out than we did at Beervana.

Some of my favorite brewery stops were Mayflower, Offshore, Gardner’s Ale House, Watch City Brewing, Blackstone Valley Brewing Supplies, and Ithaca. They all had a great selection of beer. Even the other breweries brought some unexpected beers. Victory, for example, had Wild Devil, Golden Monkey, Baltic Thunder, and Hop Wallop (in addition to Prima Pils). I was surprised they brought so many of their bigger beers. I would have expected Prima Pils and Hop Devil. I was surprised to see that Mayflower signed up for this as well. They hadn’t been there in the past. They even brought some of their Thanksgiving Ale with them, which was quite excellent. Even Providence’s own Trinity Brewhouse had four different whiskey barrel aged beers. So even though Heineken, Corona, and Presidente were all present, the quality of beer from the other breweries was much better than last year. Dogfish Head, whom I had heard would not be coming, ended up having a table (though without their RI rep). It was expected that they would only have 60 Minute IPA and a seasonal. They actually had 90 Minute IPA, Chicory Stout, Raison d’Etre, and Indian Brown Ale. While these aren’t their top offerings, they aren’t the usual suspects either.

All in all, it was a good fest. The layout was better, spacing the rows out a bit more, allowing for easier movement around the floor. They put the stage in the far corner this time rather than at the end of one of the rows of booths. This kept it a bit quieter, though they probably should have lowered the volume of the band and raised the volume for the award ceremony. Aside from that, it was great. I still don’t think it’s worth my money for admission, but if you want a decent introduction to some craft beer available in southern New England, it’s a pretty good place to familiarize yourself with it.

The other night we visited with some friends. I brought over a couple bottles of beer to share with them. One of those was a bottle of Dogfish Head Theobroma from the first batch. The beer had originally been a bit drier with the chili pepper coming through a bit more in the back. The aged version had changed quite a bit. The heat from the pepper had subsided, though was still there just enough to give you a slight tingle. The beer had sweetened up quite a bit. I remember when we first tried it, someone suggested that it wouldn’t be a good one to age. I disagree. It was nice and malty with a hint of cocoa and that slight tingle from the pepper. If you have some bottles of this, I suggest aging one or 2 of them. It’s a great beer and I thought it was even better aged. Susan did not like it at all when it was fresh, but she loved it aged. Of course, she doesn’t like peppers or spicy things, which would explain that.

It’s rare that I call for an outright boycott of a product or company, but this is one of those cases where it is most definitely called for.

You see, up in the very small town of Morrisville, Vermont, there stands a very small brewery, producing only about 3,000-3,500 barrels of beer per year. This brewery started in the owners’ basement and grew to this small industrial building. It employs only 7 people besides the husband and wife team that owns it. This brewery is called Rock Art. They produce some awesome beers, some of which are very creative. They sell their beers at a very reasonable price (less than what they could get for them if you ask me, but I’m definitely not complaining). On their 10th anniversary, they made a 10% version of their flagship beer, Ridge Runner. They named this new barleywine The Vermonster

In another part of the country stands this giant beverage corporation. They are in the soda, juice, tea, and energy drink business. They do not make beer, but they are large and have a lot of money. This company is called Hansens Beverage Company. They own the popular Monster line of energy drinks.

Recently, Rock Art filed for a trademark for The Vermonster name nationally (it was already trademarked in Vermont since its creation). Shortly after the filing, they received an impersonal cease and desist order from the lawyers representing Hansens. The order told them that they must stop using the name as it infringes on their trademark of “Monster Energy Drink”. Now, the term “monster” is by no means trademarkable. The way trademark law works is that you have to protect your trademark or you lose it. Once confusion exists, the trademark is nullified. Examples of this are Kleenex tissues or Bayer’s trademark of the term Aspirin. Those words became so commonplace for any tissues or for any headache medicine that the trademark was dilluted. While I understand Hansens right to protect their trademark from becoming dilluted, they have lost all PR points in their methods.

The reasoning Hansens gives for the trademark infringement is incredibly weak. They claim that there is major overlap between the energy drink market and the beer market. Perhaps that is true if you consider beer as being only Bud, Miller, and Coors. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Rock Art’s market does not overlap with the energy drink market. They also claim a type of synergy between the beer market and the energy drink market. Again, this is all marketing lingo and completely false. There is absolutely no mistaking a beer which comes only in a 22 ounce brown bottle for an energy drink that comes in a large can. There is no mistaking the different labels. Finally, there is no mistaking the term “Vermonster”, a play on the name of a state, for the term “Monster”.

This whole thing reeks of Monster Cables and their frivilous lawsuits against anyone and anything they can go after. They have lost many of these because the justice system decided they were too ridiculous in their claims, but they knew they were the big guys in the case and could probably bully the little guy around. That is exactly what Hansens is doing here. Rock Art is a small brewery. It takes a lot of time and overhead to run a brewery. Rock Art only distributes to a couple of states with the vast majority of their distribution being in Vermont. They don’t have the reach that Hansens has.

So, because of all this and because Rock Art is such a great brewery owned by some great people, I urge you to boycott Monster Energy Drink. In fact, I would extend that boycott to all of Hansens’ products. This is purely corporate bullying and greed. Rock Art has a case, but doesn’t have the wallet to defend their case. In a country founded on justice for all, they should get what’s theirs and not have to fight a long expensive legal battle.

How can you help?

1. Buy Rock Art beer if it’s sold in your state or nearby (this is the most important).
2.  If you’re on Twitter, tell @MonsterEnergy how shameful this is.
3. Tell @RockArtBrewery how great they are and show them some support.
4. Use the hash tags #monsterboycott and #ISupportRockArt in your tweets.
5. Join the Facebook group Vermonters and Craft Beer Drinkers Against Monster.
6. Contact Hansens and tell them what you think.
7. Contact Monster Energy Drink and tell them what you think.

Since you’re probably looking for more information on this debacle other than my simple blog post, here are a few links to various news outlets reporting on the story.

Associated Press

Burlington Free Press

Rutland Herald

Finally, here’s a great video of Matt Nadeau, the owner of Rock Art, explaining the situation.

Two nights ago, I decided it was time to finally crack open a couple of very special bottles of beer that I had acquired. They each stand near the top of their own specific styles of beer and, in my opinion, near the top of the beer world in general. They’re both from New England breweries, which makes them even that much more special to me.

The first beer was the famous Kate the Great from Portsmouth Brewery in Portsmouth, NH. This small brewpub in this small New England city first made headlines when they released their imperial stout a couple years ago. Since then, the hype has grown and the release day has become a national event. I attended it in February and bought my two bottles of the 900 available that day. While the beer on tap was simply amazing and beyond comparison, the bottled version at about 7.5 months old was just as amazing. This is easily the best beer I have ever tried (even when compared to Dark Lord Imperial Stout from Three Floyds in Indiana or Westvleteren 12, the rare Belgian quad only available at the monastery). It’s chocolate, roasted, dark fruit, and even a slight cognac flavors meld together to create a true work of art. The beer is thick, black with a slight ruby color and a small dark tan head. If you haven’t tried this beer, you should do yourself a favor and give in to the hype. The beer is better than the hype (unlike those other two I mentioned).

The second beer is a slightly lesser known beer from a lesser known brewery in Portland, ME. The beer is the 1260 Triple IPA from Stone Coast brewery. The brewery closed last August shortly after this beer was released to the public. The brewery was famous for its 420 IPA and 840 Imperial IPA, along with a host of other great beers. I was saddened when they announced they were closing as the 420 was my favorite IPA from the New England breweries. It was a New England beer with west coast flavor. The 840 was a great double IPA with big bold flavors and a hint of caramel mixed in. The 1260 built upon the 840 with an even bigger flavor, and even though the bottle is over a year old (it was a birthday present last year), the hops were still very present. Upon reading the bottle, you learned that the beer was actually brewed in 2007 and aged for a year before they bottled it and released it to the public. The hops and malt flavors in this beer were terrific and perfectly balanced, creating one of the best double IPAs I have ever tried. I’d take it over a Pliny the Elder any day (have never had the pleasure of Pliny the Younger). The beer is a red amber color with a nice fluffy head. It’s one of the darker IPAs I have seen. It had some of that caramel flavor from the 840, but the hops of the 420. It was perfect in every way, even after a year in my cellar. Stone Coast is the one brewery I will miss. They were one of my favorite New England breweries. Luckily, the Sunday River Brewing Co. is still alive and kicking in Bethel, ME. You can still get some of the Stone Coast beers there, including the 420 and the Alt, which is also fantastic.

You may have noticed that there are some pumpkin beers and oktoberfests already out on the shelves of your favorite liquor store or place to buy beer. Southern Tier released their Pumking in July. I don’t know about you, but even though I’m not one to care about what kind of beer I drink in certain seasons, pumpkin beers aren’t something I want in the summer. The spices and flavors just don’t go well with 90 degree weather. I imagine I’m not the only one that feels this way. Victory just announced via Twitter that they’re Festbier will be released in a week or so. Naturally, I asked them why they’re releasing it so early. Their response was that it’s refreshing and easy drinking and this will allow it to reach more markets in time for the season. That’s a valid response. In fact, it’s pretty hard to argue with that. Victory and Southern Tier aren’t the only culprits with the seasonal creep. Boston Beer Co., brewers of the Samuel Adams line of beers, is one of the worst (though they’re hardly as bad as Southern Tier this year, maybe they’ve learned their lesson). I’ve seen their Summer Ale released in March/April. I don’t know who they’re going after, but March in New England still brings quite a bit of snow. April isn’t necessarily a whole lot warmer

What about freshness? If they’re brewing these seasonal beers early to get them to market early, what happens with the freshness of these beers? People don’t want to drink pumpkin beers and oktoberfests in the summer. At the same time, people don’t want to drink beer that’s been sitting around for 2 months either. I know the real reason these breweries are releasing their seasonals early is to make as much money off them as possible. After all, what doesn’t sell hurts their bottom line. I can’t argue with that either. I mean, breweries need to make money to stay in business. I have no problem with that. My problem is using old beer (now 2 months is hardly old, but there’s nothing like fresh beer) to do this. It creates an artificial demand for the limited seasonals. People see them on the shelves and need to buy them. The problem is, it’s August. It’s 90 degrees outside. Humidity is high. People want to go to the beach. They’re not going to be drinking a 9% ABV pumpkin beer. Most people want something lighter, something more refreshing. Granted, Victory’s Festbier fits that bill. Oktoberfests traditionally aren’t strong and don’t have big bold flavors. It’s the little nuances that give a good oktoberfest its flavor. They can be consider refreshing, and it’s a little understandable why Victory is doing this (though it’s mainly for their bottom line).

I get disappointed when some of the better summer beers are sold out long before summer’s end. I also get disappointed when October hits and all the good oktoberfests are gone (granted, Oktoberfest in Germany starts in late September). I like these types of beers to last through Thanksgiving. They make for great beers to pair with a New England Thanksgiving dinner. Summer doesn’t end until late September and Winter doesn’t start until late December. I can understand using the “Polish seasons” (as a teacher in high school used to call them) with fall starting September 1, winter starting December 1, spring starting March 1, and summer starting June 1. That’s fine with me. But hold onto those seasonals until the seasons (Polish or actual) truly start.

So what can we do to put an end to the seasonal creep? For starters, don’t fall for the hype of the seasonals hitting the shelves. Wait until you really want to be drinking that type of beer to buy them. This will cause your local liquor stores (or places that sell beer) to keep them off the shelves, or better yet, not order them from the distributor, until the season actually hits. When the distributors start seeing a buildup of the seasonals because no one wants them out of season, they’ll stop buying them from the breweries until the time is right. And you know what happens next… the breweries will stop brewing the seasonals so early.

Another thing you can do is to write to your favorite breweries. Explain to them that you want their summer beers to last through the end of summer. Tell them you want to see them on the shelves in late August so you can stock up on them for your Labor Day BBQ. Brewers tend to listen to their customers. It’s a tough business and if they lose sales, they’ll have to change their ways to keep going. I’m not telling you to threaten them with a boycott. That’s going too far. We still want them to exist. After all, we love their beer. We just want them to release their seasonal beer in a sane manner and keep it in season.

I understand that oktoberfests are a tough one. They have the shortest season. People tend not to want to buy oktoberfests after Halloween. Pumpkin beers have a little longer season, assuming breweries don’t name them after holidays (I know Gritty’s Halloween Ale is an ESB, not a pumpkin beer, but it’s tied to a single holiday) or use holiday-specific artwork (I’m looking at you Shipyard Pumpkinhead). If they changed the way they market these beers or even the branding of them, the beers will sell through November. Pumpkin pie is a staple dessert for Thanksgiving. It’s funny because pumpkin beers tend to taste like pumpkin pie.

So to all your brewers out there… Please stop releasing your seasonals earlier and earlier. I don’t want to start seeing summer beer released in February or pumpkin beers released in May.

I’ve made a decision that was probably a few years in the making. I’m gonna take a break from Stone beers for a while. This came to me after trying their 13th Anniversary ale. It was a boring beer. Did I enjoy it? Of course. I love hoppy beers. My problem is that it tasted just like every other hoppy beer that Stone makes. It was too similar to their IPA, Ruination, Arrogant Bastard, and one of my favorites, Double Bastard. The hop profile is almost exactly the same. Maybe I’m just tired of hoppy beers (not true), but besides from their collaborations and stouts, Stone has not made a beer worth buying, in my opinion.

I like most of the beers that Stone makes. They’re all great beers. Stone, however, has become such an overrated brewery that I don’t feel like supporting them until they can do something on their own that’s different. So I say to you, Greg Koch, cut the hops and branch out a bit. Stone 13th Anniversary is one of the most boring beers I have tried recently.

Now flame away…