As I type these words, it is 7:31 PM EST on January 18th. I am sitting at the kitchen table in my very warm New England home. While it may be warm inside the friendly confines of our brick and mortar, it's a bone chilling 14 degrees (F) outside, and there are drifts of snow piled high throughout our quaint New England town. It's painfully obvious we're in the middle of winter and not just your everyday-run-of-the-mill winter but a New England winter. The best way to handle the cold is to buy solid winter gear (boots, coats, etc.), grow a beard (if you're male) and have a positive attitude about the fact there are many winter days ahead. Winter began December 21st, and it won't come to an end until March 20th. Even after March 20th, there will be a chance for cold, snowy weather simply because we're in New England.
Now that we've established a baseline for what season we're actually in, I would like to move onto the meat and potatoes of this post. I fully understand that industries such as fashion stay one season ahead. If you pick up the new issue of Glamour, I bet a spring fashion dons the cover. Also, think about the times you've gone into a department store to buy a pair of swimming trunks in August (during the peak of summer) only to find that fall fashions (jeans, long sleeve shirts, etc.) dominate the racks of clothing. In such instances, you're lucky to find a pair of trunks on a clearance rack.
While the fashion industry is one I can somewhat understand being one season ahead, the beer industry is one that perplexes me by using this strategy. Tonight I walked into our local Rite-Aid to grab a cheap bottle of red wine for dinner (Yes, they can sell wine pretty much anywhere in New Hampshire). As I walked towards the back of the store, I walked past the food and beverage aisle which included the cold beer cooler. I have been looking for a particular Shipyard brew lately so I took a ganders. I was shocked to find that Samuel Adams had Alpine Spring in the cooler instead of Winter Lager. If you are not familiar with either brew, they're seasonal brews. Winter Lager is brewed to be enjoyed during cold winter months while Alpine Spring is brewed to be enjoyed during the springtime when flowers blossom, buds bloom and life begins anew.
WHY DO BEER COMPANIES DO THIS?
I have a fondness for Samuel Adams. I am not the biggest fan of Boston Lager, but I really enjoy all of their other varieties including Alpine Spring and Winter Lager. I imagine most beer purchases are made with the purpose of timely consumption in mind. Since fresh beer tastes better than stale beer, it makes sense to buy beer close to the time you want to drink it. A consumer may buy a pair of jeans in the muggy summertime with the idea of wearing them in the fall and winter. However, who buys beer in the winter for consumption in the spring? It doesn't make sense.
The Samuel Adams website says the following about Alpine Spring: It's the perfect transition from winter's heavier brews to the lighter beers of summer.
It's the middle of January where sub-freezing temps are the norm. I think a heavier brew (Winter Lager) sounds like a good pick. IT'S NOT SPRINGTIME YET!!
With all of this being said, I'm sure Samuel Adams has a department of folks in charge of when they're going to release and discontinue all of their seasonal brews. I bet this team has the next couple of years mapped out, and their rationale is based off research and hard facts. I just don't understand why the beer industry is treated like the fashion industry when the two are so different. If someone can explain this to me, I'm all ears.
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