Has Sam Adams Discontinued it's Pumpkin Beer? And Additional Pumpkin Beer Talk

I noticed that there is no pumpkin beer in the Sam Adams fall mix pack, nor (to date) have I seen it in standalone 6 or 12 packs for the fall 2019.

The name and content of the beer changed at least once, but they had some sort of pumpkin beer for a really long time every fall- Harvest Pumpkin Ale, 20 lbs of Pumpkin, etc…

Will this season be the one that breaks their streak? Or are they just waiting until September or something to release a pumpkin beer?

A few years ago, it seemed like there were too many pumpkin beers from various breweries on the shelves and they were crowding out more traditional fall brews like Oktoberfests (Or Octoberfests) that I enjoyed more. Now, however, I am beginning to wonder if there’s anything that’ll be widely available in a 12 pack for Sam Adams type pricing or less.

I’m sure they’ll always be something for people willing to pay enough and go to the right store, but I wonder if the average person for whom Sam Adams or Sierra Nevada’s base pricing is already very expensive and who may only go to one store are going to be able to buy some of going forward.

It really does seem like a trend who’s bubble burst really suddenly. Like those type of beers were everywhere, and now there are likely going to be beer stores that don’t sell them at all, or at least don’t stock affordable versions of them. It was too much, and now it seems like it’s too little. I wonder why these type of trendy or once trendy styles can’t ever level out gracefully and find a happy medium rather than boom and bust.

As one of the few ratebeerians who will admit to enjoying the occasional pumpkin beer I admit I’ve seen far fewer available last year and only shipyard so far this year. It became fairly uncool to like pumpkin beers I think and also much like all styles IPA has became primary focus for most brewers.

As for Sam adams mix packs of late nkt sure what happened they aren’t even trying anymore. Just recycling current available brews and providing little reason to pick one up. N

Sam has Punkin Ale now. There ya go!

Yeah, the variety packs are going downhill. I bought a fall mix pack and honestly think I would have been happier just buying a 12er of their Octoberfest, which is probably what I will do the next time. I didn’t even buy a summer mix pack- just the summer ale on it’s own and boston lager on it’s own.

I used to really look forward to these mix packs, but the reduction from 6 beer styles per pack to 4 beer styles, combined with some really poor choices of beers, have kind of killed it. I mean, the summer pack was summer ale, boston lager, sam '76, and a lemonade shandy. A shandy isn’t even a beer, it’s what you make with a cheap beer and some lemonade if you want your beer to last longer and are sick of drinking cheap beer after cheap beer- and to have that be 25% of a mix pack is a no-go for me, combined with stuff I could buy separately or not at all according to my whim, most of it year round, 50% of the pack being lager flagship type beers.

Then we get to October, and there’s really just the Octoberfest in there as a fall beer style. Again, it’s the fairly generic stuff that’s half the pack- Boston Lager and '76. Then there is a sour, which isn’t a fall style, but is a fun style to include, but it isn’t even really a sour- they basically admit they mixed a sour they used to make with an undisclosed ale to produce whatever that is.

None of these beers are bad, but, honestly, they charge a premium price, even on sale, and it doesn’t feel like an exciting premium product any more, nor does it feel like they provide a lot of variety for a variety pack.

I may just buy 12 packs of the seasonals I want from here on out if they don’t start putting more effort into it or coming up with better combinations of beers for the variety packs. I don’t know what they are thinking.

That’s a Dogfish Head beer, which, I know, the BBC now owns, but it’s still just as expensive as other Dogfish Head beer, which to me is too expensive. DFH stuff also rarely goes on sale where I shop, whereas SA seems to be on sale like 50% of the time, which makes the price gap even wider.

Maybe the acquisition will bring down the DFH prices, but some of the talk I heard around it was that one of the positives of the deal from the SA perspective was the larger margins, so I’m not counting on it.

Ya, I saw it on tap at the Rehoboth brewery last weekend.

Also thank fuck that pumpkin ales are disappearing finally. I’d take any other stupid beer trend over pumpkin beers.

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Though now they are a certified style I may have to tick a few more till I get my 50…
https://www.ratebeer.com/user/128160/style-ratings/134/

I buy about one 4pk each year and that’s DFH’s Punkin as it’s the most palatable pumpkin beer out there imho. The wife and I split it and we’re good for the season. She might ask for another but it’s rare. Never was a pumpkin beer fan myself. I do love pumpkin pie though!! :rofl:

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I have yet to see one in Casper. Punkin would be nice but I reckon that Dogfish Head being part of Boston Beer didn’t increase distribution. At least, my way.