HAS THE GREAT PUMKIN FAD FADED?

WHEN IT COMES to seasonal brews there have been none so popular as pumpkin. Every year pumpkin mania seemed to grow with brewers releasing their offerings earlier and earlier to appease the masses. But if you’re thinking that there are not as many pumpkin beers lining the shelves this year, you’re right. Declined sales in 2O15 led some to reduce production or eliminate it altogether. According to Jim McCune, Executive Director of the craft beverage division at New York-based ECG Group, the pumpkin beer tale started back in 1985 with Buffalo Bill’s Brewery in Hayward, California, who became the first brewer of commercially-released Pumpkin Ale in the US. “Thirty years later, walk through any store in the USA from late August to November and pumpkin-flavored everything is everywhere,” McCune said. “Pumpkin beer went from a brewing experiment to a seasonal beer phenomenon.” The category went through stable sales and volume growth beginning in 2OO5, spiking in 2O13, but since 2O14 has dipped to an all-time low in 2O15, dropping 1O% in sales and 13% in total volume. According to Nielsen data, seasonal brews account for 18% of craft beer sales, and sales of pumpkin-flavored are estimated at 1O% of the craft beer market. “The Great Pumpkin Backlash” occurred in 2O15 when the combination of fewer people drinking it combined with breweries increasing their pumpkin beer production, McCune said. This created a large surplus that sat untouched on store shelves past the fall and winter seasons. Basically, consumers drank too much of it and the push to get pumpkin beer on the shelves as early as July backfired as it created pushback from craft beer drinkers complaining about the “seasonal creep”. And while some brewers scaled it back, others such as Category 12 Brewing took clear shots to smash the craze by releasing its new Zombie Repellent (Anti-Pumpkin) Ale. But don’t count the category out. Although consumers had pumpkin overload nothing makes the heart grow fonder than time apart. Just as with pumpkin pie, you may take a break from it but sooner or later you find yourself craving that spicy, savory flavor.