Yeah! Pumpkin Beer is Here!

There is a rumor going around that fall flavored beer is already out on store shelves. Apparently some beer drinkers are upset because they think that summer isn’t over yet. These beer lovers don’t want to even see a fall flavored beer until the leaves start to fall. However, I love fall, and would be thrilled to have pumpkin spice beer in the middle of July if I could get it.

For those seasonal flavored beer drinkers who think that you should only see the seasonal beer in the store that fits the season, I have a little advice for you. Don’t buy pumpkin beer in the summer if you don’t want to drink it.

Just because the fall flavored beer were released before fall actually starts, doesn’t mean that you have to buy it and drink it.

In case you haven’t noticed, retailers have been pushing seasonal sale items long before the seasons have actually arrived for decades. Why do you think every Walmart sells Christmas stuff before Halloween is over, or sells Valentine’s Day chocolates before the New Year is here? Even Starbucks started selling its pumpkin spice lattes early this year. Is it really a surprise that the beer companies have jumped on the bandwagon?

That’s one of the good, and bad, things about seasonal drinks — you can only get them for a short time. You can’t get them all year. So, people get a little anxious and want their delicious seasonal drinks a little before the season get here. What’s wrong with that?

My husband has been known to lament for Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy in the middle of winter. The heart wants what the heart wants, when it wants it. The problem is that the heart can’t always get what it wants, when it wants it. So why not get your summer shandy in March if you can? Or your pumpkin spice beer in September?

I think you seasonal beer sticklers should relax and enjoy a little pumpkin ale a little early this year.

Joy Larson is a mother of four boys, graduate of the University of Montana, animal lover and writer.