We've spoke before about Seasonal Creep and how bent out of shape people get (especially in fall, as the beers of Summer and of Autumn are different to a greater degree than probably any other seasonal changeover), but usually that quiets down about this time of year (again, Fall and Winter beers aren't that different). But then along came a displaced Spring beer.
Late last week Narragansett Brewing Company announced via their YouTube Channel that their (absolutely wonderful, in my opinion) Narragansett Porter would not be released in their trademark tallboy cans this year. It would, instead be released in 22oz bombers (ok, fine so far), but not until March (bwaaaaah??). Porter, it seems, is joining their "Private Stock" series and coming out of the seasonal canned rotation, at least for this year. This comes after two other pieces of news from 'Gansett. The first was announcing a new beer, Autocrat Coffee Milk Stout, with a release date of December 16th. Also, the label reveals it's destined for tallboy cans, and comes in with a lower ABV than Porter at 5.3%. So, effectively a total replacement for Porter in the rotation, but I said there were two pieces of news.
That's right, Narragansett Bock was released ahead of Autocrat, and are keeping it available until March. Now, unless my memory is playing tricks on me, Bock has beer their Spring seasonal for some time... and even if it wasn't, I don't really think of it as a Winter release. So technically, 'Gansett is running with two seasonal beers from different seasons but released in the same season, releasing the former Winter seasonal after the former Spring seasonal is out of production, and... well, who the heck knows when Narragansett Summer is going to end up.
The whole dang thing just seems weird to me. Even though, as a big fan of Porter, I'm a little sad to have to wait for March, when I'll most likely not want porters or stouts as much, and I will miss grabbing a 6x16 of the stuff, I'm pretty excited for Autocrat. Coffee Milk just screams Rhode Island, and I certainly don't mind stout (especially a milk or sweet stout), so I think this could be a really special beer. But the Bock move just has me scratching my head.
Although researching "seasonal switch" proved a bit tricky, I can think of at least one other time this has happened. So, if you thought to yourself Sam Adams White Ale, pick yourself out a Kewpie doll. Once, long long ago, this was Sam's Spring seasonal. It disappeared one year and (if I recall correctly) they went through two or three different options in as many years before settling on Alpine Spring as a permanent (for now) replacement. But that's not to say White Ale disappeared completely. It was seen just a year or two later... in the Sam Adams Winter Mix 16 pack.
I know they say, in New England, that if you don't like the weather just wait five minutes... but I don't think the metaphor was meant to extend to seasonal beer. But who knows? Maybe 'Gansett and Sam are just readying for some much anticipated global warming by putting out Spring beers when the leaves are still falling. Maybe they're adjusting for the Baby Jesus' real birthday. I don't know, I'm not a sciencetician. I'm just a beer drinker. A beer drinker with a confused palette and not enough Porter.
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