Seasonal craft beer striking summer gold

What’s better than getting together with friends and sharing a couple cold ones on a warm summer’s day? Getting together and sharing a seasonal craft beer. This summer, seasonal beers are more popular than ever before. A recent study from Mintel shows that 84 percent of craft beer consumers like to choose their beer depending on the season. Another survey from Nielsen indicated 40 percent “like the seasonal offerings” as a primary reason to purchase craft beer.

“It’s that time of year when beer lovers seek out lighter-bodied and sessionable craft beers,” said Julia Herz, publisher of CraftBeer.com and Brewers Association craft beer program director. “Small brewers have taken summertime seasonal offerings to a new level with palate-pleasing beers that help combat the long, hot days ahead.”

Here at Craft Brewing Business, we’re in full summer seasonal swing. Founders Brewing’s Dave Engbers sat down with our own Keith Gribbins to talk All Day IPA — the brewery’s latest summer seasonal offering and its first foray into the canned craft beer space. In early April, Founders announced plans to can All Day IPA — packaged in 12 packs which will be available this summer.

Last week, we caught up with Bell’s Brewery Vice President Laura Bell to talk about the perennial favorite Oberon, Bell’s summer wheat beer offering.

“Thanks to Bell’s drinkers and craft enthusiasm, it turned Oberon into this phenomenon for us … Oberon is definitely the flagship, not only for the wheat beer category at Bell’s, but also for Bell’s in general,” Bell told us. “We sell more Oberon during Oberon season than we do any other year-round beer. That’s being closely challenged by Two-Hearted [IPA], but it’s still the most popular beer we sell. We’re very lucky in that our customers made that beer successful — that was not a decision necessarily made by us entirely, which is kind of fun to say.”

As the days grow longer and warmer, be sure to let us know what seasonal craft beers you’re cooling down with and keep it tuned to CBB for all your craft beer industry news.