On the one hand, we’re at least happy that brewers aren’t acting like some retailers and totally ignoring the fact that Halloween comes before Christmas. Heck, they could’ve skipped pumpkin beers and gone straight for the holiday brews. But that being said, customers are a bit miffed that the craft beer industry is falling prey to seasonal creep and tapping pumpkin brews before summer is even over.

Even before Labor Day weekend, which is hailed/mourned as the end of summer (although that’s really Sept. 21), craft brewers were shilling pumpkin and other autumnal beers. And that’s making some customers cranky, reports the Associated Press. We know all about the creep, folks. Let’s hug it out.

“Everyone likes pumpkin beer, but you don’t want it to come too soon. I definitely like to drink it in the appropriate season,” said one Boston customer who still ordered a pumpkin ale, despite its too-earliness.

“I think it’s just a rushing the season kind of thing,” said another pumpkin fan, who turned to Twitter to air his gripes when he saw pumpkin beer on the shelves in mid-August. “I’m guilty of drinking them but it seems like it’s getting earlier and earlier each year.”

But brewers say it’s not up to them when the pumpkins start a’rolling into bars — if people want to buy a lot of it this fall, they’ve got to get their breweries into high gear. All that early preparation means the beer hits the bar sooner as well.

“If you think it’s too early for Pumpkin Ale, don’t go get some,” Schlafly Beer in St. Louis posted on its website in August. “It will still be on shelves for the next couple months (hopefully) and you can pick some up down the road.”

Early pumpkin beers brew dismay among drinkers [Associated Press]

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