Beverage alcohol retailers are enjoying the best of both worlds as pumpkin ales have kicked Oktoberfest into a higher gear. “I sell way more pumpkin beer than Oktoberfest,” says Laz Luis, store manager and spirits and beer director of Sparrow Wine & Liquor Co. in Hoboken, New Jersey. “People are obsessed with pumpkin anything. It’s truly an American cultural thing dating way back to colonial times.”
Overall, sales of seasonal fall beers are trending strongly at Sparrow’s two stores. Top-selling pumpkin ales are Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin ($12 a six-pack of 12-ounce cans), Schlafly Pumpkin ale ($14 a six-pack of 12-ounce bottles), and Montauk Pumpkin ale ($13 a six-pack of 12-ounce cans). Leading German Oktoberfest beers include Hofbrau Oktoberfestbier ($13 a six-pack of 11.2-ounce bottles), Weihenstephaner Festbier ($13), and Paulaner Marzen ($12). “I’ve already had to double down and bulk up on the most popular SKUs before the distributors sell out for the year,” Luis says. “A good percentage of people are over drinking just seltzers and RTDs all summer and want to get back to more classic beverage options as we move into the fall.”
Leading domestic Oktoberfest beers include offerings from Samuel Adams ($12 a six-pack of 12-ounce cans), Brooklyn Brewery ($12), and Sierra Nevada ($13). “American breweries do an excellent job of staying both true to the traditional malt-driven Marzen style and the lighter festbier style as well putting their own unique spin on it,” Luis says.
Each Sparrow store carries about 50 SKUs of fall seasonal brews, not counting different pack sizes of the same beer. The store boasts 23 Oktoberfest beers featuring Marzen and festbier styles, 18 pumpkin beers, four pumpkin ciders, and five fall seasonal brews that are neither Oktoberfest nor pumpkin. “We have five to 10 more SKUs overall compared to last year and interest is equally as strong as or stronger than last year,” Luis says. Sparrow’s website banner featured a link for all fall seasonal beers, with two separate links for pumpkin ales and Oktoberfest/fall beer. “Fall is the most important season for beer and cider,” Luis says. “It really ignites people’s festive spirit for the beginning of the holiday season.”
In addition to pumpkin and Oktoberfest beers, other popular cool weather brews at Sparrow include German import Aecht Schlenkerla Weichsel Rotbier ($83 a 20-pack of 16.9-ounce bottles), Southern Tier Harvest Autumn IPA ($11 a six-pack of 12-ounce cans), and Victory Pretzel Bier Toasted ale ($12 a six-pack of 12-ounce cans). “Victory nailed it by combining a strong malt-driven old-world style beer with an American experimentational twist,” Luis says. “Southern Tier’s Harvest Autumn has a strong malt backbone and crispy, earthy hop bite in the finish. Rotbier is a rye lager smoked with cherry wood and is so good.”
At Wilbur’s Total Beverage in Fort Collins, Colorado, Oktoberfest beers generally attract more mature baby boomer shoppers while younger legal-drinking-age adults gravitate toward pumpkin brews. “The pumpkin beer moves the needle more exponentially and seems to be coming out earlier and earlier each year,” says owner Mat Dinsmore, who also manages Wyatt’s Wet Goods in Longmont, Colorado and serves as president of Colorado Independent Liquor Stores United and. “People want them in early September and the first couple of brisk nights. Everyone wants them for Halloween. Since they are coming out so much earlier, there is very little left come Thanksgiving time.”
Wilbur’s primarily promotes fall beers with email blasts, social media, and newspaper ads. Top-selling pumpkin brews at Wilbur’s include Elysian ($22 a 12-pack), Shipyard ($12 a six-pack of 12-ounce bottles), and Great Divide ($12 a six-pack of 12-ounce cans). “There is some fun Halloween-themed packaging, but it’s interesting that they come out the last week of August,” Dinsmore says. “All this stuff shows up early, and I’m like why did we order so much? Then, when we are running out, our beer guys are like, ‘Remember when you were freaking out?’”
Top-selling imported Oktoberfest beers are Spaten Oktoberfest Ur-Marzen ($11 a six-pack of 12-ounce bottles), Hacker Pschorr Marzen ($12 a six-pack of 11.2-ounce bottles), and Paulaner Munchen Oktoberfest Marzen ($12 a six-pack). Leading domestic Oktoberfest offerings come from Fort Collins-based Maxline Brewing ($11 a six-pack of 12-ounce bottles), Durango, Colorado-based Ska Brewing ($11), and Loveland, Colorado’s Verboten ($15 a four-pack of 16-ounce cans). “Things have shifted, and the Oktoberfest velocity is not there quite the way it used to be, but some of that might have gone to grocery stores,” Dinsmore says. “The cooler weather and football will help as we roll into the fall.”