It’s August. It’s still summer. Fall doesn’t arrive until September 23. Nonetheless, the craft beer world’s quintessential autumnal expression, the pumpkin beer, is already showing up on store shelves and draft lists all over the country.

It’s strange, because most of us are still preoccupied with hitting the beach and sipping summer shandies and hefeweizens. Not to mention the fact that pumpkins aren’t even ready for picking in most states until at least late September.

The reason? According to Phoenix New Times’ Chow Bella Blog, it’s all about market share, and brewers believing that they can get a leg up over the competition through rolling out Fall seasonals while it’s still clearly summertime.

Though pumpkin beers prove to be incredibly popular and a huge money maker year after year, Chow Bella argues that breweries that prematurely release seasonal beers are making a mockery of the term, while making themselves look foolish.

In efforts to keep this sense of “seasonal creep” at bay, they suggest:

“Postpone your pumpkin purchasing. Wear your tank tops and flippy floppies, enjoy the bright green leaves of the trees, sit poolside drinking session IPAs, wheat beers and pilsners, and leave the pumpkin beers on the shelves. If we, the drinking public, are truly the main culprits of seasonal creep, then maybe we can set things right by refusing to buy out-of-season brews until their appropriate time arrives.”

Photo: Flickr user adambarhan