Dallas-based Lakewood Brewing Company’s summer release announcement includes some styles that are standard bearers you would expect customers who are battling the heat in Texas, including a watermelon wheat beer and a prickly pink sour.
But the Texas brewery — which hangs its hat on its stouts — has some beers summer customers aren’t typically craving.
Double Stuffed Temptress is a stout brewed with Oreo cookies. Punkel — scheduled for release in late July — is a German-style lager with pumpkin spice flavors. Finally, Pumpkin Spice Latte Temptress — a stout that is exactly what the description suggests — is slated for release in August, when temperatures in their distribution area are sure to be hovering well above the 100 mark.
The timing of these heavier releases boils down to a couple of factors, said President and Founder Wim Bens, noting it wasn’t particularly about customer buying behavior.
“It’s all about playing defense on the shelves,” Bens told Brewer. “If you release pumpkin beers in October, you’re only going to have a month of sales and after Halloween, Pumpkin isn’t something people are looking for anymore. While it would be wonderful to just have beers like Oktoberfest available in September and October, you’ll see them coming out earlier and earlier every year because you have to hold that seasonal space on the shelves and keep your real estate.
“We don’t really expect people to drink fall seasonals in June or July, but they will be starting to appear in grocery stores. That’s what retailers and distributors want. Go to the grocery store in late July and you’ll see Shiner and Samuel Adams’ fall and Oktoberfest releases on the shelves.”
As for the stouts — well, they do expect customers to steadily reach for those, both in the taproom and on the shelves.
“We’re known as a stout brewery,” Bens said. “Temptress is the No. 1 craft stout in Texas and our Seduction Series is our series of seasonal stouts. While some breweries may have something lighter for seasonals — and we do, too, with our Watermelon Haze and Prickly in Pink — we release a version of Temptress every quarter.”
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