For the past week DC has been under a flood watch pretty much every day. Before that we went through a stretch where the heat index was consistently over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. And for the first time, a DC-area brewery released their Oktoberfest beer in June. Take a bow, Port City!
“It is our most popular, most anticipated seasonal release,… so it’s not surprising that people are eager to get it,” notes Bill Butcher, founder and CEO of Port City. Right behind them, DC Brau’s version is also on shelves. “Early bird gets the worm,” adds Brandon Skall, co-founder and CEO of DC’s first modern production brewery. Let’s explore seasonal creep.
The how and why of early Oktoberfest availability is due to quirks of both brewery scheduling and demand from retailers. DC Brau has the coveted endcap displays at Giant supermarkets, provided they can get the beer to the stores before the end of July, which means delivering the beer to their distributors well in advance. “This first batch is package heavy to hit retail and the second batch will be draft heavy for the on premise,” says Skall. Brau saw their biggest sales of Oktoberfest early in the season last year, only to have things slow down closer to the mid-September peak of the season. They’re hoping to avoid that this year by front-loading retail cans, making sure beer drinkers see them early and often. Skall is correct about being an early bird; data shows that normally promiscuous beer consumers tend to stick to the first seasonal they see on shelves, be they festive or pumpkiny. First to market means the first to sell.
This year that honor belongs to Port City. “As our production schedule unfolded, our previous seasonal ALX IPA had sold through, so it gave us an opportunity to get Oktoberfest out early,” says Butcher, who adds that the brewery receives requests to make it year-round. Like Brau, Port City’s “distributors are also happy to have the package early, so they will be ready for retail display opportunities,” says Butcher. “We’ll see more draft in bars and restaurants after Labor Day, and we’ll be ready!”
Ordinarily we’d give you tasting notes on these beers, but given the weather, we’re sticking to lighter lagers for the time being. That being said, Port City Oktoberfest won gold at the 2023 Great American Beer Fest, bronze in 2022, and silver in 2013. We’re told the 2025 version is on the lighter side of the style, though not a festbier. Crank the air conditioning and prost!
