Hence this collection featuring the original Harpoon IPA, the Kolsch-style Harpoon Summer Beer that dates back to 1999, the UFO White witbier it introduced a decade later and the grapefruit-juice-laden UFO Big Squeeze Shandy it introduced last summer. However, they know their New England market well and know it can be a bit set in its ways. They just launched a session IPA, Take 5, which is noticeably absent from this mix. Harpoon Summer Vacation, Harpoon Brewing Co., Boston: This had to be a tough call for the Harpoon folks. The Legacy IPA and Summer Pilsner are still there, but the inclusion of a 4.5% Amarillo and Citra-hopped Session IPA and a Citra-hopped Cloud Splitter Belgian White made this a soft sell. Saranac 12 Beers of Summer, Saranac Brewing Co., Utica, N.Y.: This upstate New York mainstay actually offers a few different variety packs (including its Can-Do variety pack with 12-ounce cans of IPA, pale ale and summer pilsner), but we really liked the look of this one. If you’re looking for a place to start your summer-variety-pack search, here are a few humble suggestions: There are a whole lot of options out there, with larger craft brewers producing most of the variety packs you’ll see on shelves. While craft beer makes a strong seasonal push in fall and winter as well, it also knows its biggest window for seasonal sales comes after Memorial Day and before Labor Day.
However, according to research firm IRI, sales of variety packs were up 25% by volume through last August, with some craft brewers seeing huge leaps for their seasonal offerings (like New Belgium’s 73% increase in variety-pack sales). Sales of seasonal variety packs jumped 21% last year and made up nearly 10% of all craft beer volume. So how does craft hold its own during this season? Well, there’s a reason craft brewers push those summer variety packs each year. Even imports like Modelo, Dos Equis and Pacifico have been taking a bigger cut of the summer fun lately, with import sales up 7% by volume just last year alone. Even when beer production jumps from 14 million barrels in February to nearly 17.6 million in May before peaking at 18 million in June, according to the Treasury Department, a lot of that output is still made up of big beer’s top performers. Craft beer’s presence is growing, with volume spiking 17.6% last year alone compared to 0.5% for the entire beer industry, but summer beer still looks a whole lot like Budweiser, Coors Light and Miller Lite.
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