STEVENS POINT, Wis. (October 6, 2015) – Toast the fall harvest season with four brand new seasonal ales available only in a new variety 12-pack from the Stevens Point Brewery.

The Harvest Craft Creations variety pack features four unique, fall-flavored ales perfect for celebrating the season: Point Cranberry Wheat Ale, Point Squash Ale, Point Pumpkin Peach Ale and Point Blood Orange Amber. Introduced at retail wherever Point’s handcrafted beers are sold, the Harvest Craft Creations variety pack contains three 12-ounce longneck bottles of each new brew.

American craft beer sales continue to show solid growth, up more than 17% in 2014, according to the Brewers Association, the craft brewing industry’s primary trade association. Variety packs are one of the most popular craft packages on the market – MarketWatch reports sales of seasonal variety packs grew 21% last year and accounted for about 10% of total U.S. craft beer volume.

“Variety packs offer a convenient, low-risk option for beer lovers to experiment with multiple different beer styles that catch their interest,” said Julie Birrenkott, Stevens Point Brewery’s Marketing Manager. “Our Long Days and Point IPA variety packs have enjoyed success in the marketplace, so offering our loyal fans a selection of creative, handcrafted fall seasonal beers was the logical next step.”

Brewing Harvest Craft Creations

With the new Harvest Craft Creations, Point Brewmaster Gabe Hopkins and his brewers have redefined the concept of fall seasonal beers, pushing the limits far beyond traditional fall styles like Oktoberfest lager and pumpkin ale.

Cranberry Wheat Ale is a beer born of love for Wisconsin’s fall cranberry harvest, source of more than half of the world’s cranberries. Brewed like a traditional Bavarian wheat beer with 50% white wheat malt and 50% two-row barley malt, Cranberry Wheat Ale features a splash of clarified Wisconsin cranberry juice that lends a slight touch of pink to the beer’s hue. Cascade and Sterling hops complete the recipe for this fruity fall ale. “It’s a very clean and crisp beer with a distinctively tart cranberry finish,” Hopkins said.

Squash Ale is a handcrafted blend of caramel malts, Topaz hops, sweet brown sugar, real maple syrup and butternut squash fermented with Point’s house ale yeast. The squash is added as a puree during the mashing process. “The caramel malts we use impart a nutty flavor to the beer, which has a medium amber color and a low hop profile,” Hopkins explained. “This flavorful beer will pair very well with traditional Thanksgiving fare like turkey, ham and stuffing.”

Pumpkin Peach Ale is a lighter bodied but dark amber beer brewed with pure pumpkin puree and caramel malts, and spiced with Perle hops, cloves, nutmeg and a pinch of cinnamon. “The peach juice we add during fermentation adds the sweet aroma of peach to the nose of the beer, and it finishes very clean with a peach note,” Hopkins said.

Blood Orange Amber is brewed with Vienna malt, caramel malt, Tettnang and Hallertau hops from Germany and a generous dose of freshly squeezed blood-red orange juice from Florida blood oranges. “Blood Orange Amber delivers an assertive but not overpowering sweet citrusy flavor that balances nicely with the maltiness of the beer,” Hopkins reported.

Stevens Point Brewery

Stevens Point Brewery, founded in 1857, uses only the highest-grade barley malts, specialty malts, grains and the choicest hops to brew its handcrafted beers.

The Harvest Craft Creations variety pack is Stevens Point Brewery’s third variety 12-pack. The Long Days variety pack introduced for the summer of 2015 featured four refreshing fruit lagers: Point Lime Lager, Mango Lager, Tart Cherry Lager and Watermelon Mojito Lager. Four unique year-round India pale ales – Point Spruce Tip IPA, Point Peach Mango IPA, Point White IPA and Point One Shot IPA – are available only in the Point IPA variety 12-pack introduced last year.

The brewery’s year-round lineup also features flagship Point Special Lager; Point Onyx Black Ale, a robust dark ale; Point Belgian White, a Belgian-style wheat ale; Point Drop Dead Blonde Ale, a 110 calorie golden ale; Point Cascade Pale Ale, an American-style pale ale; Point Amber Classic, an American-style amber lager; Point Beyond the Pale IPA, a robust, hoppy India Pale Ale; and Point Smiley Blue Pils, a Czech-style pilsner.

Year-round products also include the Whole Hog Limited Edition “big beers:” Whole Hog Espresso Stout, Whole Hog Six-Hop India Pale Ale, and Whole Hog Scotch Ale. Seasonal offerings include Whole Hog Russian Imperial Stout, Whole Hog Peach Hefeweizen, Whole Hog Pumpkin Ale and Whole Hog Barley Wine Ale.

The brewery’s seasonal beers include Point Oktoberfest, a Bavarian-style Märzen beer; Point St. Benedict’s Winter Ale, a rich, dark beer available from November through February; Apricadabra Apricot Wheat Ale for the spring; and summer favorites Point Coast Radler, a mix of beer and natural citrus flavors, and Point Nude Beach Summer Wheat, an award-winning unfiltered wheat ale. Point also brews five unique James Page specialty beers sold only in convenient 12-ounce cans: A Cappella Gluten-free Pale Ale, Casper White Stout, Yhaba Dhaba Chai Tea Porter, Healani Pineapple Hefeweizen, and Bastian Black Forest Cake, a dark porter just introduced at retail.

Point’s Ciderboys Cider Co. hard ciders blend unexpected fresh fruit flavors with apple cider. Ciderboys’ year-round products are First Press, a traditional hard cider; Raspberry Smash, alive with the tartness of raspberries; and Strawberry Magic, a blend of fresh strawberries and apple cider. Ciderboys also produces winter seasonal Mad Bark, made with natural cinnamon; fall seasonal Cranberry Road, a pairing of apple cider and cranberries; and seasonals Pineapple Hula, Peach County and Grand Mimosa. Pineapple Hula is made with fresh Hawaiian pineapple, Peach County combines pure peach flavor with apple cider, and Grand Mimosa is a winter cider made with succulent California oranges.

Gourmet soft drinks from the Stevens Point Brewery include Point Premium Root Beer, Point Premium Diet Root Beer, Point Premium Orange Cream, Point Premium Vanilla Cream, Point Kitty Cocktail and Point Premium Black Cherry Cream Soda.

For more information about the Stevens Point Brewery, please visit www.pointbeer.com or call
1-800-369-4911. Tours of the brewery are available; schedules are listed on the website.

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