Pumpkin Spice Season Is (Already) Coming

What is it with seasonal creep? Every year marketers seem to roll out those fall flavors earlier and earlier, and this year is no exception. Makes sense, we suppose, if we've all been celebrating summer since late March (spring, of course, kicked off in January). So yes, here we are. Though the Fourth of July is just two weeks in the rearview mirror, it appears as if pumpkin spice (or just plain pumpkin) season is creeping up on us again.

Last year, pumpkin mania officially began in August as 7-Eleven dropped its take on the PSL on the 5^th of the month, followed by Krispy Kreme's own pumpkin doughnuts and drinks just three days later. This year, however, we have a few July pumpkin sightings to report. One of these, Dunkin' Pumpkin Spice Cold Brew Concentrate, seems to have been spotted already at a Michigan Meijer location, while Great Value Limited Edition Pumpkin Spice Instant Oatmeal is already on store shelves in select Walmarts (or one of them, at least). While pumpkin in July may be a flavor fad still in its infancy, look for the floodgates to open up further in August and September to continue inundating us with orange stuff long before the Great Pumpkin arrives.

First up out of the gate, as soon as the calendar turns to August, is pumpkin-flavored booze courtesy of Delaware-based Dogfish Head. On the first day of next month, the company plans to drop not only its pumpkin-spiced Punkin Ale (which also includes a little of the actual pumpkin fruit itself) but also its pumpkin pie spice and sage-flavored Punkin Liqueur. Sam Adams, too, seems to be planning an August release for Jack-O, its pumpkin spice-flavored seasonal beer.

Beer isn't the only thing on tap for those who feel that pumpkin spice season really should begin a full month before fall arrives. Dunkin', always in the vanguard of rushing the season, seems poised to do a mid-August drop of its pumpkin spice latte, pumpkin-hazelnut coffee, pumpkin cream cold brew, and of course its pumpkin-flavored doughnuts, Munchkins, and muffins. This early release will likely predate Starbucks' much-ballyhooed PSL return by several weeks since the chain's signature fall drink isn't expected to arrive until the tail end of the month. While we don't have details on all of the other autumnal products still in store for us before summer's end, the ones we've mentioned are no doubt merely the tip of the giant orange pumpkin spiceberg to follow.