Pumpkin beer already?!?

You bet.

Pumpkin beer has been on store shelves for about a week now. I knew this was coming when I saw the stuff being brewed at a local brewery in July, but it's more real walking into your local and seeing cases and cases of pumpkin for sale. It's the middle of August, and it's pumpkin beer season.

There are 78 days until Halloween. To give you an idea of how long that is, 78 days ago, May 28, was Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Celtics and Miami Heat. LeBron James was not only not an Olympic champion at that time, he hadn't even made it out of his own conference yet on his way to winning an NBA title.

The point is, it's a long time until Halloween. Pumpkin beers have been released this early for years now, and it's become something of a cottage industry to complain about the early release. In a show of postmodern rebellion, it's become chic to complain about complaining about pumpkin beers being released early. Who says we can't drink pumpkin in August? The seasons are just social constructs anyway; why is force-feeding us pumpkin beer in August any worse than force-feeding us pumpkin greeting cards in October?

We're off track again. Pumpkin beers are out. I happen to like some of them, though maybe not the one that many of you are thinking of. I've seen people post that they won't drink a pumpkin beer until all of the leaves in their yard have turned, fallen, and decomposed into sludge, or until they've gone through their entire supply of acorn squash. Seems extreme. I'm not interested in fighting or supporting any social norms. I've got a couple of pumpkin beers in my house, and I plan to start reviewing them next week.

What do you think? Too early for pumpkin beer? Do you look forward to this time of year? Will you hold out?

E-mail me (gdzen@boston.com) and start a conversation. Follow me on Twitter. Cheers.