In Japan most of the major beer brewers offer “seasonal” beers ever year. Special beers in specially designed cans of spring, summer, autumn and winter.
It’s just a gimmick to help sell beer, of course. But I don’t mind, I usually like to try them when they come out with a new one every year.
On August 25th, Kirin Beer began selling 「秋味」 ビール (“Autumn Flavor” beer).
As I mentioned in a post last year, Suntory Beer sold their autumn beer (called 「秋生」 (“Autumn Draft”)) on that same date last year (2009 August 25).
The design of the Kirin and Suntory beer cans look quite similar.
Do beer brewers in your country offer seasonal beers like this? Are they popular?
Tokyo Five 
There are lots of seasonal beers in the US; but I think the most popular ones come out in the fall to coincide with the Oktoberfest publicity. I have seen “Christmas”-type beers in the US; most of them tend to be dark and have some sort of spice added. I don’t like dark beer so I haven’t tried them. Craft beer and local breweries are very popular in the US now, and there are lots of small breweries opening up all over.
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Craft beers are becoming more popular here these days too.
I wanna try an American Xmas beer!
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No Xmas beer for me. Lager or a soft drink.
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I believe you. It’s probably typical for Scandinavia.
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Do you drink X-mas beer at X-mas-time?
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Yes, the cans and bottles are decorated with santas and bells and such. I too prefer lager. The extra malt character of the dark beer is meant to go well with our extra fat Xmas food, but I don’t take much of that either.
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I’ve never seen a “X-mas beer” in America nor Japan.
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I wish I were in the mood for what I assume is heavier beer, but it’s still way too hot.
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When the weather cools off you’ll still be able to try it (until Autumn winds down).
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Xmas beer. I’ve never heard of that before. How are the cans decorated? “Christmas-y”?
I much prefer lager beer over dark beer though.
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Christmas beer is traditional in Sweden. Many brands, more or less dark, which is an exception because in other seasons bright lager is most popular.
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