Sam Adams

A few facts related to some of the comments.

Sam Adams or Boston Beer is about the 5th or 6th largest brewer in the USA with about 1.6 barrels produced in 2006. This makes them bigger than a regional brewer (Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, Redhook, Widmer, Kalamazoo) and the smallest national brewer (AB, Coors, Miller). The "brewery" was started as a marketing venture and thus why they contracted the brewing of their beer. They are now investing in actual breweries. The small brewery in Boston that they refer to in the commercials is a functioning brewery but is mainly used for small volumes of beer and product development.

As for Blue Moon, it has always been owned by Coors. It was a product they first developed and brewed at their small "microbrewery" at Coors Field. However, today Blue Moon is made at Coors and Molson plants to the tune of about 900,000 barrels.

Just a little information.

Dr Malt

good info, Dr Malt, thanks!

Blue moon could have been a thread in and of itself! It's another gaitway beer as far as I see- it leads to hogarden (look I have no idea how to spell that right). And it has turned my Very BMC oriented brother in law into some one who would......."Fruit the beer".
I guess coors left all the cheaper rice grains out of that one- (I hope). It does taste a lot like some of the other micro's attempts at wit/wisse/heffe-whatever- that I have tasted. I don't dislike it at all.

They have good marketing folks who make them seem like a local brewery, I think that's why they get a bad rap, people see through that.
That said, I love the taste of a Boston Lager. I brewing a clone as we speak, I just wish I could get my hands on some good hops.
Also tried their Hallertau Imperial Pilsner and it's to die for !

I think SA is pretty decent. I believe that it does open many people's eyes to what a good beer could taste like. As for their marketing, it's ok. Marketing is marketing though. Is it annoying? Ya, but not nearly as annoying as 99% of the other commercials. Have you seen that new marketing campaign from budweiser? Pretty similar. Some hip dude, giving a mini-lesson on lager. What about fosters marketing? That particular "Australian" beer comes from Canada. And my god, those coors commercials with clips from old football coach interviews, or silver trains plowing through cities. I guess they're all pretty annoying

videoman said:

I know I'm showing my age here, but when Sam Adams was introduced (in the 80's I believe) it WAS microbrew... at the time there was really no such thing, certainly not that I was aware of here in Maine. I may have had my head too deep in my Budweiser can, but I don't remember hearing the term 'microbrew' till it was associated with SA. I've told my buddies before... SA opened my eyes to what a beer could be.

Now, in the advent of microbreweries and distribution agreements that get the local brews some exposure, I can definately say there are others that are better than SA, but I give props for their leadership in getting this whole thing started. When in a resturant with little local beer to offer, I certainly am willing to pay homiage to good ole SA.

As to SA's support of homebrewing, I do believe they still run their recipe contest every year.... they take recipes/samples and choose one to brew and distribute.

By the way, I agree their Oktoberfest was absolutely kick butt this year, in my opinion...

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+2 on the "getting this whole thing started" comment

If it weren't for Sam Adams, mosst of you would still be drinking BMC. They started the microbrewery trend, and if they had not done it, maybe some one else would have, maybe around the same time, or maybe MUCH later, but the point is, they had teh balls to market a beer that was NOT BMC.

Is it perfect? Nothing ever is... Might be perfect fo rme, and you hate it.
Is it Good? Yeah, better than most.

I like SA Boston Lager and Winter Lager. I recently tried their White Ale and found myself...underwhelmed to say the least. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

I see people keep mentioning Blue Moon as being owned by the big time now too. I have tried a bunch of their beers and found them repulsive. Most recent was their seasonal pumpkin, took two sips and poured it.

I think when alot of micro's go mainstream the quality is bound to take a large hit.

oguss0311 said:

Blue moon could have been a thread in and of itself! It's another gaitway beer as far as I see- it leads to hogarden (look I have no idea how to spell that right). And it has turned my Very BMC oriented brother in law into some one who would......."Fruit the beer".
I guess coors left all the cheaper rice grains out of that one- (I hope). It does taste a lot like some of the other micro's attempts at wit/wisse/heffe-whatever- that I have tasted. I don't dislike it at all.

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Hoegaarden is no different than Blue Moon. They're actually owned by one of the largest brewing companies in the world - Interbrew. They're bigger than Coors. They own Stella Artois too. They're contract brewed just like SA. They're not the untra-premium micro some people think they are.

My brother-in-law used to love Sam Adams. Then we did a side by side comparison with our homebrew. He doesn't like Sam Adams any more.

In my humble opinion Sam Adams has a grainy taste and smell to it. I think it would be much better if they didn't filter out the yeast.

I heard an interview with Jim Koch at the GABF and he didn't sound near as arrogant as he seems in the commercials. He went into detail about how he is the only brewer in the world that personally travels to Europe to find hops for his beer and that SA has won more awards internationally than any other brewery.

I like the Boston Lager. I have a clone on tap now getting carbonated. The Sam Adams Light is a great beer to share with BMC drinkers so I don't have to drink BMC.

Black Lager seemed to lack flavor to me. I love the Ocktober fest, winter lager etc.

That said, the Bells great lakes lager is awesome - ever try it?

Linc

Chimone said:

I don't care for them at all. They preach craft beer, but they long since moved on from craft brewing a long time ago. They still contract out some of their beers anyways. Which means they don't even brew some themselves. They pay Pittsburgh Brewing Company to produce beers, and Sam puts their label on it.

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It's not pittsburgh brewing company, it's latrobe brewing company

I've actually had a similar converstation about SA with another homebrewer last weekend, ironically. I think what we ended up aggreeing on is that we were over analyzing the whole thing. SA makes some good beers, and SA makes some bad beers. Even beers like their oktoberfest can be hit or miss depending on the year...I know this doesn't feel right to say, but as far as light beer goes, their SA Light puts most light beer to shame, imho.

I still havent' been able to get their pale ale or imperial pilsner, which might be why I'm reserving any critical judgment.

I haven't been to their brew tour, but on a trip up to Boston, I did make it to the boston beer works and the publick house. Unless SA showers you in free beer, I doubt it can be better than either of these, especially beer works.

It beats the hell out of BMC, imho. I like their schwarzbier and honey porter.

+ 3 on "getting this whole thing started"...

they ran (and maybe still run) a commercial last year talking about how "all" of their staff brew beer at home. i recall a clip where a girl is stove-top brewing and her wort boils over onto the floor...anyone remember this?? this commercial actually got me thinking, "why am i not brewing my own beer?" a couple months later i was drinking my first home brew.

i've also been a fan of their boston lager for years...beats the hell out of AB and miller IMHO. their octoberfest is my going away favorite of the available selections.

cheers,

southsidebrewer

I enjoy almost all of Samuel Adam's brews. Granted, I rarely come across a beer made by any company that I don't enjoy.

This is reminiscent of some of my friends in high school who got all upset when their favorite underground indie rock bands got popular and ended up on MTV. They would no longer support the bands because they "sold out."

If a micro or craft brewery does so well that its now playing with the big boys of BMC, I say hats off to them.

I took too long to drink my Sam Adams last night and it had warmed up a good bit from the near freezing temp my fridge is at. I take back my previous statements about SA... it was good unfrozen

I had my first SA in 1989 and it was very different from the normal industrial beers which I was use to drinking. I've always loved the hop profile of the Boston Lager which I believe is mainly Hallertau Mittlefrueh which I believe is no longer available for the near future. I mention this because it seems as if it isn't as good as it used to be. Either that or I'm turning into an old drunk and can't tell the difference.

The Cherry wheat is basically a wine cooler. Almost all the wine coolers on the market today are beer (malt beverage) except for Bartlers & James. So if you get the cherry wheat and you're expecting something that tastes like beer, you probably won't like it. I don't like the cherry wheat so when I get the mix pack, I give the cherry wheats to my friends who like wine and I tell them it's a wine cooler. They usually end up loving it, and at some point I show them what it is and they are surprised. It's all marketing.

rdwj said:

Hoegaarden is no different than Blue Moon. They're actually owned by one of the largest brewing companies in the world - Interbrew. They're bigger than Coors. They own Stella Artois too. They're contract brewed just like SA. They're not the untra-premium micro some people think they are.

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Figures. But Hoegaarden does bottle condition, right? It's been a while since I've had one and I can't be certain. I had considered that a mark of decent brewing.
That's good knowledge though- I'm glad you mentioned it.

SA Hallertaur (SP) - whatever its called- just got mentioned. I had a four pack of that- and it does indeed taste like you put your nose in a bag of Hallertau pellets. That was cool- the aftertaste was like Bile for me. I'm not much of a hop-head. But I thought it was really over the top. It is good for those of you out there who are tempted to inject your spent hops right into your veins. It's the strongest hop taste I've ever had.

RockfordWhite said:

It's not pittsburgh brewing company, it's latrobe brewing company

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Which they built, and own. They make 60% of there beer at there own brewery.

Yet, people here love Killians Irish Red which is made by Coors.

nick

southsidebrewer said:

i recall a clip where a girl is stove-top brewing and her wort boils over onto the floor...anyone remember this?? this commercial actually got me thinking, "why am i not brewing my own beer?" a couple months later i was drinking my first home brew.

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That's the exact same commercial that got me started.

oguss0311 said:

SA Hallertaur (SP) - whatever its called- just got mentioned. I had a four pack of that- and it does indeed taste like you put your nose in a bag of Hallertau pellets. That was cool- the aftertaste was like Bile for me. I'm not much of a hop-head. But I thought it was really over the top. It is good for those of you out there who are tempted to inject your spent hops right into your veins. It's the strongest hop taste I've ever had.

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It is intense...I'm not a hophead either and I thought that beer was like dissolving a bottle of aspirin in water......bitter as &$*@#!#! One of the least enjoyable beer drinking experiences I've had.

I was actually talking with my dad about sam adams the other day, his liquor store was one of the first to carry the beer in the late 80's and early 90's. He told me about a time he delivered a keg of their beer to a party full of BMC drinkers, who requested he deliver "good beer" (BMC is all people knew at the time). The day after the party they had him come and pick up the keg it was more than 3/4 full!

He actually spent the next day giving out samples of the beer to people, he knew around town. I remember driving around in the truck with a keg on ice giving out cups of beer but had no idea it was Sam Adams till he reminded me. We stopped by our relatives and his friends places so they could sample, while driving we pulled over and gave some to a few of the neighbors who were out cutting their lawns. Finally as a last stop we ended up at the fire house and just gave them the keg which they hooked up to their kegerator, and enjoyed for about a week. To this day I believe the fire house occasionally orders a keg of Sam along with their monthly delivery of 2 kegs of bud and a keg of bud light.

Donasay said:

Finally as a last stop we ended up at the fire house and just gave them the keg which they hooked up to their kegerator, and enjoyed for about a week. To this day I believe the fire house occasionally orders a keg of Sam along with their monthly delivery of 2 kegs of bud and a keg of bud light.

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I am stunned!! Govmint firemen drinking on the job. How can they justify that? I can image after a couple of pints and having to climb a 4 story ladder and carry someone out.

balto charlie said:

I am stunned!! Govmint firemen drinking on the job. How can they justify that? I can image after a couple of pints and having to climb a 4 story ladder and carry someone out.

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Government, what are you talking about I come from a small town, it is just recently that I moved to boston this was an all volunteer organization...

Sam Adams is piss.

There's nothing better then a tall 20 oz cup of Sammy Lager at Gillette Stadium. The smell of the hops and the nice thick mouth feel and that fresh taste. I look forward to a couple of cups at the game.

Gillette Stadium is where the New England Patriots play.

I've actually liked most of the SA brews I've tried- they're defintely a step up from a lot of other domestics. The only one that gave me pause was their Cherry Wheat. Too medicinal tasting, although I have a friend that loves the stuff.

Their bottles are easy to clean and re-use for homebrew, too

Had my first SA last night twas a boston larger it was quite good deffo better than many commercial largers

I don't like to judge an entire company, just their beers on a single basis. With that said, their new Latitude 48 impressed me this year (with mosaic), and their new IPL is decent. Though I live in Mass and Jack's Abby putts them to shame in this area.

Finally, every New Years Eve me and a few others crack a 2007 Utopia for a small tasting. Its amazing. Every year it gets more and more complex. We were smelling the empty glasses was so good.

Rise necro thread

Growing up in PR I never had access to good beers. People drank mostly Coors, Medalla (a crappy local beer, sold for 25cent-$1 a bottle) or Corona. "beer lovers" would order Heineken, which Ive always hated with a passion. Right now I rarely drink Sam Adams, as I usually prefer a Harpoon when selection is low, but ive always liked their Boston Ale. One thing ive been very grateful of Sam Adams is it opened the door for me to be interested in learning of other beers, it was back then the only good beer we could get aside from Heineken, coors or corona.

Jumpin thread rescue Batman!

Someone has been reading their Necronomicon

I can't believe this thread had posts as late as 2013. Currently, I loath SA, but recognize their Very important role in turning people onto what beer really is. I lost all respect when they began to capitalize on home brewing *(That's a subjective opinion- for sure- I bet people have Lots of fun participating in those events for them) and the fact that they claim to sell Lambic is just outrageous. All they had to do was say "Lamic style"- and I'd have been cool. But no.

I *almost* drank a SA Summer Ale today just out of curiosities sake, but I opted for a Pepsi.

http://www.oskarblues.com/blog/reinventing-the-glass-bottle

thats all i have to say, the whole can reinvention was ridiculous and turned me off of sam adams even more so than i already was.