I was indeed wondering how much it changed from the original. People like to romanticize that this isn't the case, but in many examples of when things change hands they are just not the same because ineviteably someone will make a change somewhere. This happens with growth too.
I remember when Sam Adams (I think you could only get the 'Boston Lager' at that time) first started appearing. We loved it. But as they grew there was a point where something changed that changed the beer. Many people I talk with who experienced it agree. Now, I'm not saying it's a bad beer, just different in a way imo that makes it inferior. 'Course if you never had stuff from early on, you'd be non the wiser....I tend to get the feeling this is the case with Samichlaus. One interesting thing I did read though regarding Samichlaus was that every year the ABV would be a bit different.
