Sam Adams Brewmaster's Collection "Variety Pack"

Hey guys, I'm on the lookout for bottles, so I decided to expand my horizons by trying out a SA variety pack. This pack comes with 6 different styles which I will review over the next day or two.

Beer Selection
Boston Lager
Black Lager
Irish Red Ale
Brown Ale
Scotch Ale
Honey Porter

First Impressions: I don't think I will like anything but the Boston Lager.

Reviews later.

The Boston Lager is good, and I kind of like the Black Lager, but the rest I don't care too much for. Great bottles though.

Professor Frink said:

The Boston Lager is good, and I kind of like the Black Lager, but the rest I don't care too much for. Great bottles though.

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The black lager sounds scary to me.. I really hated the Winter lager.. "shudders"

All I care about is the bottles... You should have seen me at the little smalltown liquor store.. hahaha! Looking at the bottles to see if they were twist or pop tops on every kind of import and specialty beer.. then finally choosing a SA variety.. I turn around and the old lady looks at me like I just murdered someone in her family.. I guess I took too long to choose?? hahahaha

Then night will end though!

I bought the 6 back too, mine only had 2 of each type however.

Honey Stout
Irish Red
Black Lager

I loved the black lager, I never realized I like such dark beers, now I am hooked. I liked the Irish Red too, but not so much the Honey Stout. But they all disappeared pretty quick, so I would not say I hated them.

I should say... Everyone is welcome to give their own reviews here as well.. We can all compare notes.

The black lager is probably my second favorite sam adams next to their imperial pils, the boston lager is good, brown ale is drinkable. The honey porter is just awful, way too sweet IMO. Never tried the Irish or the Scotch, but I think sam adams is a pretty good brewer, so I look forward to most of their new and seasonal (I liked winter lager) offerings.

Boston Lager:

Appearance: Light Amber, Creamy Head
Smell: Caramel,Malty, hopy
Taste: Malty, not intense hops but flavorful, sweetness and bitter at same time.
Mouthfeel: Light, smooth, creamy head is a nice addition.
Drinkability: Pretty smooth, I could drink a six pack. >4.75% Alc.

ilikestuff said:

The black lager is probably my second favorite sam adams next to their imperial pils, the boston lager is good, brown ale is drinkable. The honey porter is just awful, way too sweet IMO. Never tried the Irish or the Scotch, but I think sam adams is a pretty good brewer, so I look forward to most of their new and seasonal (I liked winter lager) offerings.

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I may give the winter another try, but it will have to wait until next winter.

irish red ftw! i bought a 24pack brewmasters collection last time i was at sams club. the irish red was my favorte out of the six beers that were in the case(dark lager, scotch, brown, boston lager, irish red, and honey porter). as for dark lagers, my favorite is the durango brewery dark lager. it rocks my world!

Black Lager:

Appearance: Dark Black, like cola
Smell: Lots of Caramel, Very Malty, not much hops
Taste: Malty, not intense hops, Toasted flavor, a little harsh.
Mouthfeel: Light, smooth, creamy head is a nice addition.
Drinkability: Pretty good, bitey, not my favorite but a decent beer.
>4.90% Alc.

Edit: It tastes more and more like a Guiness to me.

Irish Red:

Appearance: Dark Amber, Reddish
Smell: sweet malt, hoppy
Taste: Peppery, bity, quite bitter.
Mouthfeel: light and smooth
Drinkability: Very easily could drink one after the other
>5.50% Alc.

Honey Porter:

Appearance: Dark, like cola
Smell: sweet malt, bitter hops
Taste: toasty and sweet
Mouthfeel: light, little watery
Drinkability: Not a fav.
>5.45% Alc.

Edit: Tastes like the black lager, little sweeter and with a honey aftertaste

I liked the Irish Red. I like most of what Sam Adams puts out though. The only one I am not fond of, at least last time I had it was the Cranberry Lambic they have in the winter pack.

Has anyone tried the Utopias? I have been wanting to try it. Recently I was at the Sunset Grill and Tap in Boston. I suggest a trip there if you have not, it is heaven! They have over 214 beers on tap and 300 or something bottled. I could have had a 2oz glass of the Utopias for $18!!! or bought the bottle for $218 but SWMBO was with me, thus it would have been the last drink I ever had. Ha

The Black Lager is the only Sam Adams I've tried that I like. It's also one of the only dark beers I enjoy.

I don't know why more people don't talk about the SA Double Bock. It's one of my favorite domestics. I buy it every time I see it... SWMBO and I put away a sixer in no time.

I just finished my sixer of Double Bock! It was good!

Their Irish red was too sweet for the style it was more like a Scotch Ale. I had a mixed six pack of their black lager comma honey porter and bown ale and didn't like any of them. THe black lager didn't have any flavor comma the honey porter was the only one that I would drink again. Their Imperial Pils was pretty good though.

Boston Lager is a nice alternative to the common american lager we're all used to. I turn to these when I've had enough homebrew

Ive only had a few of these, and wasn't impressed by any. The brown ale was unremarkable, but the honey porter was entirely too sweet. I screwed up a batch of honey porter once, left too much sugar in it and it became syrupy and altogether undrinkable. My buddy and I were trying it once more before we decided to throw it out, and his one comment was "well, you could pass it off as a Sam Adams Honey Porter clone."

The red ale was a nice drinking beer, but again nothing remarkable. Perhaps I've been spoiled by all the great beer I've been having lately. As for the "Black Lager," is this in the style of a shwartzbier? My local brewpub makes one, and I very much like theirs. If it is, I might pick one up next time I'm out.

mike

Have you had the Shiner Black Lager? That's pretty good. I wonder how it compares to the Sam Adams version.

Personally have only had sam adams boston lager, and black lager. I currently have cream stout in the fridge, while waiting for my home brew stuff to come in. I like the boston lager quite abit, and LOVE the black lager!! i didnt like boston at first, but it has grown on me quite abit, and its my everyday brew now.

I'm a big sam fan. But not so big on this variety pack. It'll take me a while to finish off the case. Lol, my wife, thinking the best, thought I could use more beer for a part we were hosting, so she went to BJ's Whole sale and bought me another case. I'll still be working on these in November.

One thing I do recommend is the Long Shot 6-pack. It's homebrew's that won their contest, and sam mass produced as the prize. The 2006 edition may still be available. My favorite is the Dortmunder Export.

I think Sam's Honey Porter is absolutely delicious. I usually run from the sweeter tasting beers, but for some reason this one tastes good. The one Sam Adams beer that I consider to be almost undrinkable is the Brown Ale.

I bought a brewmaster collection case once with I think it was black lager, honey porter, and brown ale. I drank everything but the brown ale really quickly, but the brown ale sat for months and only got drank when I was out of everything else.

joshpooh said:

I think Sam's Honey Porter is absolutely delicious. I usually run from the sweeter tasting beers, but for some reason this one tastes good. The one Sam Adams beer that I consider to be almost undrinkable is the Brown Ale.

I bought a brewmaster collection case once with I think it was black lager, honey porter, and brown ale. I drank everything but the brown ale really quickly, but the brown ale sat for months and only got drank when I was out of everything else.

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I finally drank a brown ale, wow... My mom always told me, "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all". It was good advice.

I really liked the Honey Porter and the Black Lager.

I'm not generally a Sam Adam's fan. I like the company, but the beer is mediocre at best. I tried a sampler pack last year and hated half of it. The Black Lager is a decent schwarzbier, and the Summer Ale is pretty refreshing. Everything else I've tried is either disgusting (anything with fruit, Winter Lager...) or watered down (everything else). The Boston Lager's flavor isn't bad, but it makes me feel really full after having just one - a phenomenon I don't find with most other beers, regardless of their ABV, body, carbonation, etc.

Aubie Stout said:

I really liked the Honey Porter and the Black Lager.

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I felt the black lager was ok, but the honey porter seemed to be just like the BL but with an aftertaste of honey.

Yuri_Rage said:

I'm not generally a Sam Adam's fan. I like the company, but the beer is mediocre at best. I tried a sampler pack last year and hated half of it. The Black Lager is a decent schwarzbier, and the Summer Ale is pretty refreshing. Everything else I've tried is either disgusting (anything with fruit, Winter Lager...) or watered down (everything else). The Boston Lager's flavor isn't bad, but it makes me feel really full after having just one - a phenomenon I don't find with most other beers, regardless of their ABV, body, carbonation, etc.

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I always feel mistreated when I buy a sampler pack of anything. They throw in two decent beers and the rest are either off the wall or just plain old bad.

I did like the boston and irish red(right now I'm drinking a scotch ale, its ok). But I feel like both were just too heavy for me. I am going to pick up a sixer of SA Light and see if I like it better.

Scotch Ale:

SHAZAMM!!! Pretty good beer, heavy but worth buying I think.

I drank it out of the bottle. It tasted like someone was burning leaves inside my bottle of beer. It was good though. I don't neccessarily drink scotch a lot or enjoy it, but I liked this beer. Good beer, probably won't ever buy it again, however, I wouldn't avoid it like I will the Brown Ale.. dear god! I'm gonna have to be really drunk to drink that one bottle I have left!

ABV 5.4%

Brewmaster's Variety Pack Order of greatest to least liked.

Boston Lager-good, heavy but the taste is good. I will try SA light.
Scotch Ale-smokey, oaky, good but I won't make it a point to get another sixer.
Irish Red-pretty good, little more hops than I like, but good.
Honey Porter-tasted like black lager w/ honey aftertaste
Black Lager-tasted like guinness, if its cheaper than guinness I'll buy it. .8 oz more.
Brown Ale-Never Again, burned poop water!

I'm drinking the last brown ale... I kinda want to punch Jim Koch in the face for making this carbonated burned poop water!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wasn't terribly impressed with any of the beers in this sampler pack, although the Irish Red and Schwartzbier were enough to give me pause.

At least I got some more bottles!

have been lookign for this...i have been going from liquor store to liqor store and nothing.

I'm tapping my fingers waiting for SA Oktoberfest to come out again. One of the better Oktoberfests I've tasted and it gives me a chance to collect some bottles.

Black Lager is ok, it's a good gateway beer. I give it to BMC drinkers that "don't like dark beer." It has seemed to go over well.

Boston Beer Co. makes some good "almost macro" beers, and I'm not complaining that I can get a SA Boston lager at most any restaurant and bowling alley in the area. Five years ago it was Bud, Bud Light, Miller, Miller Lite, Busch for a selection of draft or bottled beers.

SA light was good when we had it last yr in old btls.
cherry wheat was good last time i remember it.
summer ale in btls was terrible on tap it was good.
winter lager on tap was good.
double bock is just down right nasty. way too much licorice for me or the wife. it might be the 2nd beer to dump i just cant bring my self to finish the 4 btls left in the 6er.

scotch ale is the way to go. The packs are a good way to get bottles- cosco sells a 24 pack of sam adams for around 20 bucks. Let the drinking comence

Csuho said:

cherry wheat was good last time i remember it.

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someone else on this site said it best when they describes the cherry wheat as something that came from Satan's Anus....

Cherry Wheat is one of the few SA's I regularly drink. Thing is I usually don't have one as the first beer- usually second to one of my stronger brews. Maybe my oppinion is tainted. Kyle

I must be alone in this groups as I like alot of what SA put outs, except for the friut stuff....I don't like any of those. I really love the Scotch Ale!

I love SA. They really hooked me with the whole "seasonal" thing. The only one that stands out that I really didn't like was the Cherry one. Tasted like cough medicine to me.