Sam Adam's Season Pack ... ehhh

So I stumbled upon a seasonal pack at Albretson's, This one contained:

Irish Red
White Ale
Scotch Ale
Noble Pils
Boston Lager
Revolutionary Rye Ale

Maybe home-brewing has spoiled me, but I felt like the Noble Pils and Rye Ale had a lot of nose but very little taste in comparison. Even when I babied my second round, and gave it a good 30mins of sit time - they never tasted balanced to me.

I'm no connoisseur but I'm disappointed that the Boston Lager was still the best in the pack.

I'm also quite annoyed that they called it Scotch Ale. Now I can never call any of my beers that!

you're not the only 1. once you start brewing, even sam adams ain't all that

Sam's market is the beer drinker with a solid hold on BMC but curious for something more. They are at a critical juncture for the growth into artisan ales.

Sam Adams sucks...

There I said it. Glad I could finally get that out of my system.

I agree, once you actually start tasting home brews and even some of the better artisan ales, Sam Adams just doesn't cut it any more. The problem with admitting it is that if you say it out loud, most people just think you're a snob.

So are they the biggest of the small fish? Or the smallest of the big fish?

I won't hate Sam Adams until they start making light-light beer with an Athlete endorsing it (Lance).

At the brewery this past summer they were testing out the rye and a belgian IPA. I voted for the belgian IPA but the rye won, sadly.

boston lager doesnt suckalthough it has been a couple years since i had one.

Boston Lager doesn't SUCK in comparison to their less thought-out beers.

scotched said:

So are they the biggest of the small fish? Or the smallest of the big fish?

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Definitely the biggest of the small fish. I seem to recall in Beer Wars (good documentary if you haven't seen it) Jim Koch (sp?) observes that BMC spills more beer per year than he sells.

They're not the best, but "gateway beer" is a valuable niche that someone has to fill.

Hey.. their Triple Bock vintage 1995 is Amazing!!

i liked the noble pils. actually i kinda liked the rye too. i don't think there all bad. they seem more produced than some of the smaller craft beers. and definatly more than my homebrews. but thats because they are. i guess they have a pretty big market. most everybody has had a sam adams, and they have to try to please their customers. can't really hate them for that. so they aren't my first pick. but if somebody hands me one, its not a struggle to choke it down.

I buy their Boston Lager if I'm in the mood for some cheap lager. I LOVE their Noble Pils and Octoberfest though. Everything else they make is just filler for their line-up IMHO.

jerryalan said:

I buy their Boston Lager if I'm in the mood for some cheap lager. I LOVE their Noble Pils and Octoberfest though. Everything else they make is just filler for their line-up IMHO.

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Their pumpkin is really good. I like the black lager too.

yeah. they had a variety pack with the black lager and a couple of others that i liked pretty good. cant remember what the others were

Black Lager and Octoberfest were definitely two yummy brews in my recollection. Of course this is before I started homebrewing.

I applaud brewer's for being creative. Unfortunately, unlike wine they can't blame on the ingredients b/c they have almost complete control over the process...

Latitude 48 IPA sucks donkey balls. The best beer they ever made was the recipe they reproduced from Mike "Tasty" McDole.

I'm back in the states for a couple of weeks and I picked this up for my first round (out of Shipyard, Saranac, Sierra Nevada, Otter Creek and Magic Hat beers) and I was impressed with it - but it could be because I haven't had good beers for 7 months.

I liked the Noble Pils a lot. The first one I drank had great flavor and aroma, but the second seemed to pale in comparison. I think the one I liked the most out of this one was the Revolutionary Rye, especially at a slightly warmer temperature.

Sam adams was some of my first craft type beer, once I got into brewing i left it behind but i took all those great bottles with me. the labels come off easily, they are thick walled, and Easy to come by in any market.

I don't like drinking it but I like using their bottles.

SA/BBC has done a lot in years past for the home brewing community; Sold hops during the hop shortage and hosts the Long Shot comp every year, No other large brewery does this....least we forget...

That being said they seem to be slowly drifting into the BMC area. The quality of the product has been slowly slipping over the last 2-3 years, IMO. I can point at MANY beers that were flat awesome and now either suck or are different (not in a good way). (Even accounting for a violent palate shift, it still does not cover this drop.)

I bought my last SA product, unless it is the best thing to be had while out with friends (I have been making new friends that do not drink crap beer so this is even getting rarer). I just can not justify the cost to palate ratio in comparison to what else is available. Even the bottles are "frowned upon" being reused in HB comps...

Not a huge fan... they're the smallest of the big guys IMO

I'm extremely happy that Sam Adams beers exist. If I happen to be at a place that doesn't have craft beers I can usually count on finding Boston Lager at least, and perhaps a seasonal. I think Boston Lager is a very well balanced beer and I enjoy drinking it. Noble Pils is a very good beer and after it's been out for a month and I can find it at $13 a twelve I buy it. I really enjoy the Latitude 48. Will I buy it when I'm out and craft beers are available? Never. But if there are no craft beers and no Sam, I'd be stuck with, what? Amber Bock? Blue Moon? Yeungling? No thanks. Thanks, Sam, for being there when I need you.

for the price there not too bad, there are defiantly better beers but they also cost it. BJ's I can get a 24 pack for 25 dollars, for me it makes more since to buy a bottle of beer and reuse the empty then just buying empty bottles from my LHBS

Pilgarlic said:

I'm extremely happy that Sam Adams beers exist. If I happen to be at a place that doesn't have craft beers I can usually count on finding Boston Lager at least, and perhaps a seasonal. I think Boston Lager is a very well balanced beer and I enjoy drinking it. Noble Pils is a very good beer and after it's been out for a month and I can find it at $13 a twelve I buy it. I really enjoy the Latitude 48. Will I buy it when I'm out and craft beers are available? Never. But if there are no craft beers and no Sam, I'd be stuck with, what? Amber Bock? Blue Moon? Yeungling? No thanks. Thanks, Sam, for being there when I need you.

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+1. totally agree. plus they are one of the pioneers of the craft beer industry. we must respect of forefathers IMO

The nice thing about Sam Adams is I can get one pretty much anywhere. If I go into a grocery store that has BMC, sitting next to it will be Sam Adams. Even here some places don't carry Boulevard, so I'll pick up a Sam instead of running down something more local.

Good company, good values, I like supporting them because they support us.

schweaty said:

Latitude 48 IPA sucks donkey balls. The best beer they ever made was the recipe they reproduced from Mike "Tasty" McDole.

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Latitude 48 doesn't suck, it's just different for an IPA. I'd say it's closer to an English style IPA but with a totally mixed hop flavor.

I don't really buy it but I don't think it's BAD.

I'm not sure if i got a bad 6 pack, but their irish red was nasty!
Black lager, and imperial stout are very good.
i havent had any of this years noble pils, but it was great last year.

tonyzahn said:

I seem to recall in Beer Wars (good documentary if you haven't seen it) Jim Koch (sp?) observes that BMC spills more beer per year than he sells.

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I read that too and when I read it it was that Budweiser spills more than they sell and that sounds to me like nonsense. Maybe if you want to lump every other major BMC brand together like Bud, Coors, Miller, Michelob, etc then I'd find it more believable.

Hey, does anyone remember their Golden Pilsner?? They sold it many many years ago and it became discontinued and never sold since. At the time they sold it it was one of my favorite beers - tasted awesome and unique. I was in my early/mid 20's at the time (now 37), so it was way before I started beer connoisseuring. But man I miss that one.


Rev.

I actually was quite pleased with this pack, usually their multipacks have some total misses but this one is overall solid. The White Ale is one of my favorites and I'm sad it's not the spring Seasonal any longer, but Noble Pils is decent too. The Scotch was really interesting with it's big smoke flavor, the Red was decent and the Rye was okay but probably the weakest in the pack.

It's funny to see how beer geeks react to Sam Adams...they're like the indie band that got popular so all the cool kids want to say they don't like them.

I enjoyed the pack for cost. You get 6 different beers for a decent price, none of the beer is amazing but some of it is decent.

The scotch ale is pretty good as well as the rye, I feel like some of the beers are summer beers though so they would be more enjoyed on a hot summer day, decent pack though!

runningweird said:

...once I got into brewing i left it behind but i took all those great bottles with me. the labels come off easily, they are thick walled, and Easy to come by in any market.

I don't like drinking it but I like using their bottles.

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+1 Their labels are by far the easiest to remove. <5mins in oxyclean and they brush right off.

Try that with Dos Equis bottles!

The scotch ale is horrid. I can't decide if this is just not my style, or if this is a bad version of it.

At Costco, you can get this variety pack for ~24 dollars. My girlfriend picked it up for me and I was so grateful. But, the beers were crap. The revolutionary rye got me very excited, but when I tasted it, it was pretty bland. In fact all of the beers I tasted from that case were bland. I would have rather her got the 28 pack for 20 dollars at Costco of the Boston Lager, but at the same time, i want to try every beer imaginable. It was a good experience... for experience. Other than that, it wasn't anything to write home about.

As far as your question, it seems like they are in the grey area of the big fish small fish thing. One could argue either way, and until they change their boston lager to a BMC rice and corn lager, I'd argue that they are the big of the small fish.

I tried the Sam Adams Imperial Stout for the first time a couple of days ago. I thought it had a very rich flavor and feel with some nice chocolate notes. I'd give it at least 3.5 stars out of 5. I can't say that I'm a big fan of most of their other stuff, but I tend to favor the big bold brews from Stone and Dogfish Head.

After InBev bought AB, Sam Adams, BBC, became the largest domestically owned Brewery. In my book Sam Adams is no longer the biggest fish in a small pond, more like a medium fish in a big pond.

I am a huge Sam Boston Lager fan, it's the beer that got me away from drinking Bud Light in college...that being said I bought that same pack a couple of weeks ago (I am waiting very patiently for MY beer to be ready) and I loved the Rye. I thought the Irish was eh and the Scotch Ale IMHO was awful. I still have one of them in the fridge...I didn't really care for the Noble Pils but the White was drinkable.

Sam Adam's is still in the small pond, my BMC drinking friends can hardly stomach most of their beer. That's how I judge it

I picked up the mixed pack with high hopes for the Rye and was let down, not a bad beer just not what I was looking for. The White Ale was by far the best out of the pack and I would buy a 6er if I could find one. The Scotch Ale was pretty nasty and I love a good smoked beer. The Irish Red was so so, the Noble Pils was okay but not as good as last years. And I always get disappointed when they throw in the Boston Lager in a variety pack, I know what it taste like and I want to try the other brews. Although the Boston Lager is not my favorite beer I will choose it any day over BMC. The reusable bottles are the main reason I bring home Sam Adams.

I've had a sixer of Oktoberfest sitting in the fridge for the last year. It's good now, but I didn't care for it fresh.

I liked Noble Pils at first, but realized I was just craving an IPA and it was leaving me wanting.

I'll drink the Boston Lager, but only if it's on tap and there is nothing else.

My fiance used to be a huge fan of the winter pack. We got one this winter and she's not happy with the way any of them taste. They definitely have an off-flavor that makes it taste like it has gone bad.

I wanted to try this season's pack but I don't want to waste $15 on crap.