Sam Adams Tripple Bock ( 8 oz Blue Bottle )

Worst Beer Ever ~! Possibly these were stored wrong ?

I Picked up a Sam Adams Tripple Bock ( 8 oz blue bottle ) the other night, it looked interesting, Nice blue bottle w/ gold lettering. Got it home popped the seal to find a plastic topped champagne type cork, that broke off and had to be extracted. Poured the "beer" into my "Celebrator " glass, Whoa !It looks like mud with an oily finish and chunks in the bottom. I took a few cautious sips before dumping, it tasted of oxygenated raisins and maple syrup gone off with a really gritty & chunky texture, high alcohol/ raisin nose but it was the chewy chunks that made me spit it out. I NEVER dump a beer, thats just abuse. Normally I go with Ed Worts advise to not pass judgment till you've sipped at least 3 pints, but I couldn't even take 3 sips!
According to the bottle this was brewed in CA for the Boston Beer Co. Anybody else try one of these ? I'm almost positive this was stored wrong/ old stock/ clearance / Ship it to Iowa those hicks don't know anything about beer or something ?
Anyway it was a waste of $3.99

happy brewing !

Jens

Never tried it, but thanks for the warning!

Mine was in good shape and chunk-free, but it still tasted like sherry mixed with soy sauce and foot. It also got dumped.

Oakwoodforge said:

Anybody else try one of these ? I'm almost positive this was stored wrong/ old stock/ clearance / Ship it to Iowa those hicks don't know anything about beer or something ?

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If you do a search, you'll find a number of similar impressions to yours...including mine.

I bought a bottle. SWMBO and I tasted some. Were about to toss it...

Friends came in. I shared some. I almost got punched in the face for giving them soy sauce. One guy said he liked it and took the rest, but he is an idiot.

ITs rough, to say the least. I have two bottles aging to see if it gets any better. I am currently not a huge fan of syrup sherry.

Thanks for the warning. I am a big fan of some Samuel Adams beers, but I will not deny they have some pretty crappy ones out there as well. I'll add this one to the list.

Its a Sam Adams product , what did you expect?

Tried it
Hated it
Didn't know if it was just me since I haven't had a lot of the style.
I do like many SA beers.

WIll have to agree with the general consensus on this one. I've bought a couple bottles of Triple Bock. The first bottle I had was actually ok and I enjoyed it enough to buy a second bottle. That's where the mistake was. I should have left well enough alone because the next bottle we bought about made me vomit. I struggled to take a 3rd sip and it went right down the drain. For the most part I just think it has some to do with how its handled in shipping.

Ryanh1801 said:

Its a Sam Adams product , what did you expect?

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I'd expect a good beer, like their Boston Lager, Boston Ale, Honey Porter, Black Lager, Oktoberfest, etc.

I can't wait until fall to buy some Ocktober Fest, it's probably my favorite commercial beer. I dont get the Sam Adam's hate from people on this board, it's a main stream beer that actually respects beer. We're not talking about Miller Wheat here...

I tried it this past weekend.

It was terrible. I got three sips and down the drain it went.

Don't Get me wrong , I'm not a Sam Adams basher - mater of fact some of my favorite brews are SA like their Black Lager and Octoberfest. This Triple Bock surprised me though, I had figured that mine was just a bad batch...
Glad to know everyone else thought it tasted like feet too.



Jens

I had one, but dumped shortly after taking a sip

Guys, this beer is bottled live and is meant to be stored. It's a barley wine not meant to be consumed for quite some time. I had a six pack that I stored for five years; I also had a six pack that I drank within the first two years. The first six pack was okay, but not great. (I did drink one right away and it was terrible.) But the sixer that I saved for five years was absolutely lucious. I wish I still had some stored away.

this beer is legendary. i'm glad it's back. age it for eternity!

Wait...they're making it again??? I assumed these guys were talking about some of the old stuff that has sat refrigerated this whole time.

i just assumed that they were making it again... i dont know really. but if that guy bought it for $3.99 then i'm assuming that its a new batch.

I love Sam Adams Oktoberfest beer, probably one of my fav beers, last year we got it on clearance and we were bringing home cases of it for incredible prices. I hope I can score the same way again. The area I live in favors wine to beer so theres always good stuff on clearance.

Rumor is that SA kept a quantity on hand for future release and they have not too long ago released some. That's why it keeps showing up on all the online forums all the sudden & tends to be the same vintage when mentioned. Makes sense but I don't know what the validity of this is....

Ok, I've been sipping on a glass of 97 triple bock for about the last hour and a half. I bought two bottles even after reading all the hooplah about it. First of all, you have to buy this beer knowing what you are getting into. Take any beer you have ever tried short of utopias and throw it out the window. A lot of people are comparing this to other beer they like by sam adams (or anything else for that matter), NO! NO! NO!.

I took care removing the cork based on warnings. Mine was partially cracked but came right out no problem. I cooled mine to the low 50's and served. The beer pours jet black into a large wine glass, coats and drips down the sides of the glass like a dessert wine. There is some sediment in the bottom of the glass that appears if you tip the glass up on its side. There is no head, but that is not expected seeing as though this is 18% alcohol. The beer has a wonderful sweet dark raisin/apricot/prune/syrup smelling nose to it. Very first impressions can come off as soy sauce, but if give it a few minutes, get your nose in there, and really allow yourself to smell it the scents will reveal themselves. As I sip I get a slightly sharp very sweet first taste just like maple syrup. The mouthfeel very much resembles a sherry or port. The beer is very heavy and coats the top of my mouth and tongue just like the side of the glass. The flavors are so extreme that it makes your mouth tingle a little. Its like "HELLLLLOOO!!" to your taste buds. This taste continues until I swallow. As the beer goes down the sweet taste quickly turns into a sweet malty, some times chocolaty, flavor which slowly turns more dry and "bock" malty as the beer stuck to my mouth and tongue are dispersed. The remaining drops of beer hidden under my tongue come off as little sweet raisin and prune tones as my tongue moves around and gets them. As the malt flavors die down I get a subtle chocolate after taste. If I move my tongue around the back of my bottom teeth at this point I find a little hiding in the cracks and the flavor briefly comes back. There is no alcohol astringency at any point during the taste and its not a "belly warmer" in any regard.

Its a very smooth beer believe it or not. I very much enjoy this bottle. Granted I realize that its been 11 years and each bottle may have had a different life. From what I experienced and what I read I can conclude three things. There are people that don't like big beers trying this out and spitting it up at first impression. They read horror stories online, smelled a little soy, cloying sweetness, and dumped it. There are people that love big beers like me that got bottles that were mistreated during their life and the beer has soured, skunked, or something else bad happened to it. Then there are people that love big beers, got a decent bottle, took 30 minutes to really taste it over and over again and fell in love.

I think its great!!