Does anyone else think Sam Adam's beer sucks

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After all, if all you need is 20 different utterly swill beers and a good marketing team to be wildly successful, then anybody can do it, right?

Well, sort of. The key is you have to order literally tons of hops and dump them into the beer multiple times. Then, and only then, are you producing good beer. ;)
 
It's just lackluster average stuff. I would take a Sam Adams over a Coors or Bud anytime. I don't think the beer is bad but the styles are uniformly dull and lacking complexity. Beer snobs drink beer for nuance and depth.
 
I honestly don't drink that much Sam Adams, although given the choice between Sam and BMC, I'll opt for the Sam's. In Sam's defense, I will say that when I'm dumpster diving for empties at the local recycling center, there are usually plenty of empty Sam Adams bottles, and the labels do soak off easily. :D..

Fred
 
I like some of Sam Adams and others not. Alpine spring is good on a warm spring afternoon, the summer ale is doing it for me right now and I have to admit I enjoy the black lager iin cooler temps. It is important to note that at some point in your emotional development you ought to come to terms with the fact that just because you don't like something doesn't mean it sucks but if you start a campaign proclaiming it sucks it usually means that you do.
 
There are Sam's beers I like, and some I wouldn't pour down the drain. I like Boston Lager, Irish Red, Black Lager, Latitude 48. Sam Adams tends to be a good value at its price point. Sure, it's not Rogue, Stone, or Dogfish Head or my homebrew (hardehar!) but it's not $10-12 a six, either. Don't like it, don't drink it. But it hardly serves to question why they're in business when they've been so successful. Somebody drinks it.
 
I particularly like their Boston Lager and their Noble Pils, but enjoy most of their beers. Plus the labels come off their bottles very easily!:rockin:
 
I went to the gas station to grab some Swamp Ape but they had run out. So in dedication to this thread I bought the last sixer of Summers Ale. Not much wow factor, but not bad.
 
Sam Adams is a good backup beer for restaurants that don't have a good selection. If I don't have a better choice, I'll certainly order a Boston Lager, Noble Pils, Alpine Spring, or Oktoberfest. However, they often fall flat with their limited releases. Granted, all breweries have some beers that are not to my taste.

I tend to purchase seasonally, with a few year-round offerings falling into the rotation every few months, and purchase a lot of beers that are new to me. So, I don't purchase many beers repeatedly over the course of a year. So, my Sam Adams drinking does tend to be limited to those occasions I mentioned earlier in the post. I generally won't take a chance on one of their special offerings if I'm purchasing beer at the store. If I'm going to take a chance, I'm going to go with a smaller brewery that will benefit more from the purchase.
 
Boston Lager is one of my favorites. Lattitude 48 I can not stand, it is the only beer I ever bought that I could not even drink.
 
For me, SA got me into craft beer (which can be tough in St. Louis). So for my life,
No SA = no craft beer
No craft beer = no good beer
No good beer = no homebrew
No homebrew = no HBT board...

I'm basically disappearing like Marty McFly's family without SA.

That being said, I rarely drink it now. But I love those glasses.
 
I have had good ones and bad ones.... I am not fond of thier "flagship" Boston lager as I think it is to Hoppy... an issue with a bunch of thier beers... but I would not say they suck... I would say I like other beer better....
 
You are entitled to it, indeed. Anything to the contrary was not my implication. The greater point being, if someone truly believes that not a single thing of value comes from SA, then brewing for a living must be pretty easy. After all, if all you need is 20 different utterly swill beers and a good marketing team to be wildly successful, then anybody can do it, right?

Fair enough, you're talking about the people that just dump on the whole brewery. That's a valid point. It just always rankles me the people that insist that you can't offer criticism unless you can do better. Consumers know what they like and what they don't, it's not necessary to make a similar product to know what you don't like and why. Cheers, man.
 
You know, honestly I haven't been much of a fan of SA and I say I don't like their Boston Lager, but truthfully I haven't had it in years. I saw their summer pack at Costco yesterday, think I'll pick it up next time I'm in and give it an honest try (except Cherry Wheat, which I really can't stand, but my wife likes).
 
Boston Lager is a great fall back beer to me. Noble Pils is good, as is some of their seasonals(Octoberfest/Honey Porter/Winter Lager/etc).
 
I have had good ones and bad ones.... I am not fond of thier "flagship" Boston lager as I think it is to Hoppy... an issue with a bunch of thier beers... but I would not say they suck... I would say I like other beer better....

I don't get this at all. I don't find any of their beers very hoppy at all. My biggest complaint with Latitude 48 is thats its too malty and doesnt have enough hops.

Everybody has a different palette though i suppose.
 
I have had good ones and bad ones.... I am not fond of thier "flagship" Boston lager as I think it is to Hoppy... an issue with a bunch of thier beers... but I would not say they suck... I would say I like other beer better....

*shakes head.....*

too hoppy?

You need to get out more.

Boston Lager is one of my favorites. Lattitude 48 I can not stand, it is the only beer I ever bought that I could not even drink.

I am puzzled by this as well.

It isn't my favorite IPA, but unless you don't like run of the mill IPA's, what gives?
 
Like others, SA was one of my gateway beers into craft beer. It wasn't tremendously interesting or complete swill. However, over the past year or so every time I've tried a SA beer it has been terrible. I know SA is contracting out a lot of brewing but they are really failing on the QC. No flavor or bad flavor every time. I've given up buying any of their beers.
 
I have had good ones and bad ones.... I am not fond of thier "flagship" Boston lager as I think it is to Hoppy... an issue with a bunch of thier beers... but I would not say they suck... I would say I like other beer better....

If you think Boston Lager is too hoppy, you ought to just avoid any beer from Stone. Or really, most craft beers...
 
Does anyone else think Sam Adam's beer sucks .


No, i dont.

Sure, it isnt a high end beer like stone or rogue but they are pretty tasty as far as a mass produced, store bought beer goes. I admire their different varieties they have been producing lately. They are really offering a lot of different choices. Boston lager is an excellent DD, and i love their noble pils in spring/summer but i only found it once this year! :mad: i think it is much better than some of the common german pils you can buy at stores, it has more favor imo.
 
The other day I had a SA Boston Lager from a tap at an airport bar. I couldn't even finish it and at $10 a pint that was a shame. It just tasted terrible, almost skunked. I was tempted to ask the bartender when the last time the beer lines were cleaned. I'd always enjoyed the lager before but it had been awhile since I had one, (couple years) I don't know if my tastes have changed that dramatically or if was just what but that beer at the airport was sickening.
 
Except for a couple of fruit based beers - SA is tops. Also love their web site and the bottle labels come off easy. When I want commercial beer they are on the list.
 
The other day I had a SA Boston Lager from a tap at an airport bar. I couldn't even finish it and at $10 a pint that was a shame. It just tasted terrible, almost skunked. I was tempted to ask the bartender when the last time the beer lines were cleaned. I'd always enjoyed the lager before but it had been awhile since I had one, (couple years) I don't know if my tastes have changed that dramatically or if was just what but that beer at the airport was sickening.

thats ironic, i had my first boston lager from tap this weekend in years. (it was that or bud light and i would rather drink lemon juice than bud light). I was super impressed by the bouquet of flavor. it almost had a fruit note to it.
 
The other day I had a SA Boston Lager from a tap at an airport bar. I couldn't even finish it and at $10 a pint that was a shame. It just tasted terrible, almost skunked. I was tempted to ask the bartender when the last time the beer lines were cleaned. I'd always enjoyed the lager before but it had been awhile since I had one, (couple years) I don't know if my tastes have changed that dramatically or if was just what but that beer at the airport was sickening.
This wasn't at DFW was it? I had the exact same experience at a TGIFridays in DFW a couple of weeks ago.

I don't mind most of SA's beers. Unlike a lot of people on this board, I enjoy the Latitude 48 (though I won't go out of my way to look for it). However, the Chocolate Bock tastes too much like Yoohoo to me. There's no way I could drink more than 1 of those in a row.
 
This wasn't at DFW was it? I had the exact same experience at a TGIFridays in DFW a couple of weeks ago.

I don't mind most of SA's beers. Unlike a lot of people on this board, I enjoy the Latitude 48 (though I won't go out of my way to look for it). However, the Chocolate Bock tastes too much like Yoohoo to me. There's no way I could drink more than 1 of those in a row.

An airport bar? My guess would be dirty tap lines. I'd try bottle beer next time.
 
Sam Adams has done an amazing thing - opened up the world of better beer for millions of people.

For most of those people, it's Boston Lager. They hardly realize there are other styles of beer than lagers. (Dark beers?)

OK, I don't usually buy Sam Adams beers(well, I did get some for Octoberfest). For almost every style they make, there is a better example from a microbrewery. Will I drink a Sam Adams offered at a party or a friend's house? Yes! Will I drink BMC if that is all that's available? NO!

Most that don't like Sam Adams either:
1. Don't like the style of the beer in question and are comparing to a different style(that they like), or
2. Are comparing to a great microbrew or homebrew.

or both.

Sam Adams makes a credible beer for every style they make. They are a big company, however, and seldom match the best microbrew or homebrew available. Heck, I can't find any poured beer in Nevada that tastes as good to me as my standard IPA or Pliny clone I make. But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy a well made commercial beer.
 
I think sa is OK but if anyone anything opened my eyes to good beer it was Smithwick's


And dogfish head
 
How the hell are they so popular and successful? I know marketing has a lot to do with it, but most all of their beers are awful and leave the nastiest aftertastes. It's just bad. I'm always suckered into buying something new of theirs and get pissed off thinking it'll be different, but it never is.

I'll go so far as to say that Sam Adams is HIGHLY OVERRATED...
BUT, it's not nearly as bad as Sierra Nevada or Ninkasi. :cross:
Regards, GF.
 
According to the company, Samuel Adams uses only the finest Noble hops that cost 20x as much as average Noble hops. Their beer must be awesome!!!

I've had about 10 different Samuel Adams beers and most of them were just OK and some of them were blech. My favorite is their barrel aged Third World Trippel. It's the only SA beer that I thought was better than meh.
 
I don't hate SA. I don't particularly like them much, either. I know what the OP means about the aftertaste. I call it the Sam Adams whang, and I've only had a couple that didn't have it. The Spring Ale is really nice. They have a decent stout. The Cherry Wheat, well, I have a freeloader drawer in my beer fridge, and right now it's mostly full of Cherry Wheat.

But there's something on the back end of almost all of SA's styles that disappoints me. So much so that I generally won't buy an SA until I've tried a freebie.

That said, I have never had the opportunity to try anything from SA in Boston. I know a lot of their capacity is outsourced (to Miller, I believe?), so I wonder how much different the beer is at the brewery than it is from the bulk runs done on contract.

At the price point of SA around Knoxville, there are other beers I like far better.
 
The Boston Lager fresh from the brewery is way better than any other glass of it I've had, I was really surprised at how much of a difference there was. If anyone's is in the area I highly recommend taking the tour, they are not stingy in the tasting room either. I've never had a beer from them that tasted "off" from the bottle, maybe there is a difference in production/distribution when living in MA... I would say their seasonals are hit or miss and have gone downhill in recent years. Not a fan of the Alpine Spring or Cherry Wheat at all, the Summer and Latitude 48 are very mediocre IMO, but I have been impressed with their imperial series and limited series. The Imperial Stout and Wee Heavy are very good and if you ever see the Cinderbock definately pick it up.
 
I dislike their mainstream beers greatly with the exception of noble pils. I have had some of their specialty offerings such as Utopias and while they are interesting, they aren't typically what I am looking for when I want to drink. Overall I think they are a very large sub par brewery and I wouldn't mind if they disappeared.
 
Depends on what you're drinking in my case. The Cinderbock is good, but their winter beers give me a real bad case of rotgut.
 
I think they have decent beers did not like alpine spring and the cherry wheat no thank you. Doesn't Sam Adams have a class for people trying to start a brewery as in the business part of it.
 
I'm really, really unimpressed by their Boston Lager. I will drink it, after I drink everything else in the mix pack. It seems like their stuff is kind of hit or miss. I love their chocolate bock, holiday porter, noble pils, and their alpine spring; haven't really like the boston lager, winter ale, or irish red.

It saddens me that they mix some of their great beers with the Boston lager, and I have to buy mix packs containing it to get things like the scotch ale or chocolate bock (at least the past couple of years).
 
I think their Boston Lager is fairly good, but my taste for it comes and goes. Their Winter Lager is perhaps my overall favorite beer. The Oktoberfest is pretty good, too.

Other than that, I've not been too fond of their styles. Had their Kölsch recently and it was pretty good, but that's one of the few times I've tried a new one and not been disappointed. Don't like the Cherry Wheat.

Regarding hoppiness and craft beers, I hate this connection. I don't like the HOP HOP HOP HOP HOP HOP approach of a lot of the "great" breweries. Sometimes, sure, but not in every beer. If this means I don't really "get" beer, then so be it, but there's more to beer than HOPS!!! SA hits the balance pretty well to my taste.
 
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