Sam Adams '08: Blackberry Witbier, McDole's Double IPA and MORE!!!!

Just got word from the SA Newsletter by email:


You Voted & The New Beer Style is...

Your taste buds have spoken! As part of the 4th Annual Samuel Adams Beer Lover's Choice program over 50,000 of you tasted the two worthy contestants - Samuel Adams® Blackberry Witbier and Samuel Adams® Coffee Stout - and cast your votes. The voting was close but as with most contests there can only be one winner. We are pleased to announce (drum roll please) that Samuel Adams Blackberry Witbier will be the next addition to the Samuel Adams family of beers. We brewed this traditional witbier with orange peel and coriander, and then added a hint of blackberry. The flavor is very complex with malt and cereal notes, intense spice and citrus flavors and a smooth, sweet/tart finish. It will be available in January in its own 6-pack and in the Samuel Adams® Brewmaster's Collection Variety 6 & 12-packs.

While a winner has been chosen let us not forget the other worthy contestant. Samuel Adams Coffee Stout was brewed with Rwandan coffee from The Thousand Hills Coffee Company. Thousand Hills' proceeds help subsidize and support the building of schools in Rwanda. To learn more about their admirable efforts visit their website.


Big News from the GABF



We're just back from a phenomenal time at the 27th Great American Beer Festival® in Denver, CO. It certainly wasn't our first time at the event - Samuel Adams Boston Lager® won the "Best Beer in America" Award four years running in the Consumer Preference Poll until they retired the award - but we're always impressed by the amazing number of mouth watering American beers there for the tasting. Combine great tasting brews with friendly beer-loving people and you get one heck of a good time. Weíre very excited to share that we won a bronze medal in the aged beer category for Samuel Adams Utopias® 2003 vintage.

We have some other news from the GABF we'd like to share. You may recall that we were going to announce the winner of the 2008 Samuel Adams® American Homebrew Contest® at the festival. The winner had been chosen from thousands of homebrews submitted from all over the country with aspirations of being included in the 2009 Samuel Adams® LongShot® Variety Pack. It certainly wasn't easy but Jim Koch and a panel of experts crowned Alex Drobshoff and his Traditional Bock the winner!

GABF attendees also had the chance to taste and vote in the Samuel Adams employee category of the contest. All Samuel Adams employees had the chance to brew but it came down to three employees who brewed tasty beers and worked hard to get votes. In the end Carissa Sweigart and her Cranberry Wit grabbed the victory!

Keep an eye out for consumer winner and employee winner's brews in the 2009 Samuel Adams LongShot Variety Pack starting in April '09!

Also in the 2009 Samuel Adams LongShot Variety Pack will be one of last year's winners. Some of you may recall Mike McDole of California and his Double IPA. When chosen as a winner in '07, we anxiously anticipated its inclusion in the LongShot 6-pack. However, we were in the midst of a worldwide hops shortage and many of the seven varieties of hops in Mike's recipe were literally sold out. We couldn't find enough of several of these hops on the market at any price to brew his beer. While we presented Mike with a plan to brew his beer substituting in different hops, it ultimately would have created a very different beer. So we were delighted that Mike decided to have his brew included in the '09 LongShot package.


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All contents of this post are from the Sam Adams Newsletter, in case any lawyers find this. Both of the above excerpts are written by Sam Adams / Boston Beer Company, and not by me. Please don't sue me.

I hope the blackberry witbeir doesn't taste as terrible as the cherry wheat.

I hope the cranberry wit doesn't taste like the cranberry lambic. We don't need two of those. The one suffices, thanks.

... Watch, secretly, it's based off of the wheat LME "Cranberry Zinger" recipe that's floating around here, where you make a weak beer, and rack it onto fruit relish. Hm.

I hope the cran wit is drinkable since I'll be grabbing every Longshot I can find when they come out!

I'll be grabbing one - to try the Double IPA - and if it's really addictive, then I'll be grabbing every other one in sight.

I'm sure the Cranberry Wit is < 6% and I know the DIPA and Bock should be > 6%, so once again, no mixed pack for TN.

January 09, huh? I'll have to get some Pliny before then for comparison. Maybe ""santa" will get me some Pliny this year.

Jan. 09 is the Blackberry, the LongShot pack is April.

awwww man. =(

The blackberry wit is not good. They had it at NHC. I can't remember much about the taste other than the fact that I took one drink, struggled to swallow it, then handed it to my wife because she usually likes fruit beers. She then proceeded to take one sip, spit it back in the cup, and toss it in the trash.

Don't blame me for the blackberry vote. I tried both it and the coffee stout that they were trying out and I thought the stout was awesome. A hell of alot better than the fruity wit. The SA guy who was running it in the pub I was in allowed me to knock out most of the bottle of the stout as no one in the bar liked "dark beers". I asked to take a bottle home but wasn't allowed.

And if the cranberry lambic wasn't terrible enough their following it up with another cran-beer? No thank you.

Open letter to Boston Beer Company (just venting..doubt any big brewers read this forum)

Dear Boston Beer Company AKA Sam Adams,

I was much disappointed when I heard of the 2 choices for next years new beer. I thought neither choice was original as both are just variations of styles you already brew. How many wit beers does a company really need? Now this spring we will have the white ale and then your blackberry wit which will just be a white ale with some blackberry juice thrown in. I mean really... where is the innovation here? There are styles that Sam Adams is yet to tackle, namely ESB, British style IPA, dunkelweizen, Maibock, etc. Its just mindblowing to see the same company that was daring enough and yet successful in mass producing a black lager to tuck tail between legs and release the safe beverage this year. I hope you are counting on an increase in female customer base as I certainly will not be walking out of the supermarket with anything like that in hand....nor any other male I know.

There's pleny of good beer out there, no need to cry because Sam Adamns didn't make your favorite.

fivehoursfree said:

There's pleny of good beer out there, no need to cry because Sam Adamns didn't make your favorite.

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I'm guessing that 6 months later...he's forgotten all about it. Just like most of us did with this thread.

DrewsBrew said:

I hope you are counting on an increase in female customer base as I certainly will not be walking out of the supermarket with anything like that in hand....nor any other male I know.

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Sexist much?

Jesus, I'm drinking the Double IPA right now, and it is absolutely stellar. Hoppy as the day is long, and delicious as can be. I'm a serious Stone Brewery Ruination fanboy, but I have to say, this could be the best IPA I've ever had. I'm terribly impressed.

I may have to get a 22 of the Ruination to test this.

The berry wit flat out sucked balls...

Firstnten said:

The berry wit flat out sucked balls...

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Yup. I tried it again when I bought the longshot. Not a good beer at all. I'm not a huge fan of fruit beers but if they're done well I can appreciate and enjoy them. This beer was not done well.

I had the IPA and it was very good, but not the best I have had. However, you may have gotten a fresher couple of bottles than I did. The Bock was full of diacetyl and I haven't had the intestinal fortitude to try the Wit yet.

Firstnten said:

The berry wit flat out sucked balls...

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It's my favorite out of the bunch. I was very surprised that I liked it so much, especially since it's really a stretch to call it a witbier.

Whether or not the Blackberry Wit is good (which I'm tempted to say is outstandingly mediocre, but drinakble), the brewer is a cutie.

They should of gone with the stout, disappointed to say the least.

OH NO DA DARK BEER!

To be fair, SA does have some decent brews. However, their fruit beers really fall short IMO. Don't even get me started on their cranberry lambic. I can't even begin to tell you how disappointed I was in it. When I saw the label I thought: "Lambic? Awesome!" Blah.

I don't get how they can represent it as a lambic, when it is clearly not.

I like a few of Sam Adams beers (including Boston Lager), but I have to say, I was really disappointed in the Longshot six pack. Thought the cranberry wit was okay, really did not like the double IPA at all (which was a big letdown; it's my favorite style), and thought the bock was better than average.

I think some here might be confusing the BlackBerry Wit, with the CranBerry Wit.
I recently tried the BlackBerry... eh, it's alright, not really worth the price premium.

I just tried the Double IPA yesterday. . . I do believe that is the first beer in years I've not been able to finish. I was shocked at it's taste. It tasted like tequila with hops. The pasr I was shocked most by was that I normally drink anything and everything; untill yesterday. I dumped the last few sips out. I should haved saved the Bells Two Hearted ale for after that one not before.

cz

I just got a summer sampler and the Blackberry Wit was in it. It was alright. I would not recommend it to anyone, but it was a decent beer for a fruit flavored Wit. It is the first Blackberry beer I have had, so it is truly hard to compare it to other competition.

Just got this Longshot six pack since I started brewing 4 months ago and I am not expert but is the double IPA supposed to taste like that? I made myself finish cause I didn't want to waste anything but it was awful. I had my brother and father try it and I had to drink both in the six pack because they wouldn't touch it. It is the first double IPA I have tried. And I don't want to try again after that.