Thoughts on Sam Adams...

To all...I am from the Boston area and grew up on Sam Adams. I have watched the company grow to where it is now. I have noticed lately many homebrewers from this area put Sam Adams down. They say they are just like the Big 3. They say Jim Koch has lost his touch.

I understand there are a few Sam Adams brews out there that people dont like but overall I like most of their brews. I still enjoy a Boston Lager here or there. I love the Black Lager, the Holiday Porter, Cream Stout and Irish Red.

What do you all think about Sam Adams and where they are today as a company and the products they sell?

I like them. I just bought Boston Ale (which is really hard to find!) for my husband. I like Jim Koch a lot, and I think that he's still a homebrewer at heart.

Most of the beers (NOT the cherry wheat, which totally sucks) are pretty good. When I'm out and the beer list is low on craft beers, I'll reach for a SA.

I dunno. I tried Boston lager for the first time a few months ago and it was all I could do to finish the glass. It just tasted... off. Weird.

I grew up on them also and love em.However it all comes down to $$$$$ period.I also love anchor but these 2 companies are pretty much the reason i started, they cost too much.I still love to drink em i just dont like buying em.

I like Sam Adams. They offer a wide variety of really solid brews. I think that most of the criticism comes from the fact that they're now so big and (don't quote me on this, but I swear I heard it somewhere on HBT) that they've contracted a lot of their brewing to Miller.

I drink Boston Lager when we go out to eat at "regular" restaurants. I bought the SA Holiday pack this year for the first time, I was happy with all the beers in there. I have a positive impression of the company. I say good for Jim, he started small and has probably realized more success than he ever expected.

But, to be realistic, when you grow to offers dozens of beers, somebody is always going to find something not to like and complain about. I say, if you don't like it, don't buy it.

Ya I still like Sam. The Boston Ale is very good. If you can find the Brown Ale buy it.

Sam Adams is about the most perfect gateway brewery out there. They offer a myriad of styles, most of which are pretty decent if not the most awe-inspiring and adventurous beers out there. Because if they were, they wouldn't be what they are today.

I applaud them for introducing craft beer to people who may otherwise not try it, and also for making quality beer that is, as a whole, head-and-shoulders above the big three.

tried Boston lager for the first time a few months ago and it was all I could do to finish the glass. It just tasted... off. Weird.

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Yeah, about half the time this happens to me b/c the beer is just not treated right. Just happens that if I'm at a place that I have to go to SA it's also likely a place that doesn't take care of it's beer service.

Old, poorly treated bottles; dirty lines or glassess; etc....

It's a great beer when fresh and treated with TLC.

I love the fact that they have SA in alot of the chain resteraunts so I always have it to fall back on. I still will pick up a variety pack once in a while and do enjoy them.

Overall I think they are a great company.

I agree I am happy they have Boston Lager on tap all over the country.

Agreed!! ^^^

same here - I like the Boston Lager. Though I haven't had any in a while, I think the Cherry Wheat isn't bad either.

If I'm in Boston I'll go with Harpoon IPA hands down over any Sam Adams product. But, overall I don't think SA is a bad beer. The Boston lager sure beats the hell out of Narragansett lager!

I like Sam Adams. Their Octoberfest was really good this year. I like most of their beers.

I still really love Sam Adams! Still buy it regularly. Boston Ale is hard to get around here so when I see it I buy it no matter what. I even like a cherry wheat now and then.
I must say though, to stay true, I bought one bottle of the coastal wheat, a couple weeks ago, I finished it because I bought it, but it made me sick to my stomach! Don't like it at all.

Ya the Coastal Wheat is nothing special...

BrianTheBrewer said:

What do you all think about Sam Adams and where they are today as a company and the products they sell?

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From what I remember from High School history, the original Samuel Adams was a propagandist.


I'm just saying.

I know that's been disputed, but I can't get that idea out of my head, and why you'd try to set the historic figure up as brewer!?


Their beer isn't that bad, but strikes me as a bit "processed" for something that has claims of being craft brew.

From reading some industry books and articles, Koch is thought highly among his peers, though he has pulled at least one big boner in his time. That deal where he was on a radio show and asked folks to call in with their sex story surrounding SA beer. Talk about your backfire! I remember seeing news footage of folks in Boston dumping the stuff down the gutters.

I think if you get SA Lager on draft, fresh and served at the right
temperature, it's a world classic. But any of these commercial beers
can be off for any number of reasons, like warm storage or if it's
on draft, the tail end of the keg. I just had a bottled Beck's lager
at somebody's house, and that's a decent light lager in good condition,
but this one tasted like 3 cigarette butts had been dunked in it.
It was probably bought at a supermarket, where they buy in bulk,
store it at or near room temp for awhile in the warehouse before
shipping to the supermarket, then let it sit out back for awhile
before it's put on the refrigerated shelf. The expiration date on
the case was sometime in the spring 2010, so it wasn't old beer.
Or maybe the guy who bought it didn't keep it cold. Then someone
went to the supermarket and brought back a sixpack of Shipyard
Export Ale, and same story, though not as bad.
Freshness is one of the main reasons to homebrew, imo.
Jim

SA Boston Lager fresh on draught is wonderful.

As a company, and their involvement in the craft brewer industry, I'm totally impressed. Especially in the way they aided the smaller brewer last year during the hop shortage by selling off their surplus hop supply.

I would also like to find some more of the triple bock I found a few years ago. Made an absolutely killer cheese dip!

Dave

I am not a big fan of theirs, and they have plenty of bad beers in their lineup (led by the Cherry Wheat), but I won't say "no" if I am offered a Boston Lager or Oktoberfest. The Cranberry Wit in the last Longshot pack was excellent, I thought.

I like a good fresh Boston lager on draft, pretty tastey and available almost everywhere. I do agree that the cherry wheat is downright bad, like someone added a shot of cherry NyQuil to a bottle of beer. I actually stopped drinking it and poured it out.

I think some people just enjoy being beer snobs (although most of the comments here so far have been pretty positive). The funny thing is it's usually people who don't really know that much to start with. I'll agree that I've had several not very great SA seasonals, but overall, I get SWMBO to buy SA over BMC at the wholesale club. Plus, they're some of my favorite bottles in terms of de-labeling and reusing.

I am not a fan of the Sam Summer. A little to much lemon taste for me.

Sacdan said:

I like Sam Adams. Their Octoberfest was really good this year. I like most of their beers.

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I forgot about the Octoberfest in my earlier post -- very good stuff also. I think I bought about a case of that this fall.

I love sam adams. haven't had a utopias (too expensive) but all the other beers were good .its the best mass produced beer out there!

Sam Adams is responsible for me not being a Corona/Miller/Amstel drinker today. For that, I owe them a lot.

And they are a SOLID company... hell, I took the time to write a letter to SA about my holiday sampler this year. The Holiday Porter was awesome, as always, but the Old Fezziwig was WAY off this year, and Coastal Wheat was just a bad call. I actually got a letter signed by Jim Koch himself and a SA check with his personal signature on it for $17 to "give my beer another chance". This, after I'd already told them I was a rabid SA fan! Jim Koch is a solid guy... he's been forced to be a mouthpiece for a very successful company, but I truly believe he's a homebrewer at heart. I support them whole-heartedly, even if I'm not crazy about all their beers. I personally will never again drink their Cranberry "Lambic", Cherry Wheat, or Scotch Ale, but that's OK. I can't get enough of the Winter Lager, Black Lager, regular Boston Lager, or the Brown and Boston Ales.

I got a holiday sampler for christmas. coastal wheat is a warm weather beer imo. dont't like any fruit flavor beers. they are for people who don't like beer.

Ok, I'll be one of the few dissenting votes.. I think for the most part SA sucks a$$ - ESPECIALLY the Cherry Wheat.

EDIT: Ok to be fair.. I forgot about their Oktoberfest.. Actually not bad...(eating Crow)

From Wikipedia

"The Samuel Adams brand began with Samuel Adams Boston Lager. The original recipe was developed in 1860 in St. Louis, Missouri by Louis Koch, who sold under the name Louis Koch Lager until Prohibition, and again until the early 1950s. In 1984, Jim Koch, the fifth-generation, first born son to follow in his family’s brewing footsteps, brewed his first batch of Samuel Adams Boston Lager in his kitchen, using the original family recipe for Louis Koch Lager. At the time, Koch was working at Boston Consulting Group after receiving BA, MBA and JD degrees from Harvard University. In December 1984, Koch left his career at Boston Consulting Group to focus full-time on brewing craft beer. Shortly thereafter, he optimized the recipe with the help of Joseph Owades, the man credited with the invention of light beer in the 1970s.


The brand was first produced under contract by the Pittsburgh Brewing Company, best known for their Iron City brand of beer. Over the years, the brand has been produced under contract at various brewing facilities with excess capacity, ranging from Stroh breweries, Portland's original Blitz-Weinhard brewery (shuttered in 1999), Cincinnati's Hudepohl-Schoenling brewery (eventually purchased by the Boston Beer Company in early 1997), and industry giant SABMiller. The Boston Beer Company also has a small R&D brewery located in Boston (Jamaica Plain), Massachusetts, where public tours and beer tastings are offered. The brewery occupies part of the premises of the old Haffenreffer Brewery,[4] which had a tap which poured out free beer day and night.[5]Today, more than 35% of its beer is produced at its own recently renovated Cincinnati brewery. One-third of Samuel Adams beer is still produced under contract at breweries in Rochester, NY and Eden, NC. It is also being brewed in Latrobe, PA in the former Rolling Rock facility. According to the Company, its own employees, ingredients, and brewing processes are utilized at these contract sites. "

Personally, I enjoy Sam Adams Boston Lager and Stock Ale. I have found the quality and freshness to vary greatly across the country. When it is fresh on draft, it is one of the best beers I have ever had.

Jim Koch is a great salesperson. That is what you truly need to be to succeed in the brewing business.

I do like their Boston Lager however, I can't do more then a few bottles at a time. I find the aftertaste tends to linger a bit too long...

But, in the middle of July, after I've mowed the yard, they go down so easy...

He is a great at what he does. I believe he loves his own beer as well and personally will stand by it till the end. He is one of the founders of the craft beer movement. Yes he and the Boston Beer Company have grown and will keep growing but I see that as a good thing.

I've always had a postive view of Jim Koch.

I've talked with HBer's and other about the hop sale, I thought it was a marketing scheme. I have no idea or not if its uncommon for a brewery to have excess hop supplies and sell them off.

Having listened to the podcast of his keynote speech at the Homeberwers Conference (I think in 2008?) I don't really care if it was was publicity stunt. Surely SA recieved some good will from the gesture, but I actually think Jim Koch just thought it would be a good think to do over all. He seems to be a genuine man living his dream beyond his wildest expectations.

I liked the story above about the letter / check signed by him to replace a case.

Sam Adams last year let the homebrew club I use to be with have its annual Christmas party at the Sam Adams brewery here in Boston. Free beer on tap as well. Thought that was pretty cool.

I have gotten both the summer and winter variety packs. I don't really remember anything standing out in them but they were all drinkable. I do remember buying a 6 pack of Boston Ale and loving it. In fact I think I'm gonna pick up some Sam Adams tomorrow. I need some more bottles anyway.

Well this is now my 1,000 post (guess im cool now j/k).

The Boston ale is very good. I would say my favorite is the Black Lager. Very nice malt taste in this beer and very easy to drink a few.

I find their beer to be OK. Nothing that I would turn down but nothing that really makes me go crazy. Consistently rather good I would say.

However, I am growing tired of their tv advertising. Although the information in the ads is good, especially for those with no beer knowledge. It just seems that every commercial break I'm hearing that damn George Thorogood song that I hate to begin with. Maybe it's the channels that I watch (Discovery channel and science channel and locals).

Edit: After thinking about it longer I do really like the summer ale although not everyone does.

Well the ads work because people all over this country love it.

Also funny...just thought about this...how Jim Koch came out with his new glass last year and how it actually does make the lager taste better. Then all of a sudden Bud goes and does the same thing for the Great American Lager.