Does anyone else think Sam Adam's beer sucks

[H-ost]

This is surprising...

In the "worst commercial beer" thread Sam Adams was getting dumped on as far as the majority of posters were concerned... I'm pretty sure several people even pointed that out in that thread. I opened this thread expecting it to be a trash pile on SA but it seems to have flip flopped.

I haven't tried SA enough to have any real input but I will say that I would choose their boston lager at a place if they didn't offer any other craft beer.

 

[kaconga]

Oh rubbish...

Hyperbole much?

Evil? Really?

Are you familiar with walmarts business practices? I don't know if it is evil but it comes close if not. Originally Walmart was a stellar company run by Sam Walton. Now his children and the shareholders have put profit above all else. If love of money is the root of all evil then Walmart would rank pretty high on that scale.

I work in a grocery warehouse that is in direct competition in my area with Walmart. My brother works for a local Walmart. Guess who has the better job? The basic business practices of Walmart preclude it towards abuse of its employees. Not trying to bash on Walmart shoppers or the employees. Just my opinion.

As for the original topic, the fact that the local Walmart doesn't carry Sam Adams is just another reason why it doesn't suck

 

[libeerty]

I can see why people could suggest that Sam Adams "sold out" (even if i think it's unfounded). I can't see it about DFH. I could see the claim that DFH has gotten gimmicky, but not selling out. Depending on the beer, I'd usually prefer SA to DFH, but only cause i don't like DFH's crazier creations, where SA does a lot more straightforward stuff even if it's not the best of it's particular style. But even if i don't like them all i still think DFH is a more talented brewery.

+1, with the caveat that "more talented" is defined as pushing the envelope, willing to experiment, take risks, and having a great degree of success doing so. And acknowledging Sam has among the most wide-ranging portfolios of any brewery in history, whereas DFH has taken a different route. And, I still think Sam Lager is the best American lager I've ever had.

But I've been damn disappointed in some recent offerings from Sam. The Porch Rocker never should have been sold. A terrible, terrible beer. I find their Alpine Spring appalling. And I can't remember a single "special edition" brew from them I enjoyed in the past year or 2 except their chocolate bock.

 

[lunchbox]

Their cream stout is one of my favorite beers.

 

[hoptualBrew]

Personal opinion of Sam Adams;

They have a lot of safe, "classic", to style beers. Some are great, some are mediocre, and some are not good at all. Noble Pils is a beautiful beer imo and their recent rotating series has some really nice offerings such as Tasman Red IPA and their Sahti. I think comparing them to "craft" category brewers like Cigar City Brewing and Three Floyds Brewing isn't fair necessarily, as Boston Beer Company is more traditional in their approach to the market. I'm personally not a fan of their Boston Lager, nore a good amount of their IPA's but what far outweighs that is that they are a pioneer and grandfather of the industry as well as kind to the homebrewer following with their Longshot competitions and their "Sam Adams Brewing the American Dream" campaign that donated $100,000 to startup breweries. Maybe some of their beers get lost among flamboyant offerings from other breweries, but anyone who bashes on the brewery I don't think has respect for the industry in which it paved the way for.

 

[doctorRobert]

The problem I have with Sam Adams is that it appears their beers are designed by the marketing department not by a beer geek. Every beer has a gimmick and 90 percent of the time I think that gimmick detracts from the flavor

 

[Fizzycist]

Gimmicky like the simple and tasty "Summer Ale" I just had at a Red Robin? All the other choices were BMC so I'll take it as a plus.

 

[Dan]

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.

It was in Fresno CA. SA's lager is about the only one of his I care for but this one was just bad. I think in all my years of drinking beer that was the only time I didn't finish a beer because it tasted fowl.

An airport bar? My guess would be dirty tap lines. I'd try bottle beer next time.

I think you're right Rico and next time I will try a bottle.

 

[ChessRockwell]

I find their Alpine Spring appalling

You're not the first one I've heard say this, and I just don't understand, what is so awfully appalling about it? I mean to me it was a pretty drinkable, the crisp clean refreshing-ness of a lager with a little citrus, nothing standing out to really piss you off. Why the bad reviews?

 

[BrewKnurd]

You're not the first one I've heard say this, and I just don't understand, what is so awfully appalling about it? I mean to me it was a pretty drinkable, the crisp clean refreshing-ness of a lager with a little citrus, nothing standing out to really piss you off. Why the bad reviews?

Yeah, my thoughts as well. It was drinkable, nothing special, but i personally don't see how it had any characteristic that was strong enough to possibly be appalling.

 

[GioGomez2010]

Their summer ale was good. I actually liked it and found it refreshing. Their Boston Lager gave me a weird after taste that I just couldn't get rid of till I drank some water. Sam Adams is hard to find in Utah do I don't usually have it.

 

[Apple_Jacker]

I forgot about the Noble Pils. I do enjoy that beer from Samuel Adams. Beyond that, nothing I've had of their selection has caused me to want to go buy it. I am not a fan of their Boston Lager either.

 

[kh54s10]

Another NO here. I have not tried a lot of their styles but I have only had one, a seasonal spiced or fruit beer, that I didn't like.

 

[Airborneguy]

Fizzywhig? Not my favorite either.

 

[ghpeel]

Boston Lager is good, Boston Ale ain't bad, their Scotch Ale was OK, some of my friends really love the Summer Ale, the Octoberfest is DAMN GOOD, the White Ale is pretty tasty, the Noble Pils is delicious. Their Smoked Bock is interesting.

However, their Hefe sucked bad, the Pale Ale wasn't great, the Cherry Wheat is like drinking candy (in a bad way), and the Cranberry Lambic is an abomination.

Their line of homebrew recipes sucks too. The Munich this year wasn't bad, but the Alt sucked and the Stout was so-so (I'm not a stout guy). Last years were GOD AWEFUL. It was a ****ty "black" IPA, a Belgian IPA and a honey/lavender beer (shudder). However a few years back, their homebrew line included Mike McDole's DIPA (yum).

 

[amandabab]

Their Boston Lager gave me a weird after taste that I just couldn't get rid of till I drank some water.

I like Boston Lager, but this year was not their finest hour.

 

[Pesi]

I routinely but the mix 12 whenever there is a new one out. I'm still relatively new to craft beers but I find it's an easy, convenient way to learn about the styles. After I try one for the first time and have my own opinion of it I'll look it up on rate beer and beer advocate to see how good or bad it represents the style.

With all the different beers they make they're not all gonna be great but I do think they deserve credit for making different styles available to the masses

Oh and I love their Schwarzbier

 

[Pesi]

Buy*

 

[thisgoestoeleven]

Sam Adams was my "gateway drug" for craft beer. I love Boston Lager, Noble Pils, and Latitude 48. I'm also a sucker for Old Fezziwig in the winter sampler pack.

 

[Willum]

Sam Adams was my "gateway drug" for craft beer. I love Boston Lager, Noble Pils, and Latitude 48. I'm also a sucker for Old Fezziwig in the winter sampler pack.

I have to agree with you all on all of the above. I also like the Whitewater IPA they put out recently. They use to make a great american wheat for the spring season, but they make something else now.

 

[drkaeppel]

Overall, I enjoy Sam Adams beers. A few of them are far too sweet (Chocolate Cherry Bock) and most of them have a distinct aftertaste that I don't always like. I really enjoy their Oktoberfest and a few of their other seasonals.

 

[Justintoxicated]

I don't really care for any of them, but will drink when the other options are BMC, unless I'm at the desert, then I might take a BMC to quench my thirst. I think I liked their white ale many years ago, but I have tried it sense then and found it disgusting as well. But I live right next to Stone, and work less than a block from greenflash, and a few minutes from alesmith so I am definitely spoiled.

 

[Dan]

I don't really care for any of them, but will drink when the other options are BMC, unless I'm at the desert, then I might take a BMC to quench my thirst. I think I liked their white ale many years ago, but I have tried it sense then and found it disgusting as well. But I live right next to Stone, and work less than a block from greenflash, and a few minutes from alesmith so I am definitely spoiled.

Maybe you are spoiled by the great beer available. Nothing wrong with that Justinintoxicated - it happens.

As our pallets for beer grow
It dives into our soul
But don't ever forget or regret
The first beers you met!

Ha!

 

[DrunkleJon]

Bought the fall mix box the other night. Containing 2 of each Octoberfest, Pumpkin, A Hazelnut Brown, a Dunkel, the Latitude IPA, and the Boston Lager. I noticed something while drinking them. They all smell alike. Or not at all. I have noticed absolutely no aroma to any of them. I will enjoy the fruitless SA beers as they are consistant and better than the usual 'light' or 'lite' on offer. I do enjoy the Octoberfest, and I must say the Hazel Brown was tasty. The Latitude is a little lackluster, seemed a little too sweet/fruity for the amount of hops I tasted.

 

[doctorRobert]

Bought the fall mix box the other night. Containing 2 of each Octoberfest, Pumpkin, A Hazelnut Brown, a Dunkel, the Latitude IPA, and the Boston Lager. I noticed something while drinking them. They all smell alike. Or not at all. I have noticed absolutely no aroma to any of them. I will enjoy the fruitless SA beers as they are consistant and better than the usual 'light' or 'lite' on offer. I do enjoy the Octoberfest, and I must say the Hazel Brown was tasty. The Latitude is a little lackluster, seemed a little too sweet/fruity for the amount of hops I tasted.

I agree. I think it's a combination of their yeast strain, and the pasteurization - which is unusual for most craft breweries - however some do it and still have aroma.

 

[0202]

Another NO here. I have not tried a lot of their styles but I have only had one, a seasonal spiced or fruit beer, that I didn't like.

Fizzywhig was terrible. Boston Lager, Oktoberfest and Noble Pils were not bad at all. They beat BMC in variety and quality, and often show up at the same places.

NOT AN IMPORT.

 

[Whiskey]

I like SA and will drink most of the beers they produce. My biggest complaint is that some of my favorites are only bundled in the seasonal packs and never get released in their own six packs.

 

[WhiskeySam]

I think Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada both do the American Brewing Movement the most good. They both make consistent, good, sometimes great, reasonably priced beer that is distributed nationwide. I favor SN over Sam, but that doesn't mean that Sam Adams is "bad". Quite the contrary. They do a good job of making good-to-great beer and presenting it as such.

My problem, and every home brewers problem, with Sam Adams is the "competition" they run to "discover" new craft brewed beers. Their "Irish Red" for example, was a "winner" of this competition. This means that Sam Adams did not make their Irish Red, they bought it from a home brewer. Their "competition" awards the "winner" a one time fee of something like $5,000 bucks and no licensing residuals. THEY get the recipe and the ownership of the name. Think about this whenever you drink a Sam Adams Irish Red, or any of the other "Sam Adams" beers that were essentially stolen from one of our home brewing brothers and sisters.

Jim Koch, as a homebrewer himself, should feel nothing but shame about this.

 

[0202]

Jim Koch, as a homebrewer himself, should feel nothing but shame about this.

Or you could look at it like giving a home brewer the chance to work with a commercial brewery to distribute their beer nationally with their face and name on the bottle?

Isn't that embracing home brewers?

Other than that part, I thought your comments on both breweries were spot on.

 

[SleepyCreekBrews]

I think they make a fine beer, although I won't try anything with fruit.
I nevery buy it though because there are some many great beers from NC breweries available for same price or less.

 

[WhiskeySam]

Or you could look at it like giving a home brewer the chance to work with a commercial brewery to distribute their beer nationally with their face and name on the bottle?

Isn't that embracing home brewers?

Other than that part, I thought your comments on both breweries were spot on.

No, it's not embracing home brewers. It's encouraging them to participate in a competition so you can steal the best recipe and then profit from it without fairly compensating the inventor of the recipe. How many homebrewers enter this competition just for fun, then "win" and get their 5,000 dollar check, and then realize that THEIR BEER now belongs to Sam Adams and Sam Adams is profiting in perpetuity on their beer.

If this was a licensing agreement I'd have no problem with it. If there was some kind of part-ownership of the beer itself and the profits therefrom, I'd have no problem with it. But that's not what it is. It's an effort to take advantage of the "Homebrew Cred" that Jim Koch has and outsource their R&D functions to the homebrewing community.

 

[Bensiff]

Once upon a time I loved Alaskan Amber, then I noticed it seemed to lose something and I stopped drinking it. About a year later I read an article how right about the time I thought it lost something they had just installed a massive automated brewing system for flawless beers. I think that is the curse of the macro-micro's, they hit a point where quality control has to go through the roof and in that they lose part of their character, SA included. It reminds me of my uncle who is a concert pianist and professor of music, he says that Yamaha pianos are technically perfect in every way and because of that they have no soul and as such he prefers not to play them.

But, from everything I have ever read Koch is a stand-up guy who does plenty for homebrewers and small scale brewers so my hats off to him for being an example to the business.

 

[0202]

If this was a licensing agreement I'd have no problem with it.

This is a good point, one that I had overlooked and even lambasted similar competitions (non beer) in the past for. I guess I wanted to believe that they are doing something good but business is business. There could always be the case that licensing isn't practical like that, or some explanation making it less nefarious. Most home brewers probably won't ever sell their beer anyway, though the fair way to do it is to compensate them for the profit and not the idea.

 

[kaconga]

No, it's not embracing home brewers. It's encouraging them to participate in a competition so you can steal the best recipe and then profit from it without fairly compensating the inventor of the recipe. How many homebrewers enter this competition just for fun, then "win" and get their 5,000 dollar check, and then realize that THEIR BEER now belongs to Sam Adams and Sam Adams is profiting in perpetuity on their beer.

If this was a licensing agreement I'd have no problem with it. If there was some kind of part-ownership of the beer itself and the profits therefrom, I'd have no problem with it. But that's not what it is. It's an effort to take advantage of the "Homebrew Cred" that Jim Koch has and outsource their R&D functions to the homebrewing community.

So are you thinking the winner can no longer brew that recipe at home legally? I would feel honored to have a beer I created end up being tasted by such a large audience. Would I like to be the guy who makes all profits off said beer? You bet! Do I care to take the time, effort and capital to make that happen? No way. I would take the 5k and bragging rights over nothing. Hell if I could sell recipes for 5k a pop I would be happy.

 

[Bensiff]

This is a good point, one that I had overlooked and even lambasted similar competitions (non beer) in the past for. I guess I wanted to believe that they are doing something good but business is business. There could always be the case that licensing isn't practical like that, or some explanation making it less nefarious. Most home brewers probably won't ever sell their beer anyway, though the fair way to do it is to compensate them for the profit and not the idea.

They are a big company in a highly regulated industry...there may be good reason for this from a litigation or regulatory standpoint. I won't judge until I know for certain. On the flip side, I did notice that during the hop shortage they sold excess hops they contracted for to homebrewers and micros at cost.

 

[Cape Brewing]

No, it's not embracing home brewers. It's encouraging them to participate in a competition so you can steal the best recipe and then profit from it without fairly compensating the inventor of the recipe. How many homebrewers enter this competition just for fun, then "win" and get their 5,000 dollar check, and then realize that THEIR BEER now belongs to Sam Adams and Sam Adams is profiting in perpetuity on their beer.

If this was a licensing agreement I'd have no problem with it. If there was some kind of part-ownership of the beer itself and the profits therefrom, I'd have no problem with it. But that's not what it is. It's an effort to take advantage of the "Homebrew Cred" that Jim Koch has and outsource their R&D functions to the homebrewing community.

That's a huge steaming pile... None of those beers get made "in perpetuity". They are all special releases and Boston Beer Co "retains the rights" to those beers that, in any time in the future, they brew a similar beer, the contest winner can't come back and try to sue them over the beer.

Do you really think, with their resources they have they can't r&d any freakin beer style on the planet??

 

[bob1852]

They are a big company in a highly regulated industry...there may be good reason for this from a litigation or regulatory standpoint. I won't judge until I know for certain. On the flip side, I did notice that during the hop shortage they sold excess hops they contracted for to homebrewers and micros at cost.

And don't forget about their small loan program to help out new small breweries.

That's a huge steaming pile... None of those beers get made "in perpetuity". They are all special releases and Boston Beer Co "retains the rights" to those beers that, in any time in the future, they brew a similar beer, the contest winner can't come back and try to sue them over the beer.

Do you really think, with their resources they have they can't r&d any freakin beer style on the planet??

I agree. It's good PR for Sam Adams and it's a cool opportunity for the homebrewer who wins. It's just legalize to protect both parties, not some big ass conspiracy so Koch can get rich. Wait, is he related to the Koch brothers?


Besides, everyone knows that the breweries send their R&D teams to club night at NHC to get that info for free.

 

[Cape Brewing]

Besides, everyone knows that the breweries send their R&D teams to club night at NHC to get that info for free.

Pfft... Please. That's too far. They send their team down to Norton, Ma and scope out the epic libations of Cape Brewing. Until I gots all gangsta pro on their axes. Now they're shut off.

Rumor has it they have been checking out PTN... Hence the massive drop in sales and overall "poo" taste some folks have complained about.

 

[bob1852]

Pfft... Please. That's too far. They send their team down to Norton, Ma and scope out the epic libations of Cape Brewing. Until I gots all gangsta pro on their axes. Now they're shut off.

Ah, the whole 'take a tried and true style and somehow put some spin on it'?

 

[Cape Brewing]

I'll give you a spin on it!!!

Wait...

That's not right.

And mock all you want. When I'm jockin' alllllll da hoes... We'll see laughs after the other guy laughs last.... and sht.