Anybody try those new Sam Adams yet?

[Airborneguy]

Thats snobbery on your part. I still routinely by Sams, its by far my favorite lager.

I routinely buy Budwieser, it's one of my favorite lagers. I also routinely defend Budwieser and discredit Beer Wars on this site whenever I can. I throw up whenever I read something written on Beer Advocate.

I'd pay $100 to anyone who can find a snobbish quote from me on this site (regarding beer of course )

 

[doctorRobert]

I routinely buy Budwieser, it's one of my favorite lagers. I also routinely defend Budwieser and discredit Beer Wars on this site whenever I can. I throw up whenever I read something written on Beer Advocate.

I'd pay $100 to anyone who can find a snobbish quote from me on this site (regarding beer of course )

You took offense with me saying sam wasnt a craft brewery, andI infered from what you wrote that there is something degrading with not being a craft brewery.

Also to further support my opinion, not only do they have seasonals, they have like 4 of them for each season, at least. Business school 101, increase the skus to increase sales. They make probably 2 to 3 dozen different beers over a year. This behavior is not seen from any other craft brewery, and I believe its because they went public. Nothing wrong with that, I would do the same. But doesnt sound like a craft brewery to me.

 

[Airborneguy]

I didn't take offense of anything. I don't make it my business to take offense to things that are written on forums. I disagreed with you, but definitely did not take offense.

Every brewery's goal is to make money. I don't want you to think I'm trying to argue with you, but your comment about seasonals is strange, at best. Almost every single brewery in the country releases seasonals, including every brewpub I have been to. Every single one.

If you hold this view of Sam Adams, what is your take on Dogfishhead? I mean, forget seasonals, they release weeklies!

 

[jetmechG550]

Goose Island???

 

[Homebrewtastic]

I love how most Sam Adams threads quickly become "Sam Adams sucks and Jim Koch is an ass" discussions.

I just managed to find single bottles of both of the new SA beers. The kolsch was definitely not good. And for me the saison was far too clean.

I think that the quality of Sam Adams has a lot to do with region. Here in Texas the noble pils is pretty awful. It has almost no hop character to it. Same thing with their IPA. I had a friend move to Boston a few years back and said that Sam Adams beer tastes so much better there.

I don't think that SA should be discredited, but at the same time they're hardly craft beer. Their beers mostly seem to be very dumbed and stripped down versions of styles that can easily appeal to the BMC crowd. I don't think that that's in and of itself a bad thing. At the least they're getting people to try something other than slightly alcoholic carbonated horse urine. But their beer is an important part of the beer scene.

I can attest to it. For me the Sam Adams white ale was the first beer to get me away from BMC. While I can now plainly say that it's a pretty poor example of a true Belgian Witbier, I'm glad it was around because otherwise I don't think I would gave made the jump into craft beer out of horse urine.

 

[Homebrewtastic]

I didn't take offense of anything. I don't make it my business to take offense to things that are written on forums. I disagreed with you, but definitely did not take offense.

Every brewery's goal is to make money. I don't want you to think I'm trying to argue with you, but your comment about seasonals is strange, at best. Almost every single brewery in the country releases seasonals, including every brewpub I have been to. Every single one.

If you hold this view of Sam Adams, what is your take on Dogfishhead? I mean, forget seasonals, they release weeklies!

You have to admit though that SA has an INSANE number of beers. I don't think his post was so much about seasonals as it was about their number of beers in general. Dogfish head doesn't even come close to making that many beers (not including brewpub).

 

[Mrmorrison21]

I've largely been of the opinion that SA isn't really isn't craft beer. And for the most part I still believe that. There are enough fantastic beers produced locally (WI) that I don't need to buy a beer shipped halfway across the country. HOWEVER, I recently purchased SA a Latitude 48 deconstructed 12 pack. It consists of brews each made with a single hop in the latitude 48 ipa. I thought it was super cool. It allowed me to experience the different hops purely and individually which I think was a great educational experience. Being a newer homebrewer it is a lot easier to learn about different hop characteristics by buying a single 12 pack than to brew a single hop batch of beer for each one. So for that, I salute you SA.

 

[Airborneguy]

Dogfish head doesn't even come close to making that many beers (not including brewpub).

Seriously? Sam finds something in an ancient txt about astrology and turns it into a different beer ever 3 days. I don't think any brewery in the world comes close to the amount of beers Dogfishead makes. Sam Adams makes a lot, don't get me wrong (still confused as to how that makes them "not craft"), but you must have never looked at Dogfish's list if you're going to make that statement.

There are 102 different beers listed on this page from Dogfish's site.

http://www.dogfish.com/brews-spirits/the-brews/index.htm

Sam Adams produces nowhere near that. As for your qualifying statement, "Not including brewpub", that's like saying "AB doesn't produce a lot of beer, not including Budwieser." Does having a CHAIN of brewpubs (yes, there's more than one) somehow give them even more "craft cred"?

 

[doctorRobert]

I didn't take offense of anything. I don't make it my business to take offense to things that are written on forums. I disagreed with you, but definitely did not take offense.

Every brewery's goal is to make money. I don't want you to think I'm trying to argue with you, but your comment about seasonals is strange, at best. Almost every single brewery in the country releases seasonals, including every brewpub I have been to. Every single one.

If you hold this view of Sam Adams, what is your take on Dogfishhead? I mean, forget seasonals, they release weeklies!

My point was is that they are more concerned with quantity than quality. DFH releases seasonals as a way to experiment and introduce rare beer. Sam, imo, introduces a bunch of ordinary seasonals to boost sales, product placement, etc. Some of them are only sold in a mix pack. You know any other craft brewery thatll make you buy a case just to try one of their brews?

 

[broadbill]

My point was is that they are more concerned with quantity than quality. DFH releases seasonals as a way to experiment and introduce rare beer. Sam, imo, introduces a bunch of ordinary seasonals to boost sales, product placement, etc. Some of them are only sold in a mix pack. You know any other craft brewery thatll make you buy a case just to try one of their brews?

Off the top o' my head:
Saranac
Victory Brewing Co
Otter Creek
Magic Hat (in fact if you want anything other than #9, you are buying a mix pack)
Dundee (although they are owned by Genney, not sure they fall under craft-brew)

Pretty much every brewery in the Portland ME area has beers you can only get in a mix pack; I'll discount them because that might be a regional thing:
Shipyard
Geary's
Sebago Brewing

But Lookie-here Doc: Your own definition of a craft beer company (Sierra Nevada) even has a mix pack (The Beer Camp offerings):

http://www.grin.craftbeerguild.org/product/sierra-nevada-beer-camp-variety-pack

 

[broadbill]

I've largely been of the opinion that SA isn't really isn't craft beer. And for the most part I still believe that. There are enough fantastic beers produced locally (WI) that I don't need to buy a beer shipped halfway across the country. HOWEVER, I recently purchased SA a Latitude 48 deconstructed 12 pack. It consists of brews each made with a single hop in the latitude 48 ipa. I thought it was super cool. It allowed me to experience the different hops purely and individually which I think was a great educational experience. Being a newer homebrewer it is a lot easier to learn about different hop characteristics by buying a single 12 pack than to brew a single hop batch of beer for each one. So for that, I salute you SA.

I think Sam Adams releasing the Latitude 48 deconstructed pack is a good example why they still are a craft beer company, despite the sales figures. At the heart of their operation they are still innovating, trying new things and frankly, doing things that even other small, more nimble craft breweries cant/aren't doing yet!. Between that, the long-shot competition, rolling out new beers every year...I really can't understand how you couldn't consider them craft.

The only reason I can think of is because they have one mass-produced product out on the market (Boston Lager).

 

[unionrdr]

We used to drink a lot of SA summer ale,started buying it again recently. Quite frankly,it looks & tasted like my 1st brew (cooper's OS lager),with some dif hops tossed in. I did get a hint of citrus,but bigger floral hit that stays in the roof of the mouth. Not in a bad way,though. Still very drinkable,but almost like an English pale ale or something.

 

[OhioBri]

If it wasn't for their variety, I wouldn't have much of a choice except for BMC in these parts....so I am a big fan. However, I am not fond of the Summer Ale either. I've had worse experiences drinking it out of a keg than bottle though. I'm not sure why....maybe dirty lines at the local watering hole.

 

[unionrdr]

That's sort of why I'm thinking of cloning it when I get time. We've got 2 batches bubbling away now,with a whiskely ale recipe waiting in the wings that I should've gotten to already. But it doesn't seem to be much more than a simple pale ale,imho anyway.

 

[Homebrewtastic]

Seriously? Sam finds something in an ancient txt about astrology and turns it into a different beer ever 3 days. I don't think any brewery in the world comes close to the amount of beers Dogfishead makes. Sam Adams makes a lot, don't get me wrong (still confused as to how that makes them "not craft"), but you must have never looked at Dogfish's list if you're going to make that statement.

There are 102 different beers listed on this page from Dogfish's site.

http://www.dogfish.com/brews-spirits/the-brews/index.htm

Sam Adams produces nowhere near that. As for your qualifying statement, "Not including brewpub", that's like saying "AB doesn't produce a lot of beer, not including Budwieser." Does having a CHAIN of brewpubs (yes, there's more than one) somehow give them even more "craft cred"?

Ugh. Stop being so confrontational. Just because you drink swill doesn't give you license to have little person syndrome when you're being disagreed with.

75% of that beer on their website was brewed once... one batch as an experiment for the brewpub. That's how they come out with their new bottled beers. They try them in small batches at the pub.

 

[Airborneguy]

Ooops... sorry for hitting the DFH bone. Stop being confrontational? Did I accuse anyone on this thread of having "little person syndrome"? You might want to call Sam Calagione, maybe he can make you a beer to help with that

 

[optimatored]

SA is not the quintessitnal craft brewery they were lets say 10-15 years ago... today they are more mainstream, can be found in almost every states, and everyone has heard of them. I think that is awesome... he is living the "American Dream."

A fresh keg of SA Lager is amazing... as are some their other beers. Some also suck as I pointed out earlier.

If a craft brewery is something other than Coors Light and Bud, then I guess just about every other brewery in the world is "craft beer."

 

[o4_srt]

My point was is that they are more concerned with quantity than quality. DFH releases seasonals as a way to experiment and introduce rare beer. Sam, imo, introduces a bunch of ordinary seasonals to boost sales, product placement, etc. Some of them are only sold in a mix pack. You know any other craft brewery thatll make you buy a case just to try one of their brews?

Just about all of them in PA. Beer can only be by the case for the most part, unless there is a decent priced 6 pack shop around. There are 2 in my area, but to piece together a sixer at the one is usually $25-$30, and the other only sells by the six pack, and has a minimal selection of craft beer.

It's better to just buy a sampler.