Sam Adams

[bigjohnmilford]

SA is not the best beer out there by any means but as it's been stated in numerous replies it's the gateway beer to the real good stuff. It's the most common non bmc beer at most restaraunts and isn't that bad. I'd much rather have a Boston larger than any bmc product.

 

[Desert_Sky]

I don't care for them at all. They preach craft beer, but they long since moved on from craft brewing a long time ago. They still contract out some of their beers anyways. Which means they don't even brew some themselves. They pay Pittsburgh Brewing Company to produce beers, and Sam puts their label on it.

 

[landhoney]

I bash them for one reason, and one reason only. I don't like their beer

+1

Except I also can't stand Jim Koch, the word smarmy( excessively or unctuously flattering, ingratiating, servile, etc) comes to mind, as does the word phoney. Yes they do a lot for homebrewers......so they can sell more beer? The commercials he's in are awful/fakey, he's out to make money and seems to be trying to put on a false image of what SA is to the general public( non-beer EAC's). The Cranberry Lambic is a perfect example. It's nothing like a real Lambic, but thousands will try it and say, "So this is what a Lambic is." No its not, Sam Adams has just fooled you. You can get all the beer styles of the world from Sam Adams

I'm not coming from a 'I used to drink only BMC until Sam Adams opened my eyes to other beers' perspective, so I only feel their beers are OK to downright awful, which does not signal a 'buy' for me. I don't fault them for trying to make money, some of their tactics are less than favorable(Cran Lambic), but its a business like any other. I just chose not to support them, except for the longshot six pack.

 

[Donasay]

I actually live up the street from the Boston Brewery, and I must say their brewery tours are awesome. They give out free beer at the end and you get to look at all the cool brew kettles. The "Boston Lager" is actually an old pre prohibition lager recipe that Jim Koch's Great grandfather or something used to brew, they just revived the old recipe gave it a new name and some marketing spin and it took off during the 80's when there were no other beers like it on the market. They were the first to innovate and make flavorful (at the time, by todays standards they are lacking) different beers, and the first to mass produce them. Essentially at this point they are the 900 lb gorilla in the craft brew market.

Unfortunately they are no longer considered innovative with their brews, and focus mainly on those things that will have mass appeal. The long shot brewing competition is a prime example, they have other homebrewers doing their innovation for them, and offer them only a few thousand bucks and the chance to get 15 minutes of fame.

 

[Pugilist]

The long shot brewing competition is a prime example, they have other homebrewers doing their innovation for them, and offer them only a few thousand bucks and the chance to get 15 minutes of fame.

That is a very good point, hadn't thought of it.

 

[cglkaptc]

Their Boston Lager is great. Havn't really had to much of their other beers, or I have and it wasn't good enough to leave an impression. Like everyone else, I usually order it at bars that don't have a selection, but if given the chance I get a Micro Brew.

 

[Dinbin]

While I'm not a huge fan of their beers, I am very impressed by the way that Sam Adams has helped introduce so many new people to a better class of beer. The Boston Lager was my first taste of something other then BMC, as it was for many others out there. I may not have liked it as much as others but it sparked my interest in something different from the good ol boys beer we grew up drinking. So Cheers to BBC

 

[rdwj]

I like many of the Sam Adams beers and think the company is well run. I'd also be willing to bet that if I repackaged and sent out SA products as part of a beer swap, most people that claim to hate the product would rave about them if they thought it was home brew. I'd bet that's expecially true of the Black Lager.

 

[cd2448]

i think the only thing i have against SA is that they started out brewing so much of their stuff under contract, particularly with all the hands on stuff you see in the ads.

around south jersey/philly there are other alternatives in the majority of bars, blue moon is getting to be everywhere, i love yeungling lager, dogfish IPA is in a good few places, jersey's own flying fish is in a lot of places, so i haven't experienced SA as the gateway beer. i did like the 12 of oktoberfest i got last fall, though, that's the best i've tasted. cherry wheat is revolting but to be fair i'm not a fruit in beer fan so probably won't like anybody's cherry wheat.

 

[abracadabra]

I like many of the Sam Adams beers and think the company is well run. I'd also be willing to bet that if I repackaged and sent out SA products as part of a beer swap, most people that claim to hate the product would rave about them if they thought it was home brew. I'd bet that's expecially true of the Black Lager.

I think the Black Lager is awesome!

blue moon is getting to be everywhere

I heard that Coors bought out Blue Moon so with there marketing and distribution it's not suprising that it should be appearing in more places

 

[Dr Malt]

A few facts related to some of the comments.

Sam Adams or Boston Beer is about the 5th or 6th largest brewer in the USA with about 1.6 barrels produced in 2006. This makes them bigger than a regional brewer (Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, Redhook, Widmer, Kalamazoo) and the smallest national brewer (AB, Coors, Miller). The "brewery" was started as a marketing venture and thus why they contracted the brewing of their beer. They are now investing in actual breweries. The small brewery in Boston that they refer to in the commercials is a functioning brewery but is mainly used for small volumes of beer and product development.

As for Blue Moon, it has always been owned by Coors. It was a product they first developed and brewed at their small "microbrewery" at Coors Field. However, today Blue Moon is made at Coors and Molson plants to the tune of about 900,000 barrels.

Just a little information.

Dr Malt

 

[cd2448]

good info, Dr Malt, thanks!

 

[oguss0311]

Blue moon could have been a thread in and of itself! It's another gaitway beer as far as I see- it leads to hogarden (look I have no idea how to spell that right). And it has turned my Very BMC oriented brother in law into some one who would......."Fruit the beer".
I guess coors left all the cheaper rice grains out of that one- (I hope). It does taste a lot like some of the other micro's attempts at wit/wisse/heffe-whatever- that I have tasted. I don't dislike it at all.

 

[gresc]

They have good marketing folks who make them seem like a local brewery, I think that's why they get a bad rap, people see through that.
That said, I love the taste of a Boston Lager. I brewing a clone as we speak, I just wish I could get my hands on some good hops.
Also tried their Hallertau Imperial Pilsner and it's to die for !

 

[WhyTee]

I think SA is pretty decent. I believe that it does open many people's eyes to what a good beer could taste like. As for their marketing, it's ok. Marketing is marketing though. Is it annoying? Ya, but not nearly as annoying as 99% of the other commercials. Have you seen that new marketing campaign from budweiser? Pretty similar. Some hip dude, giving a mini-lesson on lager. What about fosters marketing? That particular "Australian" beer comes from Canada. And my god, those coors commercials with clips from old football coach interviews, or silver trains plowing through cities. I guess they're all pretty annoying

 

[PeteOz77]

I know I'm showing my age here, but when Sam Adams was introduced (in the 80's I believe) it WAS microbrew... at the time there was really no such thing, certainly not that I was aware of here in Maine. I may have had my head too deep in my Budweiser can, but I don't remember hearing the term 'microbrew' till it was associated with SA. I've told my buddies before... SA opened my eyes to what a beer could be.

Now, in the advent of microbreweries and distribution agreements that get the local brews some exposure, I can definately say there are others that are better than SA, but I give props for their leadership in getting this whole thing started. When in a resturant with little local beer to offer, I certainly am willing to pay homiage to good ole SA.

As to SA's support of homebrewing, I do believe they still run their recipe contest every year.... they take recipes/samples and choose one to brew and distribute.

By the way, I agree their Oktoberfest was absolutely kick butt this year, in my opinion...

+2 on the "getting this whole thing started" comment

If it weren't for Sam Adams, mosst of you would still be drinking BMC. They started the microbrewery trend, and if they had not done it, maybe some one else would have, maybe around the same time, or maybe MUCH later, but the point is, they had teh balls to market a beer that was NOT BMC.

Is it perfect? Nothing ever is... Might be perfect fo rme, and you hate it.
Is it Good? Yeah, better than most.

 

[eddie]

I like SA Boston Lager and Winter Lager. I recently tried their White Ale and found myself...underwhelmed to say the least. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

 

[Pugilist]

I see people keep mentioning Blue Moon as being owned by the big time now too. I have tried a bunch of their beers and found them repulsive. Most recent was their seasonal pumpkin, took two sips and poured it.

I think when alot of micro's go mainstream the quality is bound to take a large hit.

 

[rdwj]

Blue moon could have been a thread in and of itself! It's another gaitway beer as far as I see- it leads to hogarden (look I have no idea how to spell that right). And it has turned my Very BMC oriented brother in law into some one who would......."Fruit the beer".
I guess coors left all the cheaper rice grains out of that one- (I hope). It does taste a lot like some of the other micro's attempts at wit/wisse/heffe-whatever- that I have tasted. I don't dislike it at all.

Hoegaarden is no different than Blue Moon. They're actually owned by one of the largest brewing companies in the world - Interbrew. They're bigger than Coors. They own Stella Artois too. They're contract brewed just like SA. They're not the untra-premium micro some people think they are.

 

[njnear76]

My brother-in-law used to love Sam Adams. Then we did a side by side comparison with our homebrew. He doesn't like Sam Adams any more.

In my humble opinion Sam Adams has a grainy taste and smell to it. I think it would be much better if they didn't filter out the yeast.

 

[missing link]

I heard an interview with Jim Koch at the GABF and he didn't sound near as arrogant as he seems in the commercials. He went into detail about how he is the only brewer in the world that personally travels to Europe to find hops for his beer and that SA has won more awards internationally than any other brewery.

I like the Boston Lager. I have a clone on tap now getting carbonated. The Sam Adams Light is a great beer to share with BMC drinkers so I don't have to drink BMC.

Black Lager seemed to lack flavor to me. I love the Ocktober fest, winter lager etc.

That said, the Bells great lakes lager is awesome - ever try it?

Linc

 

[RockfordWhite]

I don't care for them at all. They preach craft beer, but they long since moved on from craft brewing a long time ago. They still contract out some of their beers anyways. Which means they don't even brew some themselves. They pay Pittsburgh Brewing Company to produce beers, and Sam puts their label on it.

It's not pittsburgh brewing company, it's latrobe brewing company

 

[MikeyP]

I've actually had a similar converstation about SA with another homebrewer last weekend, ironically. I think what we ended up aggreeing on is that we were over analyzing the whole thing. SA makes some good beers, and SA makes some bad beers. Even beers like their oktoberfest can be hit or miss depending on the year...I know this doesn't feel right to say, but as far as light beer goes, their SA Light puts most light beer to shame, imho.

I still havent' been able to get their pale ale or imperial pilsner, which might be why I'm reserving any critical judgment.

I haven't been to their brew tour, but on a trip up to Boston, I did make it to the boston beer works and the publick house. Unless SA showers you in free beer, I doubt it can be better than either of these, especially beer works.

 

[Hopleaf]

It beats the hell out of BMC, imho. I like their schwarzbier and honey porter.

 

[southsidebrewer]

+ 3 on "getting this whole thing started"...

they ran (and maybe still run) a commercial last year talking about how "all" of their staff brew beer at home. i recall a clip where a girl is stove-top brewing and her wort boils over onto the floor...anyone remember this?? this commercial actually got me thinking, "why am i not brewing my own beer?" a couple months later i was drinking my first home brew.

i've also been a fan of their boston lager for years...beats the hell out of AB and miller IMHO. their octoberfest is my going away favorite of the available selections.

cheers,

southsidebrewer

 

[iamjonsharp]

I enjoy almost all of Samuel Adam's brews. Granted, I rarely come across a beer made by any company that I don't enjoy.

This is reminiscent of some of my friends in high school who got all upset when their favorite underground indie rock bands got popular and ended up on MTV. They would no longer support the bands because they "sold out."

If a micro or craft brewery does so well that its now playing with the big boys of BMC, I say hats off to them.

 

[NitrouStang96]

I took too long to drink my Sam Adams last night and it had warmed up a good bit from the near freezing temp my fridge is at. I take back my previous statements about SA... it was good unfrozen

 

[cefmel]

I had my first SA in 1989 and it was very different from the normal industrial beers which I was use to drinking. I've always loved the hop profile of the Boston Lager which I believe is mainly Hallertau Mittlefrueh which I believe is no longer available for the near future. I mention this because it seems as if it isn't as good as it used to be. Either that or I'm turning into an old drunk and can't tell the difference.

The Cherry wheat is basically a wine cooler. Almost all the wine coolers on the market today are beer (malt beverage) except for Bartlers & James. So if you get the cherry wheat and you're expecting something that tastes like beer, you probably won't like it. I don't like the cherry wheat so when I get the mix pack, I give the cherry wheats to my friends who like wine and I tell them it's a wine cooler. They usually end up loving it, and at some point I show them what it is and they are surprised. It's all marketing.

 

[oguss0311]

Hoegaarden is no different than Blue Moon. They're actually owned by one of the largest brewing companies in the world - Interbrew. They're bigger than Coors. They own Stella Artois too. They're contract brewed just like SA. They're not the untra-premium micro some people think they are.

Figures. But Hoegaarden does bottle condition, right? It's been a while since I've had one and I can't be certain. I had considered that a mark of decent brewing.
That's good knowledge though- I'm glad you mentioned it.

SA Hallertaur (SP) - whatever its called- just got mentioned. I had a four pack of that- and it does indeed taste like you put your nose in a bag of Hallertau pellets. That was cool- the aftertaste was like Bile for me. I'm not much of a hop-head. But I thought it was really over the top. It is good for those of you out there who are tempted to inject your spent hops right into your veins. It's the strongest hop taste I've ever had.

 

[HP_Lovecraft]

It's not pittsburgh brewing company, it's latrobe brewing company

Which they built, and own. They make 60% of there beer at there own brewery.

Yet, people here love Killians Irish Red which is made by Coors.

nick