Thoughts on Sam Adams...

[Wayne1]

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.

 

[jiggs_casey]

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...

 

[BrianTheBrewer]

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.

 

[bigjoe]

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.

 

[BrianTheBrewer]

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.

 

[danculwell]

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.

 

[BrianTheBrewer]

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.

 

[Scut_Monkey]

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.

 

[BrianTheBrewer]

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

 

[BrianTheBrewer]

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.

 

[Scut_Monkey]

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.

I have one of their lager glasses. I like it a lot. I especially like the tuliped lip. I really do think it helps to put the beer right on the front of your tongue and allow me to taste it more.

 

[BrianTheBrewer]

The more and more I learn about beer (which one can never learn enough i think) the right glass makes the beer better. Jim Koch took many years to find the right one for his Boston Lager and he got it right.

 

[alcibiades]

honestly, i dont like their beers as much as most craft beer selections, but I love that sam adams exists on such a large scale. I've been able to get boston lager in "middle-of-nowhere" gas stations when my only other option was BMC. For that, I salute you SA... (not the budweiser commercial type)

 

[BrianTheBrewer]

I agree with you. You can basically get Boston Lager everywhere. It actually has taste to it as well. I would choose a Stone, Rouge or Allagash over most Sam Adams any day of the week. When you are in need of a good brew Sam Adams is always around and I believe that is a good thing.

 

[Soybomb]

I never had one I really loved but I think they're a good company.

 

[BrianTheBrewer]

Try the Boston Ale or Black Lager...

 

[Kaner]

The biggest turnoff for me with Sam Adams is the price. Obviously when put up against a bud or mgd I would take a Sam Adams in a taste test, but a six pack of SA costs the same as say a three floyds, stone, etc., and I would prefer all of those to SA. Hell, even if there were no other craft brews available I would still probably take a Schlitz or PBR over paying the price for a SA, it's just too mass produced to justify the cost.

 

[UncleDave]

Not the first brand I would reach for, but their Boston Lager is well-done. I must be in the minority because their Octoberfest ranks at the bottom of the list for me. I used to drink the Double Bock when I could get it and generally liked it.

Sam Adams is the measuring stick for me when it comes to choosing restaurants. When I want a beer with my dinner, I will not patronize a restaurant that doesn't at least have Boston Lager on tap.

 

[the_bird]

Boston Ale is very good.
Black Lager is outstanding.
Oktoberfest is very good.

Hell, outside of their forays into fruit beers like Cherry Wheat (which aren't aimed at me anyway), their beers are pretty consistently very good.

Hell, I think the whole premise of this thread is ****ed up, I don't hear too many people talking **** about Sam Adams anyway.

 

[BrianTheBrewer]

I do..........

 

[MrInternet]

Hell, I think the whole premise of this thread is ****ed up, I don't hear too many people talking **** about Sam Adams anyway.

It's like Step #5 on the True Path Of Beer Enlightenment (Snobbery)...

Step #1, of course, being the tasting of anything besides BMC and enjoying it.

Step #2, as we all know, is the self-education in why better-tasting beer actually tastes better and learning terms like "malt", "hops", and "marketing". Soon after this, one sometimes erroneously decides that BMC has NO flavor, and starts turning their nose up at it at gatherings.

Step #3 is the choosing of a "pet" craft brand to begin forcing on your unwilling BMC-drinking (and enjoying!) friends, regardless of their protests. This is followed very closely by Step #3b, which is to being harassing and poking fun at your BMC-drinking friends for still drinking the same BMC you were drinking with them like 2 years previously.

Step #4 is a somewhat juvenile development step that involves mocking BMC breweries and all their products because they "suck". Showing no regard for the precision with which a consistent product is cranked out year after year, it is summarily stated that all products from any BMC brewery must by definition suck, and at this stage, active "Attack Mode" is activated in the burgeoning Beer Snob.

Step #5, then, is when you've become SO cool and beer-savvy that you've earned the right to start bashing craft breweries. This is not something that can be done without the foreknowledge of many witless and obtuse references to aromas and flavors you couldn't pull from a beer if they had a handle and a strobe light attached, but of course you read it in a magazine so it must be there. To ease the transition to such an expert level of beer-ninja verbosity, an easy target must be picked, and as a very visible, large-scale, and not-quite-outstanding-enough-to-be-untouchable operation, Sam Adams fills the bill quite nicely, an unfortunate victim of its own success.

It's not until Step #9 that one usually realizes that bashing Sam Adams has been counterproductive all along, but by then, no one wants to drink with you anyway, so the epiphany is wasted.

 

[the_bird]

Maybe I just avoid hanging out with snobs and ********...

 

[motobrewer]

I like sam adams

I think this year they're having serious quality problems tho. from what i've had (winter lager, winter variety pack)

their winter lager used to be one of my favorite beers. this year it's different

and their "cranberry lambac" is just garbage.

 

[Brew-boy]

I like Sam Adams always have always will. Was my first craft beer I had growing up as a teenager in Mass. Jim does a lot of good for the craft beer industry and the home brew world. Should people put him down I think they might have there head up there butt.

 

[BrianTheBrewer]

I dont really hang out with people that say bad things about Sam Adams. Its more hear say and chatter at homebrew club meetings.

 

[skyzo]

I still like SA, they may not be the best brewery out there, but they still have a bunch of solid brews and I still pick up the variety pack every once in awhile.

 

[carnevoodoo]

I buy the Longshot box every year, and that's about it when it comes to SA. Their other beer is decent, and I appreciate them as a company, but I drink a lot of beer from smaller breweries. Jim Koch is a brilliant businessman and marketer, and SA has always sold well because of that. They make a good product, though, and I'm glad they are around.

 

[BrianTheBrewer]

I buy the Longshot box every year, and that's about it when it comes to SA. Their other beer is decent, and I appreciate them as a company, but I drink a lot of beer from smaller breweries. Jim Koch is a brilliant businessman and marketer, and SA has always sold well because of that. They make a good product, though, and I'm glad they are around.

I agree 100%. I pick up a six pack here or there, not often. I am happy they are around and on tap everywhere.

 

[Fishin-Jay]

I agree with most of the posts. There's nothing wrong with SA and it is one of the first non-BMC beers I ever drank and enjoyed. Still today, Sam Adams serves as a good back up beer for me when I'm out to dinner or someplace random that doesn't have anything else I would prefer.

But, I don't think there's anything wrong with BMC either. When I'm on a fishing or rafting trip, sweating in the middle of summer, and someone tosses me an ice cold Miller High Life I'll gladly drink that too. It just isn't what I like most of the time, and I'm sure as hell not going to risk breaking a bottle of homebrew or wasting money on a can of craft brew that gets tossed overboard, stepped on, or warmed up in the sun.

To me there is a time and place for almost any beer, it's just that the time and place for BMC doesn't occur very often for me.

 

[wildwest450]

No lie, I had a taste of Sam Adams lite, and thought it was good. I have always loved their lager.