Sam Adams was famously late to the IPA game. When IPAs were first taking off as the dominant style in American craft beer Sam Adams owner Jim Koch expressed a disdain for the style and refused to make them an integral part of the brewery. Eventually Sam Adams gave in and started making IPAs, but […]
It has been a rough couple of years for the Sam Adams brand. While their parent company Boston Beer has had some success with their hard cider, tea and seltzer business their share of the beer market has slipped. As big beer buys out craft brands and takes them national and the explosion of small local breweries continues the […]
Sam Adams releases a number of variety packs over the course of the year, usually changing them with each season. This month they also released a special new pack, called the Brewing The American Dream Collaboration Pack. This 12-pack features two bottles of Boston Lager along with two bottles each of five new collaboration beers. Each collaboration is with […]
There are few things more authentically Boston than the Patriots Day/Marathon Monday holiday. The holiday is really only celebrated in Boston, most of the city has the day off, the Red Sox have the only 11 AM game of the year and a bunch of overly motivated and/or crazy people run for 26.2 miles while […]
Sam Adams (and other larger craft brands) are in an interesting place in the evolving beer culture, trying to balance the needs of their regular customers with the fickle tastes of beer geeks. Many of these beer geeks got their start drinking Boston Lager and Sam seasonals, but some shy away from the brand now, and the increased […]
I am a huge fan of the show Top Chef, I have watched every season. When I started grad school and was trying to live in Boston on a small stipend I taught myself to really cook (beyond grilling and a few other simple dishes) and I used food TV as a source of inspiration. There are a few […]
I love to post reviews of new beers soon after the beers are released, but unfortunately it doesn’t always work out. A good example is the Sam Adams Rebel IPA series. When they released the original Rebel IPA I intended to write a full review, but the timing didn’t work out (I tried it at […]
Earlier this week Andy Crouch wrote an extensive article on Boston Beer Company/Sam Adams, their founder Jim Koch, and the company’s place in the current craft beer scene. I highly recommend reading the article if you haven’t (find it HERE), it provides a number of different perspectives on the brewery, it’s history and the changing […]
Craft brewers seem to be very competitive, which has led to the rise of a number of judged beer competitions in the US and internationally. Typically brewers submit their strongest beers and a set of judges do a blind tasting and award medals for the best beers in a particular style. I tend to take […]
Mentioning Sam Adams beers in the presence of craft beer enthusiasts always elicits a strong response. On one hand, some think Sam Adams is too big to be called a craft brewery. On the other hand Sam Adams has been instrumental in bringing craft beer into the mainstream consciousness. I know I am one of many craft beer […]
Hoppy Boston 