Boston Beer Company
UPDATE: Sam Adam’s Sample B
A couple of days ago, the 2011 Sam Adam’s Beer Lover’s Choice sample beers were revealed. Looks like “Sample B” was a “Maple Wood Porter. Brewed w/ Maple syrup & aged w/ oak staves.”
Updated, the samples look like this:
Sample A: Oaked Ale
Sample B: Maple Pecan Porter, brewed w/ maple syrup, natural flavors, & caramel color.
A press release is coming soon from Sam Adams for cities and voting places…
Sam Adams Dissects Latitude 48
This spring, Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams) is adding single hopped additions of their Latitude 48 IPA. Names for the 48th Latitude dubbed the “hop belt” of the Northern Hemisphere. The regular edition of Latitude 48 is a blend of Ahantum, Simcoe, & East Kent Golding hops. The new editions dissect the hops of the original Lat 48, plus a few extra. A bit like Mikkeller has done with their single hop IPA series.
What You Need To Know:
Latitude 48 will be available in 6 options. Regular Latitude 48. Single hopped editions, Adhantum, Simcoe, East Kent Golding, Zeus, Hallertau Mittelfrueh.
From the labels:
Hallertau: …Brewed only with Hallertau Mittelfrueh Noble Hops, a traditional variety of Bavaria’s Hallertau in Germany… Hallertau Mittelfrueh hops contribute a soft bitterness, along with delicate lemony citrus and resinous pine notes, balanced by slight sweetness and full body from the five different malts.
Simcoe: …Brewed with only Simcoe hops from the Yakima Valley area of WA….Simcoe hops contribute a grippy bitterness and dramatic grapefruit peel and pine resin notes to this brew, with the slight sweetness and full malt body attempting to balance the concentrated hop character.
Zeus: …Brewed with only Zeus hops from the Yakima Valley area of WA…. Zeus hops contribute clean bitterness and intense, pungent resinous pine flavor to this brew. The balance of the brew leans strongly toward the hop character, but is softened by the malt sweetness and body.
Ahtanum: …Brewed with only Ahtanum hops, a newer variety from the Yakima Valley area of WA… Ahtanum hops contribute a balanced and typically “American” orange peel, piney, and floral flavor and aroma to this brew, balanced by the slight sweetness and full body from 5 different malts.
East Kent Golding: …Brewed with only East Kent Golding hops, a variety first selected in the 1700s in East Kent, England…East Kent Goldings contribute a mellow bitterness to this brew, along with earthy, floral, and apricot notes, balanced by a slight sweetness and full body from the malt blend.
Arrival: Spring, 2011
Which Sam Adams Sample Are You?
Each year Boston Beer Company hosts a Beer Lover’s Choice con The contest pits 2 beers from Sam Adams against each other. Drinkers in cities across American gets to vote on which beer they like more, and vote for it. Last year was the 6th annual contest with put Sample A (Belgian IPA) and Sample B (Rye Beer) against each other. The winner – Sample B is available now – Revolutionary Rye.
2011 Samples are headed out soon. This years options:
Sample A: Oaked Ale
Sample B: Maple Wood Porter. Brewed w/ Maple syrup & aged w/ oak staves.
Cities & voting options to be announced soon.
Sam Adams Annoyed Over Glass Shape
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Sam Adams (Boston Beer Company) is upset over the shape of the glasses Santan Beer Company has been using. It bears a resemblance to the Sam Adams “turbulator” glass for sure. Check out the video and the whole story from ABC Arizona. Think about this? With a growing beer scene in the United States, is this going to become more prevalent? Full Article —> ABC15.com
Sam Adams Wee Heavy
Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams) just released a new beer in their Imperial Series called “Wee Heavy”. It is a scotch ale, which is brewed with a big amount of roasted malts causing the beer to be sweeter, with touches of brown sugar and caramel flavor. Hops are minimal. Historically, the Scots had very few hops that would survive the Scottish winter. Also there are historical accounts of the English being stingy with their hops too. Sam Adams used peat smoked malt in the making of this beer, a signature ingredient in scotch whiskeys. The beer is then cold aged.
Commercial Description:
Samuel Adams Wee Heavy was inspired by both traditional Scotch ales and Scotch whiskies, for a combination of deep roasted flavor and earthy smoke character. Traditional Scottish ales vary in intensity with the strong ales known as Scotch Ale or “Wee Heavy”. To create our own version of the style we added peat smoked malt to bring the unique flavor of Scotland to this complex and satisfying brew.
Style: Scotch Ale/ Wee Heavy
Hops: Zeus
Malts: Two-row Harrington, Metcalfe, and Copeland pale malts, Caramel 60, Roasted malt, Peated malt
Taste Expectations:
Availability: 12oz/4 pks. 2011 debut, year round
10% ABV
Sam Adams Still “Craft” Brewer
If you drink beer, by now you understand “macro” vs “micro” brewing. Obviously your BMC (Bud, Miller, Coors) qualify as your macro breweries. SweetWater, Stone, Dogfish Head, 3 Floyds, etc are micro brewers aka -craft brewers. The question I hear a lot is what is the difference? First and foremost obviously the beer makes the difference. I mean, put a miller light up against a Stone Levitation. Come on, its a no brainer. A bigger qualifier – production. Allow me to simplify.
The Brewers Association of America basically decides the output definition of macro vs. micro. The Brewers Association is made up of over 1,200 brewers – mainly craft brewers. Until yesterday- the production cut off was 2,000,000 barrels. This knocked Sam Adams (Boston Beer Company) out of the “craft/micro” designation and into big macro territory.
Yesterday’s definition amendment by the Brewer’s Association changed the output qualification from 2 million barrels to 6 million. So, for now The Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams) remains craft.
Question for the readers? What makes craft beer to you? Output? Size? Would you still love Dogfish Head Brewing & Stone Brewing if they produced 4 million barrels a year? Discuss.
Sam Adams Infinium Hits Tommorow!
Yes, this intriguing collaboration between the world’s oldest brewery Weihenstephan, and Boston Beer Company a.k.a. Sam Adams hit’s shelves tomorrow.
This beer is fairly anticipated, and allocations are a bit low. Estimated retail – 19.99 a bottle. Corked/caged.
Full writeup about this beer when it hits, and where you can get it.
Read more about it here –> http://atlantabeermaster.com/?p=4552
