Sam Adams

Dear Sam, Dear Jim.

Savor Flowers, a rare beer collaboration between Dogfish Head & Sam Adams will be making a debut at Savor in June.  (Most likely ONLY to Savor.)  There is a second edition of the label with some more wording.  It features Continue Reading →

Sam Adams Lightship Back From Hiatus

Lightship was eventually abandoned for Sam Adams Light.  It was the second beer Jim Koch ever made.  The vision for Lightship was to change peoples expectations of light beer.  The recipe itself is over 20 years old now.

Lightship as seen Continue Reading →

Savor Flowers

Looks like there might beer some bottles of the Sam Adams/Dogfish Head collaboration for Savor – “Savor Flowers.”   The beautiful label carries a Brewer’s Association logo on for the backside of the bottle.   Pure speculation, the bottles will Continue Reading →

Dogfish Head & Sam Adams Go Flowery

To cut straight to the point, Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head Brewing & Jim Koch of Boston Beer Company are collaborating.  Sam made a trip this week up to Boston, MA for the brew day.

The resulting beer will only see Continue Reading →

Boston Beer Loan Program

Boston Beer Company’s founder Jim Koch announced on a visit to the Wall Street Journal on Monday, a special loan program targeting upstart breweries.  This new loan program is an extension of Boston Beer’s “Brewing The American Dream” program, founded Continue Reading →

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: Continue Reading →

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.

Posted in Coming Soon, Dogfish Head, Sam Adams

Dear Sam, Dear Jim.

Savor Flowers, a rare beer collaboration between Dogfish Head & Sam Adams will be making a debut at Savor in June.  (Most likely ONLY to Savor.)  There is a second edition of the label with some more wording.  It features a correspondence between Jim Koch & Sam Calagione.

I’m psyched! I love your idea of a collaboration beer for Savor! Can I throw out an idea to the get the process started?  We still have some of the original barrels from 1993/94 used for Samula Adams Triple Bock.  I think they were the first oak barrels used for beer with this barrel aging thing was just beginning.  I think it would be cool to use those same barrels for our collaboration.  We should think of something different to do with them this time around.  And maybe some other boundaries of brewing to mess with. Any thoughts? Just brew it! -Jim

Barrel one? High gravity flower tinctures? You’ve got some sweet tools in your brewer’s utility belt Jim.  As the Joker said of Batman, “Where does he get those wonderful toys!?”  Sounds like a great direction fro this recipe. I found some yummy rose syrup made with lemon juice and rose pedals in Turin, Italy.  I will send some up for you guys to play with in the lab.  I think we could add some in the whirl and it will marry-up to your muti-flower tincture in a sexy way down steam.  I like what you wrote about the power of the flowers Jim.  In fact, I suggest we simply call this beer Savor Flowers.  By interweaving the beer and event names we can drive home the point that craft beer and beautiful foods belong together. – Sam

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Boston Beer Company, Cool Stuff, Sam Adams

Sam Adams Lightship Back From Hiatus

Lightship was eventually abandoned for Sam Adams Light.  It was the second beer Jim Koch ever made.  The vision for Lightship was to change peoples expectations of light beer.  The recipe itself is over 20 years old now.

Lightship as seen bottles and draft before it’s retirement sometime in the 1990’s, although RateBeer.com has some ratings from 2006.  In 2011, Lightship will be making draft appearances once again.

4% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Boston Beer Company, Coming Soon, Dogfish Head, Rare Opportunity, Sam Adams

Savor Flowers

Looks like there might beer some bottles of the Sam Adams/Dogfish Head collaboration for Savor – “Savor Flowers.”   The beautiful label carries a Brewer’s Association logo on for the backside of the bottle.   Pure speculation, the bottles will be distributed to the BA members, VIP attendees to Savor, and brewery employees.

Savor Flowers is brewed with dried red & white rose petals, plus 2 other kinds of roses.  The hops are experimental, known only by a name “369.”  As if the beer needed to be a bit MORE unique, this floral offering is aged in a special whiskey barrel dear to Jim Koch, one he aged a triple bock in back in the ’90s.

Total production is limited to 30 barrels.  Debuts at Savor in Washington D.C. in June.

10% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Coming Soon, Dogfish Head, Rare Opportunity, Sam Adams

Dogfish Head & Sam Adams Go Flowery

To cut straight to the point, Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head Brewing & Jim Koch of Boston Beer Company are collaborating.  Sam made a trip this week up to Boston, MA for the brew day.

The resulting beer will only see the light of day at Savor in Washington D.C. in June.  According to the Wall Street Journal the beer has a name – “Savor Flowers” as it’s brewed with dried red & white rose petals, plus 2 other kinds of roses.  The hops are experimental, known only by a name “369.”  As if the beer needed to be a bit MORE unique, this floral offering is aged in a special whiskey barrel dear to Jim Koch, one he aged a triple bock in back in the ’90s.  Food Republic is reporting that Koch also added “a tincture –or extraction – that he [Koch] has nicknamed WTF, which smells and tastes a lot like lavender.”  Later, this WTF was revealed to also contain hibiscus & jasmine.

Total production is only 30 barrels, and only the lucky few that got tickets to Savor (before or after the server meltdown) will get to try it.  <Food Republic>

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Beer News, Boston Beer Company, Sam Adams

Boston Beer Loan Program

Boston Beer Company’s founder Jim Koch announced on a visit to the Wall Street Journal on Monday, a special loan program targeting upstart breweries.  This new loan program is an extension of Boston Beer’s “Brewing The American Dream” program, founded in 2008 to stimulate the food & beverage industry.

Jim Koch has pledged $100,000 to assist small breweries with start up costs.  The assistance goes beyond just loans & cash.  Koch and other employees plan on volunteering time in the form of seminars, webinars and hands on events to guide the fledgling breweries.  Not just on the art of brewing but assistance with tough questions about buisness models, leases, and employee pay structure.

Koch & Boston Beer Company has made many micro loans to start up businesses.  Over 50 to date.  In 2011, the 100k capital will be given to Accion USA, whom will manage and underwrite the loans.  Koch has a great quote in the article – “We all grow together, or not at all.”

The program’s expansion will be announced Tuesday. <Wall Street Journal>

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Boston Beer Company, Coming Soon, Sam Adams

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…

 

 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Boston Beer Company, Coming Soon, Sam Adams

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

by Reid Ramsay