Samuel Adams 26.2 Brew
Samuel Adams (Boston Beer Company)

24 oz Can from Albertson's. Halfway between a gose and a lager. Grainy, malty up front, salt comes in late and clings to the palate. Golden pour with a nice fluffy head, fine carbonation.

Reviewing this beer from memory. My twenty sixth brew reviewed from these guys. Like most beers from Boston Beer Company, also known as Sam Adams, this is just ok.

RB transfer

Pours a mostly clear golden straw color with a white head that caps the beer as you enjoy it, the coriander and sea salt are the prominent notes on the nose and taste, and the beer is indeed very refreshing. If I ran marathons, I’d love to drink this beer after I finished that little jog.

 

Poured from a brown 12 oz. bottle. Has a copper color with a 1/2 inch head. Smell is of malts, some salt. Taste is the same as the aroma, a bit of pretzels. Feels medium bodied in the mouth and overall is refreshing and not as salty as many in this style.

 

 

 

 

12oz bottle into a Willi pint.

A: Pours a slightly hazy straw with 1/2" loose white head that recedes immediately. Retention and lacing aren't great, although not out of line with this style.

S: Mellow bready malt and salinity. Just a hint of spice.

T: Bread dough maltiness with a growing sense of saline across the mid palate. Finishes abruptly with a barely detectable sense of spiciness. Very restrained and effective.

M: Light and soft with low-ish carb. Thirst quenching, and well suited to the flavors.

O: Clean and easy to appreciate, not at all sour-leaning - closer to Off Color or Sixpoint in terms of the focus being more focused on salt and refreshment, rather than say Anderson Valley and their much more pucker-inducing interpretations.

Poured from a 12 oz bottle into a Lagunitas mason glass

L: Clear light golden pour with 2 fingers of fluffy white head. Modest lacing.

S: Not much of an aroma. Light citrus and coriander maybe.

T.F: Light and grainy. Short on flavor... a bit of coriander. Thin bodied. A little salt at the finish.

O: Poor at best. Doesn't taste like much... wouldn't have another.

On tap at BWW

 

BOTTLE:

C- / BELOW AVERAGE

***
08/29/19 bottle from the same sixer (ran me $4 on sale at a grocery store in New Orleans, LA):

"Ale brewed with sea salt with coriander added." (There is no mention that this is a gose or anything like that on the label). 4% ABV.

Pours a slightly murky copper body and a somewhat frothy white head. Head retention isn't bad (~4-5 minutes), but at 4% ABV that isn't exactly awe-inspiring.

AROMA: Pale malted barley (2-row or 6-row; I'd bet on the former). Pale malt sweetness. Not getting any overt salt or coriander.

Aromatic intensity is average.

TASTE: Pale malt. A blip of salt. That's about it. Tends a bit syrupy and sweet for a pale lager.

TEXTURE: Smooth, wet, medium-bodied (where it should be light-bodied), not very refreshing, overcarbonated.

OVERALL: An unremarkable lager that seems to be selling itself on vague athletically focused marketing. Not a beer I'd buy again even at $4 per sixer.

C- / BELOW AVERAGE

 

 

Appearance: Pours a deep, dark golden color with a medium-sized, pretty white head. Noisy as it sits in the glass. (3.75)

Aroma: Strong aromas of dank, wet cut grass, hay, and lemongrass. A little skunk. Some cooked vegetables and dank corn too. Some toasty German malt sweetness underneath of honey and toasted bread. A little grainy yeast. (4.0)

Flavor: Flavor is much different than the nose. First I get a lot of peppery and grainy yeast. There is some grass and cooked vegetable. but then as it foams in the mouth it turns into a salt and wheat flavor. As it evolves, just more salt and bread with very mild citrus and spice. I don't get much coriander, if any. It's subtle. Finishes with salt and grains. (3.75)

Feel: Lighter-bodied, but the yeast and salt make it foam and full on the mouth. Finishes w/ a slight salty and subtle yeast bitterness. No detectable alcohol. (3.75)


Overall: A good representation of the style. Nothing is overwhelming. Interestingly, it smells much more like a German Pilsner, but then on the flavor it does the salt and spice just right for a Gose-style. A well-made and nice representation of an often overlooked style for a macrobrewery. (Final Rating 3.86)